Patriot-112: Nothing much to say, except let's continue on with the show.


Chapter Three:

Delirium


Elder Ruby's mind


She remembered this courtyard well. Back before it became the crumbling ruins it was now. All the plant life that once grew and thrived around the courtyard, now dead, the silvery limestone, crumbled and turned to black, a low mist floating through as phantoms of the past walked by her as if she wasn't there. All the friends she's made here, all the Student Teams, the teachers, familiar faces, every single one of them...all gone.

Now, there was nothing left but ash.

Ruby could still remember that day. That day, where everything started, the Beginning of the End. Where she saw two of her closest friends die. One due to manipulation, the other out of blind duty, guilt, and of atonement for said tragedy.

And now... this place only served to torture her, to remind her of the failure that she now saw herself. And one of those sessions was happening right now.

"You killed us!" Ruby swung the scythe through a phantom of Ren, firing the modified weapon in a scream-filled rage.

Then she saw a phantom of Pyrrha, Cinder's arrow through her chest.

"Why did you let me die, Ruby?" the phantom of the Spartan girl said as tears leaked from her eyes.

"SHUT UP! YOU'RE NOT PYRRHA!" Ruby screamed before using Jaune's Crocea Mors to slice the Phantom's head off.

"You failed her, just as you failed all of us!" said another Phantom, this time of Jaune. Half of his face burnt off, and one of Cinder's glass swords stuck through him.

"You're not them! YOU'RE NOT THEM!" she shouted again swinging Crescent Rose, cleaving the Jaune phantom in two.

"Why?" Ruby froze. She turned around to see Weiss, covered in third-degree burns. "Why did go off on your own to stop Salem?"

"No...NO! YOU'RE NOT WEISS!" the Grimm Reaper shouted.

"THEN WHO AM I, RUBY?!" the phantom shouted back.

"I KNOW YOU'RE NOT HER!" Ruby screamed again as she fired a round point blank into the phantom's head sending it flying back before it dissipated.

"Why did you leave me behind?" Ruby snapped around and saw her sister Yang, her robotic left arm blackened and a duo of stab wounds in her chest, the phantom had tears in her eyes. "Why didn't you wait for me? WHY DID YOU DESERT US!?"

"SHUT UP! YOU AREN'T REAL!"

"You led us to our deaths." Ruby decapitated the armless and mostly headless Blake, before she ran.

Very, VERY far away.

But, as Ruby will discover, running away ain't going to solve anything inside your own head. You either had to face the problem, or let it swallow you up. Unfortunately, she was too scared to do the former, and the guilt she was suffering made her an easy target for the latter.

She then ran into the CCT, climbing up the ruined tower frantically trying to get away, but when she reached the top, she saw that moment again. That one moment where Cinder shot an arrow through Pyrrha's heart, Cinder smiling cruelly as she sauntered up and burned her to ash.

Ruby's eyes widen in horror and grief, as she watched the glowing ashes fly away.

'No...NOOO!'

Then the phantom of Cinder turned to her. Smug smirk plastered on her face.

"Late again, little red," the phantom mocked, which set the Red Hooded Silver Maiden off.

"SHUT UP YOU BITCH!" Ruby shouted, silver eyes glowing with anger, "Even if if you aren't real I already stopped you from getting the Fall Maiden powers! You won't be able to kill her this time!"

The bitch only smirked.

"Does it matter?" she asked rhetorically, "You're a failure. You let them die. You led them to their fates."

In a blur of red, Ruby impaled Crescent Rose into the phantom's chest.

"Go fuck yourself!" the Rose Reaper screamed as Cinder herself turned to blackened ashes, just as she did when the God of Darkness unleashed his wall of unholy flame in the other timeline.

Then, she felt something grasp her shoulders, making her freeze and her eyes wide with cold fright. The hands that held her, then began to caress her face, making her skin crawl. Then came the giggle, a giggle she never wanted to hear ever again, but still followed her no matter where she went.

"My poor, foolish, little red hooded, silver eyed maiden," the female voice said, "So alone in the world, the last of every living person on Remnant. What would your dear mother think of you?"

Ruby's eyes widened in horror.

"NO!" she shouted desperately, "DON'T YOU MENTION HER!"

"Why not?" Salem intoned, "No matter what you do...Everyone you care about, everyone you love..."

Ruby began breathing harder and harder as she hyperventilated.

"They. Will. Still. DIE!"

