It was a pleasantly warm evening in northern Vale, the sun had just passed over the horizon but the air was still comfortable, a slight chill had started to come in from the sea but not enough to be unpleasant. A fact that Ruby Rose was grateful for. The street she'd been waiting in for, she checked her scroll: one and a half hours, was a dull affair. It lacked the fancier holographic lamp posts of the wealthier districts, so was just road, sidewalk, and boring Valean buildings, stone bricks and mortar, and windows for the most part. There were a couple of shops on this street, but they'd been closed for the better portion of an hour, including the one Ruby was standing outside.
It was a dust shop, From Dust Till Dawn, and Yang had promised her it would be back before it shut. That had, apparently, been a lie. So now Ruby was stuck waiting outside of it, praying she didn't get arrested for loitering. But hey, at least the weather was nice tonight.
She'd been playing a game on her scroll when she noticed them first, From Dust Till Dawn was built on a T-junction and she'd seen them walking past the store and by extension her, earlier. Ruby had to admit that seven or so men in black suits and red ties did stand out but originally she'd dismissed them as particularly colour coordinated businessmen while wondering how they could see with the red sunglasses in the dark.
When they came back, however, following a man with a white suit and hat, and all carrying swords or guns, Ruby realised that, perhaps, they might be less innocuous than she had previously thought. 'Especially as one was now pointing a gun at me,' she thought to herself idly, then stopped, 'hold on.'
One was pointing a gun at her, and saying something that she couldn't hear on account of the headphones, which she tentatively removed. "Yes?"
"Hands in the air!" The man said, punctuating his speech by gesturing with his pistol.
"Ah," Ruby said, pointedly not putting her hands in the air, and instead on her back, or rather on a particular metal object attached to her belt and resting against her lower back, "Are you robbing me?"
"Yes!" He almost shouted.
"Ah." A kick, a knee, and a shove later, aimed between his legs, then at his nose, then his shoulders, the goon fell over with a squeak and a noise that sounded suspiciously like a very high-pitched "mummy."
"Soo," Ruby said trying to think of what Yang would say in a situation like this, looking at the other men, most of whom sported frowns or looks of anger, "wanna just be on your way and we'll forget about this?"
The other black-suited men charged at her.
"Guess not then." Ruby grabbed the red metal slab on her back and swung it out wide, pulsing her aura to activate the form shift mechanism. The blade emerged first, extending from storage mode into a wicked curved blade, then the body started to unfurl, extending outward and along, rifle components clicking into place while the handle extended, giving Ruby a proper grip. In less than a second, Crescent Rose unfurled from storage mode into its full form.
She slammed her weapon down in front of the nearest opponent, who was not fast enough to stop himself from running headlong into it. He was almost fast enough to dodge Ruby's follow-up, almost. She dove forward, taking Crescent Rose with her, and sent the man stumbling backward.
The next guy tried to get the drop on her to slash at her with his machete but wasn't fast enough, she blocked with the shaft of her scythe, then followed up with one, then two, then three strikes in quick succession.
The remaining gunmen, who numbered two after Ruby took out the first, attempted to get a shot off on her, but between her weaving in and out of their allies, and her ability to suddenly to very fast, struggled to find an opportunity, and what few they did she easily blocked with her scythe.
The machete-armed fighters were enjoying the dubious honour of having to be in close combat with Ruby and found themselves regretting that decision as she bounced between them. A blow here, a strike there, block, dodge, swing. While they might have had the numbers advantage, it was very clear to anyone watching, such as their employer, that the red-cloaked menace was winning the melee.
Ruby, meanwhile, was trying to keep the many sharp edges, of which there were eight including her own, away from her fleshy bits. Which, when dodging seven attacks, was easier said than done. Another fell, his legs swept out from under him, and was struck by an overhead blow from the back of the scythe, knocking him out with an unpleasant crack,
Then another fell, struck by a speed semblance-enhanced blow that sent the man careering into one of his gun-toting comrades, who caught him. Yet another, the last melee combatant, turned and ran, his weapon knocked out of his hand by a shot from Crescent Rose's rifle component.
Ruby turned to face the two remaining thugs, who under the Reaper's gaze, decided to turn and run, one still carrying his unconscious colleague in his arms. The white-clothed man watched them go with a look of annoyance on his face, "You were worth every lien, truly you were."
It was a busy night in the Forresta industrial estate, although every night was a busy night in the Forresta industrial estate. Because the Forresta industrial estate wasn't really an industrial estate. Well, Oliver Forresta would have disagreed, it was an estate and one that played host to a certain type of industry. The kind of industry that happened to pay well in the evening, and even better at night.
