Patriot-112: Well, another chapter, and already a few annoying apples are making the scene...I'm talking about you, GladiusInvidia.

To answer your comment with a question of my own: How else was Ruby gonna explain everything what will happen, and who she is, hm? If you still stand on your decision, then I'm so sorry that I disappointed you.

Anyway, while he, or she, thinks on that, let's continue with the fic shall we?

P.S.: For those reading, this will be the last chapter I'll use another episode fully in this fic. The rest will be more original.


"Never underestimate a small honest soul...especially one armed with the most dangerous weapon imaginable,"


Chapter Two: Young Rose


Kingdom of Vale

Dust til Dawn shop


It was a quiet night in the city of Vale. A majority of the populace went home for the night, while the only ones still up and about, were the police on graveyard shifts and a few shops and stores. One shop in particular, was the From Dust til Dawn shop, which sold a wide assortment of Dust, Dust Crystals, and other accessories related to the said material, to Hunters and Huntresses.

The owner, who was quite old, stood at the counter, waiting for a customer. Except for that nice girl in the back who was reading a magazine, albeit strangely reading on the next big weapon deals for Hunters.

The front door opens, and in came a man wearing a white suit and a black bowler hat, orange hair covering his left eye, escorted by men wearing red sunglasses and black suits with red ties. The man in white looked around before talking to the owner.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" Roman Torchwick, the top thief in all of the Four Kingdoms of Remnant asked, as One of the goons pointed a gun at the old man.

The threat was clear as the old man raised his hands in alarm, "P-please! Just take my Lien and leave!" he begged while the orange haired leader patted the air and hushed at him.

"Calm down, we're not here for your money." Roman said to him in order to calm him down, and not be the cause of a heart attack for the old geezer, "Grab the Dust."

Two of the goons nodded as they went to the Dust Dispensers, canisters in hand. Another of the crooks placed a case on the display counter in front of the old man.

"Crystals. Burn. Uncut." The thug demanded, and the old man hesitantly did what he was told. The other goons looked around the store gathering more dust, while making sure there was no one else. One of them however, spotted the said girl in the back reading a magazine.

He approached, drawing his red blade. "Alright kid, put your hands where I can see 'em." The hooded girl did nothing, which agitated the goon, as his brow furrowed and he gritted his teeth, "Hey, I said hands in the air! You got a death wish or something!?" He put his hand on her shoulder, before turning her around.

The said girl looked at him, silver colored eyes looking confused, as a pair of earphones were on her head and were playing music.

"Huh?" was the only thing she said, while the goon gritted his teeth as he motioned to his head, meaning to take the damn things off, which the girl did so, and gave an innocent smile.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I said, put your hands in the air, now!" The girl, Ruby Rose, raised an eyebrow at the threatening gesture.

"Are you... robbing me?" she asked.

The goon, frustrated beyond all hope, just simply shouted, "YES!"

The girl then gave a devious smirk at that, "Ahh..."

Back at the front counter, the man in the white suit was inspecting a red dust crystal when he heard one of the grunts give a pained shout and flew right passed him into some merchandise by the window. He rolls his eyes, before he signals another one of the goons to go find out what the problem was.

The thug did exactly that, and upon seeing the red hooded teen, he raised his gun up and pointed it at her.

"Freeze!"

Seconds later, he went flying out the window, causing Roman and the rest of his hired muscle to look out into the street. As Ruby stood up, she already her favorite weapon, and beloved sweetheart, out and deployed when she landed outside, after kicking the thug out before twirling the scythe around a few times, and planting the blade itself into the ground, pointing the weapon at the store. The man and the goons looked at the little Reaper through now smashed open window in both confusion and surprise.

The girl, realizing that the music was still playing, turned off her headset.

Roman, understandably, was not expecting this as he looked at the red cloaked girl with a raised brow.

"O~kay~..." His hired goons were just as stupefied.

If not more so. He then looked to the goons he hired for this job.

"Get her." he growled out, motioning with his head for extra emphasis.