Ruby's eyes began glowing with both the Silver Eyes and her own version of the Maiden Powers as she gave one defiant scream at the Phantom.

"FUCK YOU! YOU FUCKING IMMORTAL BITCH!" With that she swung Crescent Rose with all her might and slashed at the Phantom of the Grimm bitch herself, before a white light enveloped her.


In the real world, Elder Ruby's eyes snapped open, just as the medical staff came in to check on her.

"Shit! She's awake! Call Professor Ozpi-" the poor doctor didn't get to finish as he felt the front of his shirt get grabbed before he was thrown across the room. Soon the other medical staff came in to restrain her, just as she ripped her OT mask off.

However, they were not facing an ordinary patient as Ruby used her Semblance to deliver fast pace punches and kicks, that sent the medical in different directions. A technique she liked to call...Bullet beating.

This happens when Ruby uses her semblance to go to Mach 4.7, using kinetic energy to deliver blows that would shatter a large oak tree.

In short, the doctors were either knocked out or crippled, depending on the amount of force used, in a matter of milliseconds due to the speed of the blows.

The Atlas soldiers heard what was happening and came in and attempted to restrain the female Huntress, only for themselves to be sent flying via super fast kicks. She then turned and saw her weapons and belongings on the table. Despite being sluggish, she managed to make her way over, and grabbed everything before placing them in her backpack, and clipping her baby, and the weapon of her fellow team leader and friend, to their respective places on her belt.

After confirming she had everything she bolted to the elevator, just as one of the Guards, who was still conscious managed to hit a button on his vambrace before blacking out.


In Ozpin's office, Glynda was speaking with said Headmaster about the preparations for the upcoming Vytal Festival, and the arrival of the first of the exchange students, and also being properly prepared for the Grimm invasion. Maria was there with him as well, as they talked about how to reveal to the younger Ruby about her heritage and the truth of her future counterpart comatosed in the basement.

However, their thoughts were interrupted, when an alarm on Ozpin's desk started shrilling loudly.

"What!?" Glynda said in shock as she, Maria, and the reincarnating wizard looked on as a map appeared of Beacon, and showed where the alarm came from. And their hearts sank.

The vault. Which possibly meant that the elder Ruby was awake and on the loose.

Ozpin only had one thing to say for what he was seeing: "Oh, fuckery."

"That, Professor Ozpin, is an understatement." Glynda drawled, as she looked at the screen, as the camera feed showed what happened, and it confirmed their fears, as the Older Ruby knocked out the Medical Staff and the guards, gathered her belongings and made a haphazard beeline to the elevator, "She's broken loose and has her weapons back!

"Then we need to get to her before she runs into anyone." Ozpin said, "She could possibly injure them severely... or worse. And let's not forget what will happen if anyone else, like her younger self, sees her,"

Glynda nodded as she left the office, not needing to know more. After she left, Ozpin sighed as he grabbed his personal Scroll, and called Taiyang's contact number.

"It's highly possible she'll run into them either way, Ozpin," Maria said, and the immortal wizard looked at the Grimm Reaper as her mechanical eyes narrowed slightly, "And like it or not, things are no longer going to go your way,"

Ozpin thought on that for a minute before releasing a regretful sigh.

"You are not wrong, Miss Calavera," he said with a solemn tone, "You are not wrong...,"


Team CRDL were a powerhouse team, though were also a bunch of bullies while they were at it. Especially when it came to Faunus, like the rabbit eared Velvet Scarlatina.

Though they eased up on their harassment of the other students, after the Forever Fall incident, that didn't mean they had stopped completely.

But, unfortunately for them, they were about to run into their worst nightmare as a woman entered their view. With the red cloak, they mistook her for Ruby for a second.

While not wrong, they were going to regret being the first people she saw.

"Hey, isn't that the red hooded Rose girl?" said Russel Thrush as they saw Elder Ruby, who was stumbling slightly.

"You sure? She looks a little taller and older than her, not to mention she looks way hotter," said Dove Bronzewing, before the subject of their conversation turned toward them, before giving a growl.

The four could only watch as the woman extended the scythe rifle, eyes glowing with silver flames. This action made the boys go on edge, their eyes widening as they saw the woman bring out the staff weapon.

"Uh, Cardin?" said Sky Lark nervously, as he saw the woman begin to move toward them, before breaking into a mad dash towards them.

The Winchester heir had only one thing to say.

"RUN!"

It was perhaps the wisest choice the Winchester would ever make. Not that it would HELP.