Officially there was nothing illegal about letting out the space to Junior Xilong to run his nightclub there, officially the only thing going on there was a nightclub. Oliver was all about "officially"s they made his job so much easier. They were up there with technicalities and pragmatism.
He applied that sense of order and pragmatism to everything he did: his home life, his work, even his office, which was a small room behind the nightclub which he had had thoroughly soundproofed, for his clients' privacy and for his eardrums. The walls of the room were bare, and furniture wise it played host to very little, just a locked filing cabinet, a desk, and a number of chairs, one he sat on and the rest in front of his desk, for guests.
Which is why the blonde minor who wandered into his estate, through the nightclub out front, and into his office, annoyed him a great deal. She was in no way legally, officially, technically, or pragmatically meant to be there, but there she was holding what he very much hoped was a non-alcoholic drink in one hand and what looked like Junior's tie in the other. Behind her trailed his very sheepish-looking son.
"Silva," he sighed, "What is going on here?"
His son, Silva, gave a very apologetic look before answering, "Miss Xiao Long here …"
"Can talk for herself, thanks. I'm looking for someone, and I'm betting you can help me find her Forresta."
Oliver raised his eyebrow, "Xiao long eh? You're Taiyang's daughter, his name's crossed my desk a few times. As has your sisters, well your half-sister's."
"You know Dad? Ruby?"
"Know them? No no, I just know that some people have paid a lot of money for me to keep close tabs on them, to make sure they come to no harm, you understand. Someone with a vested interest in keeping Ruby safe. Shame you left her in that dust store, outta everywhere in the city you picked the one place Roman intends to rob tonight." He smirked as he talked, flexing the amount of information he had was a surefire way to piss her off, but he was fairly confident. "Of course, I kept to my contract. Help is already on the way to her, and from what I've heard, or rather what I haven't heard, she must be putting up a hell of a fight. But enough about Ruby, you've spent your whole life looking after Ruby, what about you, Miss Xiao Long, what can I do for you?"
"I said I was looking for someone, and if you ever threaten my sister again I swear …"
It was Yang's turn to be interrupted this time, however, "You misunderstand, I'm being entirely genuine. I was paid to keep her safe, I routed a call to the local police force the second I found out she was at risk, and they forwarded it up the chain to the hunters. As far as I know, which we both know is a lot, one of Ozpin's lieutenants is on her way to help Ruby. Who?"
"Excuse me?" Yang asked.
"Who are you looking for?" He replied.
"My mom, Raven Branwen ."
"Ah," he said, "I've had the pleasure of meeting your mom a couple times, yes. I'm afraid I cannot tell you where she is, she eludes even my web you see. But I can tell you the first time she came in here, back when I was just setting up mind, she wanted to know about the Branwen clan, a group of bandits out in Mistral. I'm sure you've noticed the name, I did too so I did a little digging: She was originally a member of the clan but Raven appeared to have left to attend Beacon. The second time she crossed my path was when she came around asking about a "Spring" family. Some old ancestral family of Mistral that dates back to before the kingdom, unfortunately, they died out about almost a century ago now."
"And you don't know where she is now?"
"I'm afraid not," he said and gestured to the doors, "however, now is your time to leave. Oh, and Miss Xiao Long, please don't come back until you're 18, your mother left enough money to cover your inquiries, not the fines I'll get if the council finds out you were here."
"Well, Red," the remaining man said, brushing a strand of his ginger hair out his eye as he did, "I'm sure we can all say it's been an eventful evening, but as much as I'd love to stick ar…"
A shard of rock flew through the air, interrupting his monologue by ramming into his face and sending him sprawling.
"Roman Torchwick, you are under arrest for twelve counts of robbery, two counts of murder, and one count of kidnapping!" The new figure, a blonde lady armed with a riding crop, announced herself loudly while sweeping her crop in a wide arc and haloed herself with shards of ice.
Roman Torchwick scrambled to his feet, bringing his cane up and swinging it wildly back and forth between Ruby and the newcomer. "As I was saying, as much as I'd love to stick around, this is where we part ways-" and he turned around and started legging it down the way he came.
The blonde woman stalked over to Ruby and started flicking her crop towards the man, flinging shards of rock and ice after him as he ran, following her lead Ruby shifted Crescent Rose into rifle mode and knelt down.
Roman turned just in time to see Ruby's first shot, but not fast enough to have hope of blocking or dodging. The high calibre round slammed into his torso and sent him sprawling again, though warning allowed him to tuck and roll, ending on his feet and running again.
