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Chapter 1

Ruby Rose had a mind-splitting headache.

Adding insult to injury was the fact that she wasn't one hundred percent positive what the source of the headache was. She remembered an explosion and an impact, but couldn't remember if she had actually landed on her head when she hit the ground. The whiskey could also have been the culprit.

Is it even possible to be hungover before you actually go to sleep? Ruby wondered as she examined her surroundings.

She was handcuffed to a table in an interrogation room with her back to the entrance, though this wasn't news to her. Among the memories she did have was being arrested and brought here. Standing across from her were two officers whose faces she recognized but couldn't think of their names for the life in her. Not exactly an uncommon notion, being a huntress who occasionally had to liaise with Vale's police department.

Still, there was a hole in her memory that Ruby very much wanted to have explained. Up to this point, the officers' voices had been background noise to her, so she started to listen and let their rambling jog her memories of the night's events.

She recalled finding herself with a predicament due to limited funds. As a huntress, she needed to maintain her equipment for her next mission. As a person trying to live her life in between said missions, she needed her coping mechanism.

Ruby ended up compromising: cheap booze followed by a trip to the nearest dust store to see what was on sale. The first part of the plan went off without a hitch, but hit a small snag when time came for the second.

She remembered being drawn in by glowing sign above From Dust Til Dawn's entrance, but pausing briefly at the sight of three armed thugs holding up the store owner. While Ruby had not been expecting this tonight, it was not really a surprise in the grand scheme of things.

As was often the case, peacetime usually came hand-and-hand with a lot of the old world's problems. Before Salem, magic was not a widely known about commodity. It would never really get a chance to become one either. The witch's defeat had resulted in Remnant losing its magic. That meant no more mystical artifacts, no more Maidens, and no more mysterious shape-shifting powers.

Of course, the end result of that was dust being as valuable as ever. Maybe more so, as the few individuals who were in the know about magic needed other ways to maintain their dominance.

Whatever the criminal's reasons were was unimportant in the end. It was Ruby's job to stop them, plain and simple.

"Time to be the hero," Ruby muttered to herself. She downed the last contents of the whiskey bottle in her hand before casting it aside and stepping into the store.

"Just give us the dust, old timer," the lead thug said he poked his gun in the shop owner's face.

"Hey!" Ruby called out, almost losing a step as she entered. She recovered, but doubled down on her tough voice in case her misstep wasn't unnoticed. "Back away from the balding man!"

"Seriously..." The thug sighed and reluctantly turned towards the entrance. "And who are you exactly?"

Ruby's reply came in the form of pulling Crescent Rose out from behind her back and letting the scythe unfold in all her glory. She accidentally knocked over one of the store's displays in the process, but played it cool in the hopes that doing so added to her intimidation factor.

"Huntress!" The other two cursed at her as well before opening fire.

Why do they always shoot first? Ruby questioned as she dove into one of the aisles for cover.

The shooting continued for a couple seconds before pausing, which Ruby took as a signal to make her move. She propelled herself forward and into the trio's midst. She then used her scythe to pull one of the would-be robber's feet right out from under him before bringing her blade down and cutting the second one's weapon in half.

Ruby wanted to consider this a victory, but the group's leader reminded her that he existed by reloading his weapon and training it on her. Acting on instinct, Ruby called on her semblance and let her increased speed carry her across the store.

On the positive side, every single bullet missed its mark. On the not so positive side, she misjudged the distance she had to travel, slamming into the dust dispenser at the back of the store. The casing shattered on impact and red dust was scattered everywhere.

Again, Ruby fell back on her instincts. She let Crescent Rose fold into her sniper rifle configuration and fired off a shot instantly. Not a particularly daring move on her part, as she had mastered the use of her weapon long ago. Not surprisingly, the bullet hit true, striking her target in the shoulder and causing him to drop his weapon.

What Ruby failed to account for was the possibility that her opponent would have a chance to pull the trigger one more time before he lost his grip and the weapon hit the ground. Even worse than that, the thug didn't even have the decency to shoot what was right in front of him. Instead, Ruby had to watch the bullet shoot downward at the pile of dust at her feet.

"Aw, nuts..." Ruby groaned as she watched the first spark ignite.

Having spent years working with dust of all kinds, Ruby didn't have to wonder what was coming next. Calling on her semblance one more time, she flew forward, grabbing hold of the store owner as she did. As they crashed the store's front window, the dust exploded behind them.