The said crooks did as ordered as they went outside to deal with the little pest who got in the way of their heist. And thus, one of the men rushed toward her in order to slash her with his sword, only for the red hooded girl to nimbly jump up and double kicked him in the face sending back toward the shop wall. Another one tried to attack her from behind only for the girl to fire her weapon sending her into a spin, which the scythe caught one of the goons sending him into the air, before. The final grunt begun firing his Dust Pistol at her, but the girl just nimbly dodged the bullets before charging in and sent the goon back, landing at Roman's feet.

Roman groaned. "You were worth every cent. Truly, you were." he said sarcastically, knowing truthfully, that they weren't worth the shit that came out of their asses.

Torchwick's just sarcastic that way.

He dropped his cigar on the ground, before putting it out with the cane he held. "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around..." He leveled the cane with Ruby, the end flipping upwards and serving as the sights for the projectile mode.

"I'm afraid this is where we part ways." with that, he pulled the trigger as a red flare shot out of the cane and straight toward the girl, who used her weapon to get out of the way... though the street was not so lucky. After she landed the young teenager looked around for Torchwick, before spotting him climbing up a fire escape ladder to the roof of a nearby building.

She looked toward the old man who came out of the shop.

"You okay if I go after him?" she asked, and the old man only nodded, as Ruby continued with the chase.


Roman was not pleased. Not one tiny bit. A trainee huntress fouled up the ENTIRE heist. She was good, that was for sure, but was still an inexperienced brat nonetheless.

"HEY!"

And unwilling to let him go, it seems.

"Persistent..." he groaned out as Ruby readied her scythe rifle, Crescent Rose, but a Bullhead VTOL ruined her plans to take Torchwick down as he climbed into it once the side hatch opened.

The criminal leader picked up the red dust crystal from his pocket and threw it at the feet of the red hood wearing teen.

"End of the line, Red!" Roman shouted and then took aim and fired Melodic Cudgel at the crystal. Just before the round hit it however, another figure jumped in front of Ruby, arm outstretched as a seal glyph appeared in front of them, acting as a shield therefore protecting them from the explosion.

While Roman laughed in victory, his smile was soon wiped off his face as he spotted the newcomer.

The semi-tattered cape and business-like attire combined with the glasses and the riding crop that still gave Roman nightmares at night, and it identified her as Glynda Goodwitch.

And two words were mentally spelled out for him in his brain, '...oh fuckery,'

After the glyph faded, Glynda then gave a flick of her wrist sending beams of purple light at the Bullhead transport, scoring some hits on it, and nearly making Roman lose his balance as he stumbled toward the cockpit.

"We've got a Huntress!" Roman said to the woman piloting.

Flying the Bullhead, was none other than Cinder Fall, clad in a new dress, but was now sporting some shadows under her eyes, due to lack of sleep.

She then stood up from her seat as she readied her bow and arrows in order to deal with the pests.

But unfortunately, things were about to go down differently.

When Cinder rushed to the back, instead of firing arrows at them...

She froze as her amber eyes widened in horror as she spotted the person next to Goodwitch.

Red hooded cape, silver eyes, and a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe Rifle. Cinder began having VERY inconvenient flashbacks to her failure before she began muttering frantically.

"Oh Oum, oh Oum, oh Oum." She then looked to Torchwick, flying the Bullhead in her place. "FLY TORCHWICK, FLY!"

"What?!" Roman said, looking at the now scared woman who snapped her head to him, her eyes wide in both anger and fear.

"DO AS I SAY!" She screeched, making the master criminal do as she says and began to hit the pedal to the metal. Glynda watched as the Bullhead sped away, while blinking confusedly at what she managed to see in the passenger area of the transport.

Glynda did not know what the hell just happened, but right now though...

"You're a huntress!"

Glynda turned to look at the girl, and she had to be honest with herself, the Younger Ruby Rose was not what she expected. Instead of the tired, depressed looking woman, she saw a energetic, lively child, with the added innocence to boot.

"Can I have your autograph!?" she said cheerfully, making the female professor blink before sighing...and gripping the young teenager by the ear.

"Owowowowowowowowow! That hurts! What did I dooooooo!?" Ruby cried, while waving her arms frantically, as the Deputy to Ozpin led the Little Rose off the roof.