Ruby started to run after him and she felt the familiar feeling of her semblance activating: her feet started to lift off the ground and the air whipped through her hair. Like this Ruby could run for hours like this Ruby could outpace airships, but right now? She just had to catch up with a man.
She was on him quickly, scythe out and swinging before the rose petals had fully fallen away from her, the two locked weapons and glares, Ruby twisting her face into what she thought was a threatening expression.
They broke apart and met again, the loud cracks of metal colliding with metal echoing through the empty street, he was fast, Ruby had to admit, not as fast as her, but fast. He had kept pace with her attacks but didn't have time to strike at her. They'd been circling each other as they fought, and she could see the blond woman running towards them, riding crop in hand. She stretched out a hand towards Ruby. She looked scared.
Something hot slammed into Ruby's back, and she fell forward, taking a blow from Roman's cane on the way down. And she felt something cold press against the back of her head.
"Now now, stay where you are or little red ge.. ugh" his threat became a cry of surprise as the cold presence vanished. Ruby reacted on impulse and rolled to the right, narrowly missing the body of Roman which landed next to her with a thud and a grunt of exertion.
A burst of her semblance carried her away quickly, the feeling of overwhelming warmth quickly leaving her as she ran. Reaching a minimum safe distance from others, she spun around and planted the blade of Crescent Rose in the ground, levelling the rifle at the new presence: a woman in black clothes and a masquerade mask, in each of her hands she held fire.
Her rifle's loud report filled the street as she unloaded round after round into the new person, who was the target of the blonde lady's attacks. The pyromancer seemed unaffected by the dust magic and sniper rounds being sent her way, the fires in her hands consuming ice crystals as easily as bullets. Indeed, she seemed entirely unconcerned with the situation as a whole, she hadn't once looked at Ruby since she'd gotten up, choosing to stare at Roman as he got back to his feet.
"Well Red," Roman said, "You've been persistent, I'll give you that, but seriously now: scram!"
He threw a red crystal at her, burn dust she reckoned, and a flick of the fire-wielder's wrist sent a fireball towards it. Ruby braced herself, this was going to hurt.
The explosion never came, she opened her eyes again and saw the blonde woman, standing before her, her riding crop extended and a barrier of ice around the two of them. She was looking at Ruby with a not particularly pleasant expression.
The room Ruby found herself in, having been delivered by the huntress who'd saved her, was rather barren. Concrete walls which had been rather redundantly painted grey, a window with metal bars, and a locked door made of iron made it feel simultaneously empty and suffocating to her. The only other furniture, and indeed the only colour, in the room was the desk she was sitting at, which was silver rather than grey on account of being made of unpainted metal.
Well, there was one other source of colour in the room: the angry blonde lady who was glaring at Ruby, constantly. "I hope, young lady, that you understand that your actions this evening will not be taken lightly."
"Well, I mean…" Ruby trailed off awkwardly.
"Your battle with Torchwick placed yourself and others in grave danger, fighting near a dust shop is the height of irresponsibility."
"They started it," she protested lamely.
"If it were up to me, I'd send you back to signal with a good word to your professors-" the blonde cracked her riding crop against the table, missing Ruby only narrowly- "and a letter of reprimand. But there is someone here who wants to speak to you."
"Ruby Rose-" a white-haired man dressed almost entirely in green, except for his shirt and glasses, entered through the door as though on cue- "you have silver eyes."
"Uh?"
"So tell me," he continued unphased, "where did you learn to fight like this?" He held up his scroll, which was playing CCTV footage of her battle with the conman and his goons.
"Signal Academy. I'm training to be a huntress."
"You want to fight monsters?"
"I wanna help people. Mom and Dad always told me to help people and I figured might as well make a career out of it, plus they were so good at fighting Grimm, how could I not? And I mean police and firefighters are cool and all but huntsmen and huntresses are so much more romantic and awesome and just aah!"
"Hmm, indeed," he said, looking amused, "changing tracks for a moment Miss Rose, where did you learn to wield a scythe like that? I can't imagine many professors at Signal being willing to teach their students to wield a weapon inherently as dangerous to its wielder as it is to their foes?"
"My uncle Qrow did … that though! He fights with a scythe as well, so taught me how to use Crescent Rose!"
"Hmm, the results speak for themselves, Qrow's teaching skills are better than he lets on. Tell me, if you want to be a huntress, do you know who I am?"
Ruby took a closer look at the man in front of her. "You're Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy. And that makes you Professor Goodwitch? Dad mentioned you!"