Just because it's a good idea doesn't mean it'll WORK. And the Red Hooded Reaper proved that.

Using her semblance, Ruby sped after the bullies in a blur, catching Dove first as she planted her HEELED booted feet into his back, causing him to scream in agony, as he went flying. The other school bullies saw their buddy go down, but then they felt a clench in their stomachs as she then turned toward them next. Her silver eyes aflame, but looking dead at the same time.

"OH SHIT!" shouted Russel.

"Get to the cafeteria!" shouted Cardin as the three boys left their comrade behind.

The three rushed down the hall, screaming like little girls, while the Elder Ruby was hot on their tail.


At the aforementioned food hall, which was mostly deserted except for eight students, plus two boys who were watching. A food fight that was about to break out, but was suddenly halted before it began, as the two teams involved heard the girlish screams.

"What was that?" Yang said with a raised eyebrow before the doors slammed open, admitting the team of bullies, who immediately slammed the door shut again, causing the boys in front of them to jump back slightly.

"Whoa! Hey, what the...!?" shouted Sun Wukong, a native of Vacuo, but a student of Haven, as he and his buddy/partner, the blue haired Neptune Vasilias, both looked at the sudden and unexpected arrival of the team. He was also an...acquaintance of Blake's after he helped her out discovering the truth of the White Fang committing the Dust Robberies.

"GET SOMETHING TO BAR THE DOOR! SHE'S COMING!" Cardin shouted as Russel and Sky scurried around to try to get one of the tables and use it as a makeshift barricade.

"What's up with them?" Weiss said.

"Probably ticked off somebody they shouldn't have," Blake said, having no sympathy for the bullies, before blinking as she noticed a member of CRDL missing. "Wait, where's Dove?"

"CRAZY LADY GOT HIM! BLOCK THE DOOR!" Cardin shouted as he and the rest of Team CRDL shoved tables and chairs up against the door.

Team RWBY and JNPR both blinked at that.

"Crazy Lady?" Yang said, "What are you talking about?"

"She just came out of nowhere!" Russel shouted, fear coloring his tone, before he pointed to Ruby, "And she looked exactly like her! Red cape, scythe, and all!"

The Little Rose only blinked at that.

"Wait...looks exactly like me?" she said, more to herself than the bullies.

"Look you can help us bar the door or run! Otherwise she's gonna pick us off one by-" Sky began to say, but before he could finish, a fist punched through the door before grabbing by the front of his uniform jacket, "-ONE!"

The doors then exploded open, sending the L of Team CRDL flying across the room before it hit the wall on the other side. Thankfully Sky was saved from death or permanent injury, thank to his aura, but...

"OW!"

...He still felt that.

"WHOA! CRAP!" Jaune as he the other students took cover from the flying debris. When the explosion ended everyone looked as they watched the person who was trying to beat the living crap out of the bullies walk in, scythe rifle in hand, longsword visible on her waist, and looking absolutely PISSED.

Ruby's first and only words were easily understandable, as her eyes widened in shock, "...Mom?"

"OH OUM! SHE FOUND US!" Cardin screamed, as he tried to crawl away, with Russel doing the same. The sight of the two crawling on their hands and knees would make anyone almost pity the two bullies...key word almost.

The woman began to walk ominously toward the two, who stopped their feeble attempt to get away they saw her directly over her, and causing them to slowly, and fearfully turn around and look up. The woman's face was frightening to say the least, the dilated eyes contrasting with the enraged expression made the two want to release the breakfast they had to evacuate early.

Ruby could only in stunned as she saw the person, whom she believed to be her mother, then begin to raise a near identical copy of her sweetheart with one, with the intent to decapitate the two boys in one strike.

Greatly alarmed, Ruby knew she had to do something, and fast!

"MOM! DON'T!" she screamed, which caught the woman's attention as she stopped herself mid swing and turn to look at her, causing her eyes to widen. Everything was quiet as everyone looked at the woman as she began to shake, causing the Crescent Rose in her hands to rattle.

"Uhh, what's going on?" asked Weiss, as she turned to her partner, "And did you just call her Mo-,"

The SDC Heiress' words were cut as the woman suddenly let loose a blood curdling scream, before launching herself at them.

"Whoa!" Blake shouted as they all jumped out of the way, as the woman swung her scythe, barely missing them.

