Ruby Schnee

"Here... here... and... here." With the last rune set, the workshop lit up momentarily with a glow of mana. Ruby nodded at a job well done and put her chalk down before standing. "It's done."

"This isn't the Curse Remover..." She turned her eyes to the side to glance at the red figure still hovering around her... he had became a lot less aggressive and just kinda sassy since they found out he couldn't do anything to her anymore.

"It's not... wait, you cant recognise it at a glance?" Her confusion spread from her voice to her face as she fully turned to him now.

He shrugged. "Guess I can't use the passive Technical recognition..."

"Is that the actual name of the passive?"

"No, it dosent have one... speaking of which, you should probably give the Curse Remover ritual a better name." He let out a sigh. He had a lot more of his normal features now, he wasn't just a red Humanoid anymore. More like a glowing red Rory. "So, what's this do then?" He crouched down to get a closer look at the ritual.

Ruby glanced around the Royal laboratory... in truth she just called it her workshop now... since Weiss had told her to. Speaking of the Queen, she was sitting on a bench against one of the walls of the room, and Ruby waved her over.

"It's an identifying ritual... there's something I need to check." She removed her cloak as Weiss approached and Rory made a noise of confusion.

"I thought your cloak was just some Shifter Clothing...?"

"So did i-" Ruby spoke in her mind now, not wanting to concern Weiss. She had already told her Rory was still here though. "But apparently Weiss tried to use it while you had my body... and it didn't work."

"Maybe it's just keyed to you?"

"Maybe... but may as well check." Ruby had a theory... and she had the resources to check.. so why not?

She slowly folded her cloak in her arms and stepped into the circle, gently placing it in the middle before stepping out again.

"You ok?" She softly smiled at Weiss's words and nodded.

"Yeah." She leaned down and pressed her palm to the outside of the circle, sending a pulse through it to activate it. "The results will display using illusion magic-" She stood back up as they waited. "But it shouldn't be that much information-"

"Or not." Rory's voice carried his smirk as they all stared at the data that appeared floating above the cloak and circle.

It was a lot to take in... firstly it was a Gilded tier item, which Ruby hadn't even known her mother could make... secondly it was virtually indestructible, but it wasn't the best defensive item since most damage would just carry through it.

Most of the budget of the item was actually taken up by enchantments meant to keep it from being identified by anyone not willing to go through a ritual...

But the most important part?

There was something missing.

"There's... no Shifter Enchantment..." Weiss voiced her own surprise before Ruby could... she was too stunned to form words.

"...why...?" She wasn't trying to speak to Rory, rather it was the only thing she could think at the moment.

"I'll spell it out for you stupid." Rory had to be an arse about it. "Look at the name."

"The name..?" Most magic items had names ingrained into there enchantments, she hadn't even thought to check for one at first...

But she found it.

"A Mother's belief..." Weiss said it out loud for them both, and Ruby couldn't stop herself as tears welled into her eyes.

"She told me it was a Shifter Enchantment to show she believed in me... but didn't actually include one... cause she believed I'd actually do it..."

Her tears kept flowing and she couldnt wipe the smile off of her face.

"How did she know what the Rose Dragon could do...?" Rory's question didn't matter to her right now... she was just too happy to care.

"This is it?"

"Yeah... this is the Curse Remover..." Rory let out a groan as Ruby spoke and the girl sighed.

"What's wrong?" Weiss pressed a hand to Ruby's cheek as she spoke and Ruby blushed lightly while shaking her head.

"Nothing! Just... someone else is being annoying." She glanced to Rory and Weiss tilted her head for a moment before her eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh. Is he being... difficult... about this...?"

"Surprisingly... no."

"I know when I'm beaten." Rory shrugged as he spoke and Ruby nodded, turning back down to the once again altered ritual circle.

A much, much more complicated ritual then the identifying one from earlier... this was perhaps the most confusing magic circle arrangement Ruby had ever seen.

"I couldn't have figured this out if I tried..." Rory didnt remark on her words, even though she had spoken in her mind to direct them to him.

"So, what now?"

"Now... I stand in the middle of it and turn it on. I've made it target the Curse on my title so... should mean bye-bye Rory." She stood and moved into the centre, both Weiss and Rory stood nervously just outside it. "Here goes nothing..." She sent a pulse of mana through her feet, and the circle lit up with magic as it started to consume Dust and charge.

"Ruby." She turned to Rory and he was looking at her genuinely for the first time. "I hope things turn out better for you then they did for me."

"Being nice to a Dragon for once?"

"I'm being nice to my Neice... give or take a few generations." He turned away with a sigh. "My memories won't leave with me... they'll be waiting. If you ever need there help... you can watch the last one... and... well...? You should get all my knowledge with it..." He seemed nervous about this.

Ruby wasn't planning on looking into those memories anytime soon. "You ready to go?"

"Dosent matter... I'm not 'going' anywhere... I'm just gonna be erased... I'm not actually Rory... just... a copy of his personality." The circle was nearly charged now.

"Rory i-"

"I tried to kill your wife remember? More then once... so... don't feel bad for me."

"I don't." That actually confused him funnily enough. "I don't feel bad for you... or sorry for you... but... I do understand how you feel."

"How could you-"

"Because I literally felt the things you felt in your memories." She sighed and glanced down at the circle... just a few more seconds. "Goodbye Rory... i won't let history repeat itself."