"Correct on both counts, Miss Rose," Ozpin said, "you wish to attend my school?"
"More than anything."
"Hmm, well, ok."
It had taken almost a full 2 hours for Ruby's father to get from Patch to Vale, in which time Yang had shown up at the police station and failed at getting her released, badly. So badly she'd almost end up incarcerated as well before her father got there to sort matters out. The ride home hadn't been fun for anyone.
But that was behind them now, they were sitting in the living room of the Rose-Xiao Long household eating Mistrealian takeaway silently. It was a cosy living room, a couple of couches surrounded a tv that was mounted above a fireplace, and the floor was carpeted and topped by a rug on which the family dog, Zwei, slept. Hung on the walls were pictures of the room's occupants in various stages of their lives.
"So Beacon eh?" Tai asked, "I gotta tell you Rosebuds, I'll miss you when you're away, I thought I had another two years with you yet."
"I'll just be at Beacon, I can come home and see you," Ruby said.
"No no, you go have fun at school, your old man will be just fine. I have your uncle to harass after all." He said, "But, be careful, Glynda, Peter, and Barty are good friends of mine, and no I'm not going to tell you which ones they are, so if you do anything outrageous, I will hear about it."
"I promise not to do anything you wouldn't do," Ruby said, smirking.
"Oh gods no, I'm not telling you not to do stupid things, the stories I could tell about Team STRQ, what I am saying is that I am going to tease you relentlessly if you do anything stupid."
"Hmph. Well maybe I'll get Uncle Qrow to tell us stories about what you got up to, then I'll get even, old man!"
"Hah, you're not old enough for him to tell you yet, try again."
"Ew," Ruby said, "but that means you're ok with me going?"
"My dearest Ruby Rose," he said, "you have been given an amazing opportunity, of course, I'm ok with you attending Beacon, I'm far more than ok."
"Aw thanks-" she yawned- "Dad! I think I'm gonna go to bed now though."
"You crashing now?"
"Yup! See you tomorrow!"
Ruby stumbled up out of her seat, out of the room and the two yangs, Yang and Taiyang, listened to the small thuds of the stairs recede. Only once they'd heard the noise of her door closing did Yang speak, "You're not ok with her going, are you?"
"No," Tai sighed, "she's still so young. I thought I'd have another two years before she left for Beacon."
"Hey, we're not that far away. We can always pop back for a weekend if you're feeling lonely."
"That's nice of you, Yang, but not entirely it. I just don't want her to join Summer on that cliff."
"Oh," Yang said and looked down, "Ruby won't. I'll be there to protect her, don't worry."
"That's not fair on you either. This is your school career as much as it is hers, it's not fair to ask you to look after her, you deserve independence as much as she does."
"Hey! Looking after Rubes isn't a chore. I'm kinda hoping I end up on the same team as her."
"Really?"
"Yeah, two badass siblings and their friends, fighting the Grimm together. It'll be just like team STRQ, except better 'cause I'm not a lame old man." She flashed Tai a toothy grin.
"Yeah yeah," he said, "Well, if Ruby is going to Beacon with you, I guess I got a couple months to get her up to snuff."
"Early morning training routine?" Yang asked but the only response she got from her father was an evil smile.
Far away from Patch and the Xiao Long-Rose family home found another late-night meeting over the events of the day. One that premier criminal Roman Torchwich was not about to enjoy. His employer, a rather terrifying woman by all accounts, had flown them back to their warehouse on the edge of town without saying a word.
Honestly, the longer he could stall the meeting the better, the longer it would give him to think of an explanation for how his group of career criminals had lost a fight with a little girl. So he'd taken the opportunity to disappear for a moment when they'd touched down, busying himself with paying off all the usual people so no one would report the unregistered bullhead or his less-than-legal takeover of the warehouse.
Now he was back at their 'little' operation, an old SDC warehouse that they still owned but apparently never used. Not that you could tell the difference anyway, besides the bullhead, the whole thing was so stuffed full of dust it might as well have belonged to the SDC for all any visitor could tell.
And there was his boss, still standing next to the aircraft she'd bailed him out with. If he didn't know better he'd have thought she had a slight smile on her face, although whatever it was had vanished as he started to walk over.
"Roman-" she ran her hand over the airship's chassis as she walked towards him- "I thought I told you to avoid Ozpin's minions?"
He gulped again. "The, ah, hired 'help' you oh so generously provided thought it was a brilliant idea to pick a fight with a little girl. That little girl happened to have a scythe! Excuse me if I was a little busy fighting from my life against the Grimm Reaper's second coming to worry about avoiding noise complaints!"
