Ruby Schnee

It felt like just another metal box. Honestly, given what it actually was, that feeling was impressive.

Ever since becoming a Dragon, getting a bonus to her Affinity, Ruby had been able to appreciate magic items and structures to a much greater degree. This airship was no different. Even with the rumbles of the engines on either side of the hull, the sights they could see out the windows - well, the sights she could see thanks to her night vision - all of it should make them feel like they were in motion... but it just didn't. Ruby sat on a metal seat with a simple cushion built into it to make it comfy, and she was confident that she could walk or even run up and down the expanse of the vehicle and have it feel the exact same as it did on the ground.

"Magic is awesome."

So, here she sat, a dumb smile on her face while she kicked her feet back and forth. "What's got you so happy?" Silver eyes opened, and her head tilted as she turned to Robyn, the woman in question looking much less impressed about this situation. Maybe she was just bored.

"Just appreciating the ship." Ruby's smile was true, but her words were technically a lie. There was actually another reason she was happy right now, and that reason was sitting right next to her. Amber eyes belonging to the person next to her flicked to the happy Dragon, and Blake couldn't help but smile as well.

"Only you could be so happy about spending hours on an airship." Ruby didn't deny it for a second, it would be a lie if she did. In truth, she was really excited to be on a mission with Blake, after all, growing up she had always wanted to go with Yang and Blake on their missions. Speaking of which, Ruby was sure that Yang was disappointed that she couldn't come.

A few minutes passed before words were exchanged again, Robyn once again speaking up from the silence. "Why are we even taking this thing? Couldn't you just fly us there faster?" A raised eyebrow graced her expression as she turned to her left, and Winter kept an unimpressed expression as she met her eyes.

"Yes, the whole point is that they're trying not to be seen." With a nod of her head, she gestured to Ruby and Blake, who were sitting opposite the other two.

Winter was right, this was a stealth mission, which was why Blake had been chosen for it. Ruby was being sent for two reasons, the first was to provide muscle, and the second was to help locate the ships.

"Once we land on Vytal, we'll meet with an informant of mine." Ruby couldn't help but vibrate with excitement as Blake spoke, she was making it sound like a cool spy mission, one Ruby had always wanted to go on. "You two don't have a big role, but it's important anyway."

Officially, this ship wasn't actually going to Vytal. Rather, it was taking Robyn and Winter straight to Atlas. Luckily, the flight path just happened to pass over Vytal, and if it happened to lose a bit of weight as it did, well, that wasn't necessary to report. The two women bound for Atlas, however, had the role of making it seem like Ruby and Blake actually had made it to Atlas. Changing a few documents here and there wasn't too difficult, and it would be assumed that they'd stay in the castle anyway.

Not long after, Blake spoke up once more. "We're approaching the island." Ruby jumped out of her seat as soon as the words were spoken, and she was quick to grab her bag.

"Take care." Winter and Ruby exchanged an awkward handshake, while Blake and Robyn simply nodded to each other. Honestly, Ruby wasn't sure which goodbye was stranger.

Proceeding to the back of the ship, Ruby turned to Blake with a confused expression. "Won't it be on the ship's record if the ramp opens mid-flight?"

Blake nodded, and with a small smirk, she shoved Ruby with one hand into the wall. "Yep." The Dragon was confused for a moment as she passed straight through the wall, not breaking it, rather just somehow passing through it with no issue.

"Wha-" Her voice became obscured quickly as she started falling. Her expression still confused and not at all worried as she fell head first, plummeting faster and faster as she held a hand to her chin mid-drop and still upside down. "Was that Spatial magic?" Ruby had never actually seen it used that way, it was creative to say the least.

Looking down now, she couldn't help but smile as she got a good view of the island once more. Even after falling for a minute already, she was still higher up over the island then she had been when flying over it as a Dragon not too long ago. As the wind passed through her hair, her cloak thrashing around violently behind her, she couldn't help but laugh. Something like this would probably be scary for most people, yet, she had no worries whatsoever.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Ruby took it all in. The cold winds of night, the smells from the island and sea surrounding it wafting up to her nose even this high up... Then, the sound of something falling near her. Her eyes now open, she glanced over and smiled as Blake made eye contact, the faunas looking much more professional than herself in this situation. "Hey, Blake?" Speaking with telepathy, she let a cheeky voice leak through. "Betcha I can land first."

Blake's eyes widened in confusion and maybe a bit of concern, but, they quickly turned to looking back beneath them as the island got bigger and bigger during their approach. Using what Ruby could only guess was Wind magic, Blake started to slow down in her descent, meanwhile, the younger girl let out a laugh as she kept her speed heading straight for the floor.

While Ruby was confident she could survive the fall... If she had her magic items on and was transformed, she had no intention of actually crash landing. Mere moments before she became a red blot on the ground, her body exploded in a much different fashion. Her form and being came apart and split into a wild mass of rose petals that split off and moved in rapid and wild directions, all just hovering above the ground, before they all pulled back together, and she reformed on her feet.