The woman's eyes darted left and right wildly, searching for her targets. Meanwhile with Team JNPR, who had just began to get after the door flew off it's hinges, Pyrrha's eyes were wide in alarm and worry.

The Elder Ruby was awake. And from what she was now seeing, is going hysterically insane, as she was trying to kill her own younger teammates, including her younger self.

The scythe made contact with a tray Yang used as a shield, in order to protect Ruby, but the force of the blow sent her flying away.

"Whoa! Mom, stop! Why are you trying to kill us?!" Ruby shouted, but the woman didn't say anything, except just continuing to scream as if in agony. "Mom! Please, stop!"

"We got to help them!" Pyrrha said, as she got up.

"Pyrrha wait!" Jaune shouted to his partner as she headed toward the melee.

The younger Ruby grabbed onto the elder's waist, as she pleadingly looked at her.

"Mom, stop! Please!" She begged as tears fell from her eyes, "It's us! Yang and Ruby!"

The older woman twisted and turned till she threw Ruby off, and onto a table, knocking her out, and was preparing to stick the blade of the scythe into Ruby's stomach... only for a loaf of french bread to hit her square in the face, and made her whirl about toward the one who did the deed.

There stood Pyrrha, as she looked at the Future Ruby, with a determined look on her face.

"Please stop this!" Pyrrha shouted "Don't make us hurt you!"

The rest of Team JNPR joined up with her as they looked at the woman, who was looking more and more like a cornered animal.

Pyrrha, after signaling for everyone to stay back, then began to walk toward the panicked, and clearly still exhausted future version of Ruby Rose, as her grip on her scythe tightened while still growling.

"Easy...it's okay," the Champion said gently, as she continued to approach, "You know me... I won't hurt you. Just calm down, okay?"

Jaune looked at Pyrrha and blinked in confusion at what she said, as the Mistralian continued to approach the woman, as her growls began to soften slightly.

"That's it. It's okay, just let me come to you," she placated, and was just a foot away from her, before she heard the grunting of the Present Ruby as she sat and shook the cobwebs out of her head.

"Ow, my aching head," she groaned, and that was enough to startle the elder Ruby as she snapped toward her younger self once more.

"RUBY!" Pyrrha screamed in frantic fear for both versions of the girl, and could only watch as the elder Ruby jumped upwards, using the 50 caliber rounds of her Crescent Rose to boost her way up before vectoring towards the younger Ruby, again, fully intent on decapitating her.

A glyph stopped her long enough for Weiss to push Ruby out of the way, and when it was the gone, the older woman finished her drop and sliced the table in half.

"Ruby! Are you alright!?" Weiss asked, but Ruby didn't answer her as she looked at the woman, whom she still believed was her mother...even though the truth was that her mother died.

The older Ruby attempted to go after them again, but was then stopped, when Jaune and Ren proceeded to jump on her.

"Hey! Calm down!" Jaune shouted, "Who are you!?"

Elder Ruby didn't say anything as she gave a hard elbow strike to Jaune's gut, and stomped on Ren's foot, causing them to let go, and proceeding to punch Ren away, and kick Jaune into a pillar, thankfully Jaune's aura was very dense as he slammed against it.

"Ow!" was the resounding yelp after he slammed into the structure and fell to the floor.

The older Rose began swinging the weapon in wide arcs, snarling and screaming in rage and confusion. Yang nearly lost her head twice, Nora barely dodged a bullet to the head, and Blake''s uniform was torn from the barbed tip of the staff from her collar to her navel, though thankfully it was just the jacket portion.

She then spotted the younger Ruby, and tried once again to go after her. This time, she drew Crocea Mors from it's scabbard, something Pyrrha saw and immediately went into action as she used her semblance to snatch it away from her, and caught it by the handle as she brought it to her.

The elder Ruby looked back and snarled... before suddenly stopping and clutching at her chest. The scythe fell out of her hands, landing on the ground with a loud metallic clunk and she fell to the ground. Her bloodshot eyes wide in pain as she began to cough violently

Pyrrha's eyes widened as she remembered this, from watching the message.

'Oh no. We don't have her medicinal dust!' she thought worriedly as she began to make her way toward the older woman, only to see Yang preparing a punch to knock her out.

"Yang, DON'T! STOP!" she yelled but it was too late as Yang gave the Elder Ruby a good punch to the face, sending her back, and knocking her unconscious again. "NO!"

Pyrrha immediately ran over and began checking her over, becoming greatly concerned as she started coughing up blood.