"The Grimm Reaper's Second coming," she said as she turned to look at him, "I assure you, Roman, there was far more to the Grimm Reaper than just a scythe."
"Eh-" he took a step back- "You knew her or something?"
"Oh I didn't, no. My grandmother did, I believe. Well, I say she knew the Grimm Reaper, they ran into each other once or twice before the latter's end. I am distantly related to her though, not enough to matter but the connection is there."
"Ya ever seen a photograph of the reaper?" He asked, taking out a cigar and setting it alight.
"No, why do you ask?"
"Our valiant young girl this evening has the reaper's eyes. Think you might have a new relative or two since Granny snuffed out ol'Callivera. Which, by the way, if you aren't gonna say outright you should probably be more subtle about."
"Roman …"
He started pacing about the hanger, taking long drags from the cigar between sentences. "I'm not kidding. Believe me, I had many chances to get a peek at em, like when they were staring down a sniper scope at me, or over the shaft of her scythe, or afterwards when I'm running to the bullhead while she was trying to shoot me with the aforementioned sniper that her scythe somehow turns into, thanks for the save by the way. Silver as the bloody metal in your necklace-" he stopped and turned to her- "That is silver right?"
"Yes it's silver," she said, a tad offended Roman noticed and he wasn't sure if he was proud of himself or scared for himself but he was definitely on his own mind, "the Fall family wouldn't tolerate fake jewelry. And we're getting off track, the girl is the topic here. If you're sure she had silver eyes…"
"I am!" He interjected.
"Then our plan has changed. Lay low for a while, Roman, tell that oaf Junior he can have his men back, and he can keep the money."
"Eh-" he dropped the cigar- "I paid good money for those 'helpers', at your request. Why am I backing out, without getting my money back?"
"Oh Roman," she said almost seductively, "have a little faith, I'm not going to hang you out to dry, you'll be reimbursed for the men and the work you've done for the Fall household, plus extra for-" she paused and brushed his shoulders as if she was brushing off dust- "damages. Take the time to recoup from your traumatizing battle with a 15-year-old girl, I'll come up with a plan to deal with her. Although, Mother never mentioned meeting her fair-weather counterpart, so I wonder what became of our dear budding rose's mother?"
By the time Ruby reached Summer's grave, the clouds had closed in, as her dad had warned, and it had started to rain as he had said. She didn't mind though, she had her cloak up over her head and wrapped around her and it was providing quite an efficient shield against the rain.
Her mother's grave was on the cliff she had used to picnic on with Ruby and Yang, although Ruby was too young to remember. It was a simple thing, a slab of marble with the words "Summer Rose. Thus kindly I scatter" engraved on the surface but it stood out as the only man-made object on the cliffside.
"Hey, Mom! I got accepted to Beacon! Two years early, as well! I think I might not be able to come see you for a while, but when I do I'll have loads of stories about me and Yang's time at combat school! Oh! Yang got in as well, she got the letter this morning! So next time we come to see you we're gonna have loads of stories to tell you about our heroics!"
"And I met Professor Ozpin! He's weird, kinda reminds me of Uncle Qrow to be honest. He had to talk to me after that fight I was in, that's how I got into Beacon, I stopped an armed robbery, just Crescent Rose and I against like twelve thugs. But I followed Uncle Qrow's teaching and I kicked their ass! Guess it's as they say: Like Mother like daughter."
"Dad's said he's gonna use the time while we're out at Beacon to pick up some actual missions soon! I think he misses adventuring with you, I miss you too. But I'm gonna become just like you! Just wait and see! I'll be the best hero there ever was Mom, you'll be proud, I know it!"
She heard something scamper around behind her, "Oop! Stayed out too late! Dad said to be back before the Beowolves woke up. Oh well. See ya later Mom! Love you!"
Ruby turned and was off, walking alone through the woods, while black shapes flitted back and forth at the edges of her vision. Rule one of being a hunter may be "Treat every Grimm as a threat" but Ruby knows the Beowolves here, she's personally culled them every time they got antsy for the last year, and had been helping Yang and her dad do it for two years before that. They're only young, they're only small. True, she was tired from a long day, and true her aura was diminished. But she was Ruby Rose and these Beowolves weren't a threat.
"Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest," she sang the lullaby her mother had taught her, like every other time she had before, and enjoyed the slight twitches in the older ones, the cowards that ran from previous battles. She'd focus on them this time. And she was off: petals in the wind, the next line on her lips. Ruby Rose, (soon to be) huntress extraordinaire, and last rose of summer, brought the reaper's touch with her.