Having landed on the street outside, Ruby took a second before looking back in the direction she had come from. From Dust Til Dawn, to say the very least, had definitely seen better days. Sirens blared in the background, and with that, Ruby's memories were up to speed.

"So..." Ruby began as the officers paused to give her a chance to speak. "Am I free to go?"

The silence from both of them seemed to deny that possibility. Still, Ruby felt like it had been worth a try.

"Do you really think we can just let you off?" Officer Number One asked. "You caused damage to both private and public property."

"Oh, come on!" Ruby exclaimed as she tried to stand up, only to be reminded of her exact circumstances by a tug at her wrists and a sharp pain in her temple. "That was all on those robbers and you know it."

"Speaking of..." Number Two chimed in. "They're all suffering from varying degrees of burns on their bodies. You know what we call that?"

"Karma?"

"Excessive force," Number One corrected.

"Do you have any actual charges or not?" Ruby asked impatiently. Once upon a time, Ruby would never have considered mouthing off to the authorities. That, however, was a long time ago and, on top of that, she was having a lousy night. She was a licensed huntress and a veteran of the last war, so she doubted they really had anything to hold her on.

"We could probably dig up something," Number Two replied as he thumbed through the contents of a folder on the table. "You've been brought in here before, and you've been less than sober in all instances."

"Honestly, a huntress of your caliber with a track record like this makes the higher ups nervous," Number One continued, trying to sound honest. "They're concerned that some unlucky soul could end up dead because of you."

Any kind of reply from Ruby was cut short by a knocking against the interrogation room's one-way window. Confused, both officers left the room to investigate, leaving Ruby along with her thoughts.

Ruby clenched her fists together and leaned her forehead against them. She felt a brief burning in the corners of her eyes, but kept her emotions inside. This was not the place nor the time.

"You're an albatross, Kiddo."

The words echoed in her head, as did the officers' warnings. Ruby didn't need the reminder of who she was becoming. It was obvious, to the point where trying to convince herself otherwise seemed like a flat-out lie.

Ruby looked at her own reflection in the one-way window. She was still highly skeptical that any charges against against her would be able to stick, especially any pertaining to this particular instant. Still, part of her wondered what would happen if the charges actually did stick, and if anyone would really miss her if she was separated from the rest of the world.

Whatever the case, Ruby decided to let her thoughts fade away as the door behind her reopened. She didn't even bother to turn around and face the door, knowing she would find out what they had in store for her soon enough.

"Ruby Rose..." a familiar voice said from the doorway. "You have silver eyes."

Ruby still didn't turn around, now more out of irritation. "Screw you, Oz," she mumbled.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," Beacon's former headmaster replied, though in a manner more akin to his current host body, Oscar Pine. To be fair, though, the two souls had become indistinguishable from each other long ago.

As the dark-skinned "teenager" moved through the room to sit across from her, Ruby found herself trying to figure out how this fact made her feel. On the one hand, a friend of hers had become another in a long line of souls lost to Ozma's war with Salem.

On the other, there was just the simple fact that the ancient soul remained despite the world's magic being gone. It was strange comfort for Ruby to know that the human soul was comprised of more than just some ancient magic. Like aura and semblances, it was an innate part of them that couldn't just be taken away. Granted, the spell that allowed Ozma to reincarnate was now gone, which made Oscar the last person who would ever have to carry this burden. Once he died, Ozma would finally die with him.

"It's been... what?" Oscar pondered. "Six years since that night."

"You forgot the cookies this time," Ruby deadpanned. He wouldn't have come here without a reason. His wasting time pretending otherwise only made her headache worse.

"You'll have to forgive that oversight." Oscar grinned, not put off by Ruby's demeanor. "I've had a number of matters come across my desk recently."

"Beacon still lets you have a desk?"

"Headmaster Goodwitch has been quite accommodating, yes. Actually, one of those matters was to come speak with you."

"I guess I moved up that timetable." Ruby gestured to the room around her, or at least to the best of her ability given her current restraints. "So, what do you wanna chat about?"

Oscar's smile went away. "Have you been in contact with your father recently?"

"Yeah..." Ruby made it a point to sound disinterested. "I'm supposed to have dinner with him and Yang tomorrow night."

"Ruby..." No matter what body he inhabited, Oz could always sound like a disappointed teacher. "We both know I wasn't referring to Taiyang."