He smiled and shook his head with a sigh. "I know it wont... afterall..." A bright light burned through the room as the ritual completed, and Ruby felt a searing pain in her soul as the Curse was torn off of her title. "You're stronger then me." His words were barely a whisper and sounded more distant then before...

When she opened her eyes...

It was just her and Weiss again.

"Did it... work...?" She turned to the Queen with a smile... she sounded so concerned still.

Ruby glanced around the room... no more red figure. "Yeah... it worked." Weiss smiled and stepped into the circle, grabbing Ruby's hands in her own as she did.

"Good. You have magic practice this afternoon, and I'd hate for you to be interrupted by any weird visions during it."

"Yeah, sure-" Ruby eyed Weiss down. "That's why you're glad he's gone." Weiss looked away guiltily and Ruby smirked.

It had been about a week since the rescue mission... and well... Weiss had been adamant to... get 'reacquainted' with Ruby everytime they went to bed.

Ruby didn't exactly feel comfortable with that given she had someone else in her head, so she'd been saying no. One look at Weiss's expression now though showed that tonight would probably have a different answer.

Weiss chuckled gently and shrugged, she opened her mouth to speak but Ruby did first. "Tonight, there's something I want to talk to you about." That got the Queens attention and made her pause.

"Anything bad?"

"No! No I just..." Ruby rubbed the back of her head awkwardly and smiled. "We'll talk about it later ok?"

Weiss simply smiled gently and nodded. "Ok."

"Getting rid of the magic circle? That's what you wanted to discuss?"

"Not... exactly..." Ruby blushed as she looked away, currently crouched at the end of there bed with a piece of chalk in hand.

"With Rory gone we don't need the alarm anymore... do you want to keep it just in case?"

"I want to change what the circle does..." Ruby's blush grew and she could feel Weiss's confusion without even turning back to look at her.

"To what? Do you want to make a barrier or-?"

"Weiss... r-remember awhile ago how you told me about your father calling...?"

"He calls often Ruby. You're going to have to he more specific." Ruby glanced back at her wife, still standing and now with crossed arms.

"The umm... heir thing..." A red flush moved over the Queens pale face and she nodded gently while glancing away.

"Ah... I... I see..." She paused for a moment before turning back to Ruby. "Wait, if you're altering the circle-"

"Yeah I..." Ruby turned back to the runes on the floor and smiled gently to herself. "I want to now... have kids I mean..."

"So you didn't before?" Weiss's suspicion had probably just been confirmed...

"Weiss i... everything I saw over the past week or so... everything I learned... the only thing that matters about it is that I want a family with you."

"What did you see in Rory's memories?"

"That dosent matter. What does matter is us." She stood and turned to her. "And the fact that I have no clue what this ritual is supposed to look like." Weiss gently facepalmed and sighed.

"I'll call Glynda. I should probably inform Ozpin as well..." She muttered that last part to herself and walked over to the nightstand with the Scrying Orb.

"I wonder how much giving birth is gonna hurt..." Ruby mumbled that and Weiss groaned.

"Don't remind me... Luckily you won't have to go through it."

"What do you mean?" Ruby moved over but kept her words to herself as Weiss called a servant to fetch Glynda. Once the call had ended she turned back to Ruby with a smile.

"I'll be carrying the child."

"Weiss... that dosent make any sense. Logically I mean."

"I think it makes perfect sense. I can still rule while pregnant... you cant exaclty be a Hunter while pregnant." That was true... but...

"You can protect me Weiss. I'm not strong enough to protect-" Weiss shut her up with a gentle kiss, Ruby was unable to resist melting into the exchange just before the Queen cut it off with a soft smirk.

"You'll just have to be." Her eyes held absolute confidence, and Ruby felt weak seeing it.

"How can she believe in me so much...?"

Her mind flashed with memories of Rory and Eirwen... that fate they shared... the child they never had...

She wrapped Weiss in a tight hug and nodded gently.

"You're right. I will be strong enough." She didn't even activate her Pride for that. Weiss's belief in front of her... Summers belief wrapped around her shoulders...

It wasn't a question anymore.

"I refuse to be weak."

Roman Torchwick

"So? How'd it go?" The only response he got was a mask thrown at him, the white eye cover landing squarely in his chest before landing in his lap. "That good huh?"

"Shut it Roman." Adam was certainly pissy today.

"I take it the White Fang bases have been completely weeded out of Vale?" Cinders voice was a breath of relief. Even though Roman liked to antagonise Adam, he knew the faunas was always a step away from killing him.

"What do you think." His rage covered both his voice and eyes.

"It dosent matter... our prize was better then we could of hoped for." Cinder was certainly happy today... her voice actually held emotion for once.

"Weren't we after the Dragon Formula? What prize could be better then that?" Roman stood and moved over to the table Cinder was leaning over... on it there was a drawing of what was probably the most confusing ritual circle he had ever seen.

"Our genius little Vampire was watching Rory at all times... and she kept recordings of everything he did." Cinders voice matched her smirk and she turned to a nearby magic circle... this place was no warehouse, but the hideout was still pretty big. "And now we just need Dust to replicate his work."

"How much Dust?" She turned back to Roman at his words and smiled... the geniune expression was creepy on her face.

"Enough to collapse a Kingdom."

I'm not too happy with this first part of the story, for anyone else that feels the same way as I do, I hope you'll enjoy the next part more.