The rest of Team JNPR along with Team RWBY immediately rush over, as they listened to Pyrrha trying to comfort the insane woman who just tried to kill them.

"Pyrrha, are you crazy?!" Yang said, an incredulous look on her face. "She just tried to kill us!"

"She's gone through hell, and the only reason she attacked us is because her mind's not in a right state, Yang!" Pyrrha shouted, shocking everyone, "She probably thinks she's going through a nightmare right now!"

Everyone was silent at that, until the Younger Ruby spoke up.

".. how would you know that?"

Pyrrha didn't say anything as she continued to try to help the Elder Ruby, that is until Goodwitch, Amber, and Taiyang arrived, which meant the Spartan girl didn't have to say anything. The other teams watched as Glynda immediately made her way over to the prone form of the woman, and with Pyrrha's help gave the woman a syringe which made her stiffen up before she calmed down, the silver glow coming afterward shocking everyone not in the know.

"W...what was that, just now?," Weiss said in shock.

Glynda groaned in annoyance, as she turned to the older Xiao Long, and the current Fall Maiden.

"Amber, Taiyang, please take her back," she said, "The last thing we need is more people finding out about her."

The two nodded as they went over and knelt next to the Elder Ruby and Pyrrha, the latter of whom was hesitant to leave her alone. Amber placed a hand on the Champion's shoulder, which made the girl look at her.

"It's alright, Pyrrha," the Maiden said while giving a reassuring smile, "We're just taking her back to bed, that's all," she said, and Pyrrha, though reluctant, allowed them to do so.

Glynda sighed as she looked at the pair of teams, along with Sun and Neptune, all of them confused on what just happened right now. She then coughed to get their attention.

"You are all coming with me to the Headmaster's office." She informed them, her tone holding a finality which brokered no argument, "As much as we didn't want this to happen so soon... you all need to be fully informed of what happened just. Please, come with me,"

The group of students, sans Pyrrha, all had looks of confusion, as they proceeded to follow her, all the while, Ruby watched as her father helped Amber lift the woman who looked so much like her mother up into a bridal carry, all the while her father giving a sad sigh as she looked at his daughter and giving her a look that she knew all too well.

'I'll explain later,'

Then he and Amber went off into another direction. While she and her friends follow the deputy headmistress who refused to look them in the eye.

'What's going on around here?'


Ozpin's head was in his hands, as he groaned at what he saw from the camera's view.

The older man was now mentally preparing himself to deal with Teams RWBY and JNPR, who had been assaulted by a delirious elder Ruby. Who had knocked out the medical staff, injured her guards, and after escaping from the vault, attacked Team CRDL, sending the two of the team of bullies to the Medical Ward, and possibly mentally scarring the other two.

And now, the cat is out of the bag. Quite literally in fact.

"Well, that could've gone better," Maria said, prompting the reincarnating former hero to groan tiredly.

"Miss Calavera, would you please try to not make it look worse than it already is?" he actually pleaded, but the now old Grimm Reaper just gave a shrug.

"Hey, just stating the obvious," she countered.

The elevator door opened as Team RWBY, along with Sun and Neptune, was the first to be admitted in. And the headmaster of Beacon could see by the rips in the school uniforms that the Elder Ruby was not holding back.

"I see you have encountered Beacon's most important secret that we had kept for the last seven months." he said, and motioned to the condition of their attire, "And that she tried to kill you."

"Understatement of the century," Neptune muttered, only to receive a riding crop slap, to the head, from Glynda causing him to yelp.

"Headmaster, with all due respect... but what, or rather who, the HELL was that?" Yang said, being the next to speak, "Was...was that Summer Rose? Was that our mother?"

Ozpin could not blame Yang for her confusion.

The older Ruby looked like a perfect clone of Summer Rose. Before he saw that message months ago, he actually thought it WAS Summer for a moment.

Ozpin sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose to stave off the headache he was feeling. Then Team JNPR came in, and now he wouldn't have to tell everyone the same story over and over.

"I think, because I no longer have a choice... that this will answer your questions," he said, as he placed Elder Ruby's scroll on the hologram projector of his desk, which caught the attention of the others, especially the Younger Ruby. He then activated the holoscreen and pressed the vid file, and thus, for the THIRD time, he had to listen to the heartbreaking story of the future.

The moment that the same woman who attacked them introduced herself and explained her full story, the reactions were obvious.