Ruby sighed, now stuck in yet another conversation she didn't want to have. "No, I couldn't tell you the last time I spoke to Qrow."

Speaking that last sentence out loud gave Ruby absolutely no sense of satisfaction. Qrow Branwen had been everything she ever wanted to become. He was one of the world's greatest huntsmen, the best teacher she had ever had, and was just as big a part of raising her as her adoptive father.

Theoretically, the revelation that Qrow was her biological father shouldn't have changed anything, and for a while it didn't. Qrow's reasoning for keeping said secret seemed to fall apart, and had almost stopped mattering. His semblance, which caused misfortune for those in its radius, was manageable and hardly a threat to Ruby's life, so he had stopped using that as an excuse long ago.

At least, that was until the war ended, and Qrow pretty much withdrew himself from her life entirely. He kept himself busy with missions, mostly tracking down the remnants of Salem's faction for Oscar. He refused to let her accompany him, and avoided making contact when he wasn't away.

Eventually, the message sank in. Much like she couldn't force Team RWBY to stay together after the war, Ruby knew that she couldn't force Qrow to be her father, no matter how much she wished she could.

Not that I can really blame him, Ruby thought as her eyes sank back down to her hands and wrists. She doubted he could even look at her without seeing the disappointment she had become.

"That's troubling..." Oscar muttered, almost to himself.

"That's kinda how most people describe our relationship," Ruby replied instantly.

"No, it's troubling because he hasn't made contact since he left for his last mission."

"What was the mission?" Ruby's heart sank a bit. Qrow was a lot of things, but invincible was not one of them.

"Hazel Rainart." The name was all that was needed to be said. One of Salem's inner circle, and the only one to go unaccounted for after his mistress' fall. Hazel's loyalty to her was only outweighed by his personal honor code and his hatred of Ozpin, who he blamed for his sister's death. Though he claimed to have no ill will towards anyone else, that was rarely the case in practice, particularly when it came to Ozpin's allies.

"You want me to track him down?" Ruby asked. Whatever their current troubles, Qrow was still her family, and she wasn't about to let anything happen to him.

"Unfortunately, there's no one else available whom I trust to complete this mission," Oscar explained. "In all honesty, I'd rather you didn't go alone."

"Well, I don't exactly have a team," Ruby pointed out before trying and failing to stand yet again. "When are they gonna let me out of here?"

"Once the conditions of your release have been met."

"Conditions?" Ruby was already nervous about what she was hearing. She wondered if he was being serious.

Oscar's grin returned, keeping his intentions vague. "The officers here are understandably concerned about the record you have recently acquired. They agreed to your arraignment on the condition that another huntress act as your supervisor for an... indefinite amount of time."

"How long is indefinite, again?" Ruby tugged at her restraints again.

"The details will be ironed out in due time." Oscar waved his hand at her dismissively. "I've actually already convinced someone to take the job. Someone you're familiar with."

"Who exactly?" Ruby asked nervously as the door behind her opened once again.

"Someone who's obviously as big a dolt as you are," a weary voice answered. Again, Ruby recognized said voice instantly, though this time she was unsure if she should jump for joy or hide in terror.

First off, I want to give a quick thanks to anyone who's made it this far. It means a lot to me that you've taken the time. I'll try to be quick and concise in explaining what exactly this fic is.

In the most general sense, it's Post Canon, though I imagine it will be an AU within the next couple of months. While I don't want to ignore established canon, I also don't want to chase continuity once Vol. 7 starts. Needless to say, there's a lot in just this chapter alone that's off from my actual predictions of how the show will unfold. I'm also kicking around ideas for a much longer fic involving these characters, and this story serves as a means for me to get a feel for them.

More specifically, though, this story obviously deals with (among other things) the "Qrow is Ruby's father" theory, which I've come to learn is a bit of a touchy subject. I'm sure I'll get to talk about my specific feelings on the theory later on, but for now all I'll say is that I want to do something slightly different than the norm when it comes to this topic. Very few stories I've read actually deal with Ruby's POV, and none that I can remember deal with much past revelation itself. Needless to say, I'm more interested in Ruby and Qrow's relationship itself, and what this change in dynamic would mean to them (if anything at all).

Anywho, if you did like what you read here, chapters 2 and 3 are each about 99% done and should be up within the next few days. Leave a review if you feel up to it and I'll talk at you guys soon.