Back on the Bullhead, Cinder was sitting down as she had her hands on her head.

She was there, right there. Same face, same colored hair, same eyes, and same weapon.

'She can't be there. She can't be... nononononono, she wasn't coughing. No cough, the outfit was wrong- oh who the fuck am I trying to kid?! IT WAS HER!'

After a careful examination of just how BADLY she was humiliated by the red cloaked woman, Cinder has developed what a small few refer to as erythrophobia.

While it means 'fear of the color red' in two old languages, to Cinder, it refers to her fear of the one woman who tried to kill her, and whom had almost succeeded. She could still remember that murderous look in that woman's silver eyes, the way she swung her scythe and sword in order trying to slice her head off, the feeling of the longsword as it cut her cheek and slashed her arm. Though she was saved by the strange cough the woman had, and she had the bitch at her mercy... till that drunk moron Branwen showed up along with the Fall Maiden, Amber and had prevented her from taking the powers of the other Maiden.

That didn't please Salem at all...not one bit.

"Hey! Are you okay back there!?" said Roman from the cockpit.

"Just keep flying back to the hideout Roman!," Cinder said, but as soon as she heard him begin to speak again, she snapped again. "NOW!"

"Yeesh! Okay, okay!" the thief said, actually startled by the vicious tone in her voice, "Damn! What the hell is the matter with her?"

Cinder only continued to remember that day, when she was almost killed, and how she swore she will get back at her...somehow.

"I'm your worst nightmare," she heard her voice in her head, "...Cinder Fall."

The woman only gave a muffled scream as the Bull head continued on it's course back to the hideout.


Meanwhile at Beacon


While they weren't in-laws anymore, Taiyang Xiao Long still liked seeing Qrow Branwen around from time to time. Mostly to have a good drink and reminisce about the good old days with the two women that Taiyang had ever loved...Qrow's sister Raven, and the white hooded cloaked Summer Rose.

Of course...until Qrow, quite literally, dragged him to Beacon straight from his home. While he was ASLEEP in bed. So, yeah, right now, he was greatly annoyed with his friend from Team STRQ having woke him up in the middle of the night, and dragged him from his home in Patch and toward Beacon.

"This better be good, Qrow," Taiyang grumbled, yawning, all the while looking around the Academy he hadn't seen in years, "You and Ozpin better have a good excuse for waking me up at ONE THIRTY in the morning!"

"Oh, TRUST ME, Tai. You'll love this." Qrow said, with sarcasm mixed in, as he led Taiyang into the building, ignoring their combined memories of MUCH better times.

Summer Rose and Raven Branwen should've been there with them. But Raven, unfortunately, was being Raven, following her eschewed version of survival of the fittest, while Summer just vanished, and was presumed dead. Both women gone had torn the two men up, mostly for Taiyang because he lost TWO women he loved very much. And thus why he was so protective of BOTH of his girls. Both of them, being the spitting facial images of their respective mothers.

Qrow was SO going to beat the living shit out of Raven for running off like she did. Not to mention for the future stunt she, he had no doubt, would pull.

"And what is it that'll make me love it, how?" he said, as they entered the main tower.

"I'll let Oz, explain." Qrow said, "But, to be honest, you're gonna be as frantic as mega shit."

The pair entered an elevator, but it went down instead of up. This confused Taiyang as he blinked at the elevator's descent.

"Did Ozpin move his office?" he asked confusedly.

"We're not going to his office. This is a little bigger than just our favorite redhead being admitted here two years early." Both flinched at that. Their real favorite redhead was Summer, but she was...gone. Ruby, reluctantly for them, took up the title. Though, they still cared for her greatly, especially since the 'incident' concerning a formerly obsessed Yang who was desperate to find her birth mother.

The lift stopped before the doors opened and they exited, entering a large vault.

"What the hell...?" Taiyang said, but Qrow just motioned for him to follow, and the two walked on, as Taiyang saw in the middle of the room what looked like a mobile hospital room. And it was being guarded by Atlesian soldiers, who wore the signature armor, but the uniforms underneath were pure black.

Outside the said unit was Ozpin himself, along with Glynda, with both of them having 'grim' expressions.