Ruby fainted out of shock. Yang was on the verge of hunting down and killing Adam Taurus, and planning to give her birth mother a knuckle sandwich. Weiss was tending to the fainted girl, wondering about her fate. Blake was ashamed of herself.

With Team JNPR, Jaune looked on the verge of puking, although Pyrrha, thankfully, provided him with a vomit bag while she winced, having to hear that recording again. Nora was silent, smile actually missing from her face for once. That never happened often, so that's means it must be bad. Ren, meanwhile, was just staring at the screen.

Both Sun and Neptune, though still confused as hell, were completely thunderstruck by what they just heard.

"So our future, is going to be us killed one by one, until it's only Ruby the only one left alive in a living hell?," Yang said through gritted teeth as she clenched her hands into fists while looking at her sister worriedly who is currently on the floor, with Weiss trying to wake her up.

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Ozpin said, before a shadow fell over the blonde girl's eyes.

"I was planning to inform you all separately." Ozpin continued to explain, "But apparently, Ms Rose's elder self, on the other hand, seemed to have other ideas."

The point remains that Ozpin's schedule has been greatly advanced against his will...again.

"You mean almost KILLING us!?" Weiss said, as the younger began to come to, "If that Grimm Strangler thing hadn't happened we would all be dead, much as the Older Ruby explained how bad that parasite is,"

"Be thankful it's not contagious," said Pyrrha suddenly as she finished helping Jaune recover from his puke fest, while Glynda disposed of the vomit by levitating and destroying it via fire dust, "As you heard from the vid file, it was caused when a new type of Deathstalker got her with it's stinger while her aura was down."

"That's not the point!" Weiss screamed "She tried to kill us!"

"Ms. Schnee, the young woman is suffering years of loss and possible dementia." Ozpin said with a rare narrowed gaze that caused the Schnee to flinch, "She probably believed you were little more then the fragments of her incredibly broken mind, and lashed out. All of you would've done the same thing."

Sad part is, Ozpin was right.

"Wait a minute. Pyrrha, back in the cafeteria you actually knew what was going on?" Jaune managed to say while Pyrrha looked away, a bit ashamed.

"Professor Ozpin told me just when last Semester ended," She said, "I was horrified at what would possibly happen to the Ruby we know now, and what DID happen to the older Ruby,"

Everyone looked at Pyrrha, with Jaune looking more than a little hurt that she kept this from him. Ruby, who had now just woken up from her faint spell, looked at Pyrrha, finally understanding why the Mistralian was being more than little clingy to her, but in a good way. However, thankfully, Ozpin stepped in.

"She was actually at the top of the list." explained the headmaster, "Other than Team RWBY, but I decided to wait until you had settled in and bonded more, before informing you. I apparently didn't have a choice in the timing, however."

That was an understatement.

The others nodded, while Jaune, despite being hurt, gave Pyrrha's shoulder a gentle squeeze as a sign of forgiveness. Which Pyrrha responded by grabbing it and squeezing in return.

"That being said, most of the other files on her scroll are password-locked." Ozpin said as he brought up the file in question which showed the infamous Password box, "The only hint she gave us was that it was an embarrassing nickname for Ruby that she got on her first day at Beacon."

Jaune immediately perked up at that, "Let me try," he said and walked toward the scroll and immediately put in the password. Ruby curious on what the password is, and curious on how could Jaune possibly know it, watched him his hand as he typed the letters and when she spelled it out...she groaned out in frustration.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said, and it was not a question.

'Crater Face'.

WHY did life have to mock her for WEISS' mistake? Because, seriously, that incident was not Ruby's fault. It was Weiss and Yang's fault. Mostly Weiss.

The file began to open, but then something happened they DID NOT expect.

"FINALLY!"

The group of teens and the professors jumped back in shock at what happened. In front of them appeared to be a hologram of a AK-130 combat robot, except it was colored green and transparent, and it's face appearing human. They watched as the image began to stretch itself out.

"Geez, about time you got me out of there Ruby!" it said in a female voice, "I've been stuck in that file for about seven... whole...months?"

It suddenly stopped talking before it looked at the gathered group of people. Then, all of a sudden it immediately grew seven feet tall, turning a burning angry red, which scared the heck out of everybody.

"WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?!" it screamed, "AND WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE STILL ALIVE?! She saw you all DIE!"

"Uh...time travel?" Jaune said, before the said hologram blinked, before it reverted back to it's smaller size.