"Taiyang, good of you to come here," the Headmaster greeted.

Taiyang blinked at the expressions the two professors had.

"I'm a little peeved you had Qrow wake me up in the middle of the night," he said, while glaring at said drunken friend, "But since I still have respect for you, and still see you as an old friend, I'll let you explain what the Hell's going on,"

Ozpin sighed as he motioned to follow him, leading him away from the mobile hospital to a table which a few items were placed. When Taiyang approached it, he saw some familiar things that made his heart stop for a moment.

A red cloak, a collapsed HVSS, a medicine pouch with a Deathstalker mask stamped on it, among other items, including a damaged handgun, what looked like a piece of Yang's Ember Celica gauntlets and a burned white handguard for a Multi-Action Dust Rapier. And then there was the Longsword was currently placed in it's sheath, the scabbard colored white with gold trim, and the handle of the sword, covered in blue dyed leather.

Taiyang felt something drop in the pit of his stomach, as dread filled his system while looking at the objects. Two of them, in particular.

"What in the great name of the holy Oum am I looking at?" Taiyang said, nervousness in his tone.

Ozpin then sighed as he brought out THE scroll, and showed it to Taiyang who looked at it, and his eyes widened at the symbol. A burning rose.

He then watched the Headmaster open it, and hit the file titled "Vid Messages" and then began playing the message.

The image appeared and Taiyang's eyes widen slightly as he saw a woman who looked like his presumed dead love. One of them, really. Especially the eyes and hair color. He saw the woman take a breath as she looked a little unsure.

"Ok...well, here goes nothing." the woman said, "Hello, dad. It's me. Ruby. I'm sorry. Sorry that I'm probably never going to properly apologize for this. Sorry that it all ended this way." Said the Elder Ruby, while Taiyang blinked, "Now before you go into denial, and start ranting like a moron, I will tell you something that only you and I know. The time we found Zwei, and how I begged you to let me keep him. Not even you can resist the power of the Sad Puppy Dog Silver Eyes,"

Taiyang said nothing as he remembered that day well, and the only other person to know about it was Yang, who would never stop laughing her ass off at the story.

"Now that that's out of the way, I'm going to have to be blunt. You need to protect Yang." Taiyang blinked at that, "The leader of the White fang nearly killed her during the Vytal Festival, which will take place in the fall. She got payback...though, she didn't alone... since she and her partner, Blake Belladonna both delivered the blow that put him down for good."

Taiyang then looked at the fragment on the table. It didn't look like part of Ember Celica. It WAS part of Ember Celica.

"If you've seen the fragment of Ember Celica...it was all I could find of her after... the end of the world," Ruby, making Tai wonder what she meant by that.

He then saw Ruby pause as she begin to tear up, before speaking again "However, I won't go into it... Because I'm gonna make things right again. I'm gonna change everything, Dad. Though I might not make it through this, I'm not afraid to die...it's the least I can do, for failing everyone," she said sadly, "If you haven't watched my first video message, I suggest you do to get the full story. I will never forget all you taught me and Yang while growing up, and...*sniff* well, I hope you understand what I'm about to do. I guess I'm more like mom that way, hehehe. Anyway, I gotta go now, bye dad..."

With that the recording ending.

"Where the hell did you-" Qrow grabbed Taiyang and forced his head to look at the medical pod. Inside it was the woman in question. A near clone of Summer, although this was not her. The voice he had heard, while similar, was too close to Ruby's.

"She came back via an old Relic that is also a time traveling device." Qrow laid out, as he sighed "Apparently, time travel isn't relegated to science fiction anymore. Ironwood's already got people out looking for it, just in case something bad does happen at the Vytal Tournament. After she arrived here, she just swooped in and attacked a bunch of fanatics. Nearly killed them too, if it weren't for-" The Elder Rose began coughing violently again, as if on cue. "Ok, THAT is getting both disturbing and fucking annoying."

Taiyang immediately got frantic as the doctor inside the tent gave her an injection of something and she immediately calmed down, and a silver glow afterward appeared, shocking him.

"What the FUCK did I saw just now!?" Taiyang shouted, "What's wrong with her!?"