"Oh, so Dia's little hourglass really worked, huh?" the hologram said. "But that doesn't explain of where the hell Ruby is,"

Pyrrha raised a hand, which caused the hologram robot to look at her.

"Yeeessss?" she said, with a slight angry hiss which made everyone uncomfortable.

"Uh...who are you, exactly?" Pyrrha asked.

The AK contemplated on whether or not to answer, before giving a sigh, "Well, since you asked so nicely Spartan girl, I'll tell you. My name is Leaf, personally designed and built Combat Artificial Intelligence of Ruby Rose. Been put on standby mode in that file for the past seven months...and it was BORING!,"

The others were astonished by that.

"I...I made you?" Younger Ruby said.

"Well, not YOU." Leaf said as it's a matter of fact, "She's a little more older, taller... And a bit bigger, if you get what I mean."

The younger Ruby scowled at the AI.

Ruby was always uncomfortable with her bust size, Yang's own chest not making matters any easier. So, according to her translation, Leaf had just outright mocked her.

Ruby's response?

Basically a scream that translated as 'I'LL KILL YOU!'.

Ruby tried to run at the A.I. but was being held back by her team, barely, as she reached out for the little glowing green bitch.

"LET ME AT HER! LET ME AT HER!" she shouted, while Leaf formed an anime-type face and gave her the eyelid pull while sticking her tongue out.

"Ladies, while this is mildly entertaining," Ozpin said, while his eye twitched a bit, "we have other things to worry about. Like the elder Ms. Rose's condition?"

"Right, that little parasite shit." Leaf said with a sigh, before she gave her own smirk, "Well, assholes, I got something that will do the job: a formula for the cure! Problem is, we couldn't make it. World goin' to shit does that. Plus my Ruby being all...never mind that part,"

The younger Ruby blinked when she saw the dejected look on Leaf's face.

"Anyways, hold on and let me find me it!" she then disappeared, but the students could still hear her as the sounds of crashes, and curses were still being heard for the next half a minute.

"AH HA! Found it!" Leaf said as she appeared again, this time what looked like a manila folder, "If any of you morons has the expertise in Dust mixing, please put your scroll next to me and I'll download the file!"

Everyone looked the little hologram with frowns, or in Ruby's case, a glare, on their faces.

"You're a total bitch, you know that?" Yang deadpanned.

"I'm not just ANYONE'S bitch." Leaf clarified, "I'm RUBY'S bitch."

Weiss simply put her scroll down, trying to ignore the crude AI.

"I have access to almost unlimited dust reserves." the heiress stated, "I can get the specific dust in order for the mixture to be made."

Leaf then looked at Weiss, blinked, and then snapped her fingers in realization

"Oh, so YOU'RE the girl Ruby-" she began to say, but then the younger Rose finally broke free, and looked at the A.I. with a expression that said 'Talk and you're dead' and Leaf decided to shut up before the girl broke the scroll.

Which she would to keep her secret.

"Anyway..." Ozpin said before the situation got more out of hand, "As a result of this...incident, I have no choice but to... induct you,"

Everyone blinked at that.

"Induct us?" Yang said.

"Meaning you're being drafted, blondie," Leaf rudely remarked, which caused Yang to glare at the hologram.

"Drafted into what?" Ren asked next.

"See, what Ruby said in the recording, there's a bitch out there, named Cinder." Leaf said, "She works for the Grimm bitch queen, Salem."

She then groaned, "The plan for us? Kill the bitches so you ladies could live happily ever after. Unfortunately, things seem to have ROYALLY hit the fan!"

"The parasite attacked, when she fought Cinder to stop her from taking my power." Said Amber, as she came in, with Taiyang following not following too far behind, "She did, however, seemed to be toying with her until that happened."

Leaf groaned in annoyance, "Dammit, I TOLD her to wait!" she said, "But like always, her damn grief got in the way,"

Ozpin then sighed, "Regardless, you eight, plus you Mister Wukong and Mister Vasilias are now part of something big. And thus it's time we told you about...another secret,"

The students all blinked at that, while Amber sighed as the Headmaster began.

"Tell me children, have you ever heard of the story of the Four Maidens?"

Weiss haughtily laughed. "Who hasn't? It's a bedtime story told to every child on Remnant."