"Some kinda Grimm parasite. And it's slowly killing her." Qrow said, making Taiyang pale in worry, "That dust and her special Maiden powers-"

"What!? How?" the said blonde interrupted, prompting a glare from Qrow.

"I'll explain later. Now shut up." Qrow growled, while Taiyang did so. "The dust and the powers are holding it back. Though it's just barely. Eventually, it's going to kill her,"

That made Taiyang become increasingly terrified, as Qrow continued.

"And if that's not bad enough, she's been having nightmares ever since she went into a coma." he said, and held up his hand before the instructor from Signal could ask, "Don't ask me how that works. I'm not into that medical mumbo jumbo,"

Taiyang looked back toward the Elder Ruby... HIS Ruby.

No matter when or where she came from. Past, future, or present, she was still his daughter. He closed his eyes tightly as he clenched his fists.

"Can't you get it out of her?" he ground out, looking at the two other men while Ozpin sadly shook his head.

"Not without unintentionally hurting her more, or...worse," he said, "But I promise we're doing all we can to help her,"

The father of Ruby and Yang looked back at his daughter, helplessness and sadness showing in his eyes.

"Can I just...talk to her?" he asked, while Qrow and Ozpin nodded.

"Well, go ahead." the former said, "Grimm infection's not contagious, as far as we know."

Without further hesitation, Taiyang entered the isolation tent, where Ruby was laying and sat down in the chair that was offered. He was quiet for a moment before he began to speak to her.

"Ruby...It's me. Dad." he said as he reached out and grasped her hand, "I don't know if you can hear me, hell this entire situation is INSANE. I mean, time travel? Maiden powers? I was happier with just the Grimm being our only pain in the ass."

He then gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

"But...I'll be here for you. I'll do whatever it takes to get you well again." He then began to gently caress her hair, "Just, try to hang in there...okay?"

Ruby then began to whimper as tears escaped from her closed eyes. But then to the shock of everyone, she managed to gasp out one word.

"...D-Daddy...,"

Taiyang felt tears stinging his eyes as he gave his daughter a kiss on her forehead.

"That's the first thing she said since she came here," Taiyang looked to the entrance, seeing Ozpin, sans mug. "She had been completely unresponsive, until now."

Taiyang then looked at the older version of his daughter...of course, he could say his now third daughter. His eyes were hard as he silently vowed to beat the crap out of the people who did this to her.

"I'm staying here." Taiyang said resolutely, "She's my daughter, future or not."

Ozpin pulled out his scroll.

"I figured as much." The Headmaster said, "Amber is staying here to protect her fellow Maiden, but I need Qrow in the field. As such-"

"Just sign the damn transfer papers already." Taiyang said impatiently. Ozpin smiled slightly as he shook his head at the over-protectiveness of the father.

"Impatient as always, Mr. Xiao Long." he said, while Taiyang's eyes hardened, even though there are a few tears.

"When it concerns my family, I don't have the time for patience." Taiyang said, "I'm gonna make sure I'm here to protect my girls! All THREE of them! And whoever did this is gonna wish they were never born if they ever cross my path."

Ozpin smiled, as he nodded and finished the transfer order "Welcome to Beacon Academy...Professor Xiao Long,"

Taiyang only gave a stiff nod, before Qrow spoke up again.

"She also gave us info on a very important person she told us about in the first message who could help us out in the future, and I'll be going to Anima to find her," Qrow said, while smirking, "And you will not believe who it is,"

Taiyang blinked and looked at his former brother-in-law.

"Who?" he asked, though Qrow didn't say anything. Only giving his weapon a fond tap on Harbinger's hilt before turning around and leaving a confused Xiao Long to think for a moment, before his eyes slowly widened in realization.

"...oh,"


The Grimm Lands of Drache, the former lair of the God of the Darkness, and the original birthplace of the monsters that bore it's name. It is a wasteland where few humans go, and even fewer come out alive.

In pools of the black, tar-like ichor, new Grimm are being born every minute.