"As with all things, Ms. Schnee, there IS an element of truth to the tale." Taiyang said, "The Maidens do exist. Amber here is the Fall Maiden. Ruby appears to be one as well, with her own unique powers...however, what it does, and how it's supposed to transferred we don't know. In fact, we don't if they can be transferred to a different host at all,"

"Yes, they can." Leaf clarified, "But important thing is, what he says is true, the Maidens did exist, but unfortunately there were a bunch of power hungry assholes out there who tried to steal the powers by killing the maidens, thus they were forced into hiding. Amber here, in the original timeline was attacked by the three stooges and they succeeded in getting half of her powers leaving her in a coma before Qrow showed up. Then months later, the bastard Ozpin here chose Pyrrha Nikos to be the next Fall Maiden in Amber's place...but it didn't happen that way,"

Ozpin, along with Glynda glared at the A.I. for the 'bastard' remark. But kept silent for now.

"Apparently, Cinder found out and put out two attacks: one to breach Vale's walls and allow the Grimm inside using the Mountain Glenn tunnels." Leaf continued, "That partially failed, but Atlas was given the job of security for the festival. This also backfired as the robots turned against us when Roman Torchwick used a computer virus designed by the asshole scientist, Arthur Watts to gain control, and destroyed the Atlas Air Fleet ships posted in Vale Airspace. Then, Cinder used the White fang and Grimm to besiege the city. Apparently, we fell, and Cinder claimed the rest of Amber's powers."

The A.I. then sighed, "Ozpin then ordered Pyrrha and Jaune to go get help while he held the bitch in the vault in order to keep her from getting away, but with the Maiden powers," she said, "And of course, you probably know the rest, if you watched the vid message she left."

"We did." Jaune said, "It sucked."

"Well, then you should've told me before I played storyteller!" Leaf smart mouthed, "Now where the hell's my Ruby? Same place you kept Amber when she was fucked over by that bitch?"

"It seemed to be secure enough." Ozpin said, trying to placate the A.I. "We've increased security around the city."

"Really?" Leaf said sarcastically, "Ya think that's gonna fucking scare them? Salem fucked you over when you pulled that trick, Ozzy. And let's not forget that fucking Scaredy Cat in Haven!"

The old man raised an eyebrow at that.

"We're not making the same mistakes." The Headmaster tried to reassure, "We're not giving Torchwick a chance to stick a knife in our backs, and we've locked the CCT towers out. Only a select few have the passwords, and of course I've...delayed in giving Leo his."

Leaf rolled her 'eyes'. "Please, Cinder is smarter than that. She could just find another way to get in. Powers or no powers, she is still dangerous. In fact, she's probably either hunting for Ruby, Miss Fall over there, or the other Maidens including the right now to compensate for failing to get Lady Autumn's" she laid out.

"Believe me, we're making sure they're kept safe." Ozpin assured, with Leaf not looking so convinced.

"Try harder." she ground out, "And keep My Ruby doped up. In her current state, she's suicidal, and outright out of her mind. She'll probably try to kill whoever she runs into."

"She did." Ozpin said, "It's why Teams RWBY and JNPR are here."

"Well that's just fucking fantastic," Leaf groaned sarcastically, "Well just make sure it doesn't happen again, Mr Wizard, and be ready. Oh, and once General Ironwood comes back, with his entire fleet, tell him to be a bit more, I don't know, DISCREET!"

"I will inform him." Ozpin said in compliance, "Now, you're probably worried about Ruby-"

"FUCK YES I AM!" Leaf yelled, cutting him off. "SO STOP STALLING ME, AND TAKE ME TO HER DAMMIT!"

Ozpin was nonplussed. "Very well, I'll take you to check on her. And I can trust you all to keep this a secret?"

Both teams, and the two boys from Team SSSN nodded, all solemn and serious. Even Ruby and Nora.

"Good, then you're free to go back to your dorms," he said, and the teams left as Ozpin sighed standing back up.

"Oh, and before I forget, Ozdick. No, I'm not telling you where the relics that the Sisters gave us are hidden...," Leaf bit out, "You fucked up in protecting the other four, so while you're free to know what they are and what they do, we're not risking them being captured by Salem because you made a screw up!"

Ozpin could only sigh as he nodded, before grabbing the scroll, causing Leaf's avatar form to disappear. The Headmaster looked outside at the city of Vale, knowing things were getting more hectic.


Patriot-112: And another completed, and the reviews are beginning to stack up again. I hope everyone of you are enjoying yourselves and being good little Kinder, Ja?

LOL! Sorry, sorry, had to do it.

Be sure to leave a review, and remember to fave or follow. Later!