It is in this domain, where a certain Grimm Queen lived, said person was NOT happy with a certain would've been Fall Maiden. She had sent her apprentice to steal the powers of the Fall Maiden so that they can be used in the future war to come with her former love. But instead, they'd been ambushed by a woman, who was very skilled, and wielded the EXACT same type of powers as the girl Amber used. Of course they managed to restrain her, but unfortunately, one of Ozpin's damn cohorts got to them before they can extract the maiden powers. So, yeah, she was NOT happy at all.

"I gave you one mission, with one objective, Cinder." the Grimm like woman said calmly, as the woman in question fidgeted. "Claim the Fall Maiden's power, in order for our plan to succeed. Yet you failed."

"I ran into difficulties-" Cinder tried to explain only to be cut off.

"One girl. Another Maiden." Salem growled, her red eyes glowing menacingly, "A Maiden with a different power altogether, which makes no sense. Since from my knowledge, there are suppose to be only Four Maidens. FOUR, not five!"

Cinder had the nerve to feel embarrassed. Not only being defeated and humiliated, but also greatly mentally scarred.

"I saw her use the same powers, just like the Fall Maiden, Amber. But unlike the Fall Maiden's, and the others you told me about, they were colored silver. She even blocked the Dust bullets from Emerald's pistols," she said, before flinching at the Grimm Queen's glare, as she turned her head toward her. "She...she knew who I was...and she knows about you."

Salem paused, her eyebrows rose slightly. "What? Only Ozpin and his little group of ignorant followers know of me."

"But she mentioned you! She said that after she killed me, you were next! And she-" Cinder was cut off began hyperventilating. This was more and more common nowadays. Her panic-attacks made her relive the debacle.

While it would look entertaining for some for others, like a certain psychotic scorpion or arrogant Atlesian scientist, it was most certainly not for Cinder.

"Get a grip of yourself, Cinder!" Salem ordered, and that somehow managed to get the once confident woman to stop. "Despite this setback, it does not stop the plan to bring fear and chaos to Remnant, and to get the Relics. We just have to use the White Fang more than usual. Of course, I had no choice in meeting Adam myself in order to convince him," Her apprentice winced at that, before Salem then looked at Cinder, "However, this girl intrigues me. You said she had Silver Eyes, the same color as her powers, correct?"

Cinder nodded at that. "...Yes. I can never forget."

She watched the Grimm Queen's eyes narrowed at that. "Then that adds another priority objective for you to accomplish, then," she said, causing Cinder to blink.

"Your Grace?" she said.

"You are to search for the girl during the time the 40th Vytal Festival is about to begin." Salem stated, as her red eyes began to glow dangerously red, again, "You WILL find her. Claim the Maiden Powers from her, but you WILL bring her to me, ALIVE! Is. That. Clear?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Cinder stammered obediently, she may fear the woman who just nearly bested her, but she feared Salem, more so.

She had NO idea what the immortal queen would do to her, if she so much as failed once again. And to be honest, she didn't WANT to know.

So she would obey, even if it killed her. Which it probably would.

"Good, you can go now," she said, and Cinder nodded and began to leave, "Oh, and Cinder...if you shall fail me again, I will NOT be as merciful. Understand?"

Cinder didn't say anything, but quickly nodded as she hurried out, not wanting to give Salem an excuse to change her mind.


Meanwhile.

Unknown Realm.


"Well sisters, it has begun once again"

"Indeed it has... However, our little Rose is currently incapacitated to do anything,"

"Which is the reason, why we sent them back after her,"

"Where are they, now, if I may ask?"

"They're in Anima...dealing with those disgusting abominations at that Estate...uuuggghhh, our Brother was really sick in the mind when he created those things,"

"At least people will be able to rest there a little more easier, now that the Apathy are taken care of."

"Indeed... And her?"

"Anxious to see her family, but knows she has to wait for the right moment."

"I can only imagine how she feels. Aside from her, once they are finished in Anima, they must head to Beacon with all haste. After all, time for mortals, is a luxury they cannot afford to lose."


Patriot-112: And voila, another chapter redone... Or rather just beefed up with a little more content. Next chapter, a much more realistic setting of Pyrrha meeting the Older Ruby...and the entrance of our favorite blind Grimm Reaper. Until then, Later!