"Easy!" Her exclamation was complete with a small bounce and her hands thrown into the air.

"Ruby-" Blake was interrupted as the girl in question squeaked, jumping and quickly turning to see the other already rolling her eyes. "I commend you for landing quietly, but can you maybe stop yelling?"

"Oh, right, sorry." As much as Ruby wanted to show off in front of Blake for this mission, she was smart enough to listen to her. After all, Blake had just proved how good she was at the whole 'stealth' thing, sneaking up on a Dragon was no small feat. "So, where to now?"

"We're going to meet with my informant immediately. He should be in a nearby town."

Blake had already started moving as she spoke, and Ruby jogged a little to catch up. "How do you know where we are?"

"I... looked? While we were falling?" They shared a look for a moment before Ruby turned away with an embarrassed cough. "It really is a good thing I'm here."

"Not like I ever actually thought I could do a mission like this on my own."

They hadn't landed in a clearing, rather just between the gaps in the trees. The forest was dark and peaceful, a gentle breeze rustling the leaves and bushes they moved past without issue. The whole area seemed to almost glow a deep blue colour, at least to Ruby. She was sure that Blake was seeing a rather different sight, they didn't share the same kind of night vision, after all. Still, the moonlight would be more than enough for both of them to see perfectly, and they passed through the trees without disturbing them anymore than the breeze was. Blake, of course, was naturally adept at keeping her form and disturbance of her surroundings to a minimum, while Ruby could simply pass through any obstacles as a cloud of rose petals.

Things only grew harder after the treeline broke, and they arrived at the bottom of a hill, it was covered completely in blades of grass, no stone or dirt visible in the gentle incline. Both women slinked up the mound without issue, and once at the top they laid down on their stomachs to get a look at what lay ahead. Being their destination, of course.

The town was surprisingly lively for how late it was in the night, nearly every building had lights leaking out through the windows, and lamps illuminated all but the smallest of streets. Even from this angle, Ruby could recognise this as the town at the centre of the island. Looking around, she couldn't spot the crater that spawned the Colosseum, so for now she assumed that they were on the opposite side of the town to it.

"Where are we going?" Ruby whispered her question as quietly as she could, but in the calm of the night it still felt way too loud.

"Look for a building with a blue candle by the window." Blake's instructions were clear, yet unhelpful.

Looking back at the town, Ruby was unsure at first how to explain that looking for a blue colouring amongst the usually grey or silver candleholders wasn't a good idea with how her night vision worked... But as her eyes flicked to a different part of town, she understood immediately why that didn't matter.

Her finger outstretched and pointed to the window. "There." Her whisper made Blake shift her eyes over to the place Ruby was signalling to, a window that had a candle with a blue flame by it.

"Huh... I wasn't expecting that." Blake's reaction didn't fill Ruby with the most confidence about this mission, perhaps this informant wasn't as competent as they had thought. Or, at least, didn't share as much as they were hoping. "Let's go."

Soaring over the rooftops, a shadow and a cloud of rose petals passed over streets and the narrow gaps between buildings as they moved to their destination. No sound were made by them, the closest thing one could even call to a disturbance of their causing was the slightest of changing in the breeze that they passed through. Arriving at the window, a shadow grew over the opening into the house, the second story of an Inn, it looked like upon closer viewing. First inside was Blake, passing over and through the desk just next to the window without even disturbing the blue flame that had led them there. Next, of course, were hundreds or maybe even thousands of rose petals slowly seeping in, settling after the desk and forming once again into the previous intruders sister-in-law.

Blake continued her light movements, it was strange to see from Ruby's perspective. Even though it looked like she was just walking normally... she made no sound, left no disturbances, created no scent. Even with the senses of a Dragon, the only one that could detect the Faunas was Ruby's eyes... and perhaps that was only because Blake wasn't trying to hide from her. After a moment of getting their bearings, it was made clear that this room was being used. More than likely by a man thanks to the clothing Ruby spotted laying on the bed... and judging from the shut bathroom door with a light leaking from the crack beneath it, she could guess that he was still here.

"Your informant?" Ruby approached Blake and spoke as quietly as she could, yet even still, the Faunas turned to her with a frown. For a moment, Ruby was confused, but that sensation ended as the light beneath the bathroom door flickered... Had he heard her? Even while having a shower?

As the bathroom door shot open and a man barely hiding his delicate's from the world with only a towel moved out holding a toothbrush as if to use it as a weapon, Blake casually tripped him with her foot before he made it a few steps. The situation as awkward - At least for Ruby - for a good few seconds as he lay there on the floor, face down, and completely exposed besides that.

"Hah!" His head shot up suddenly, and Ruby decided to turn away before any more of his front side was revealed. "I caught you, Blake! You aren't as sneaky as you used to-"

With a slap over the back of his head to shut him up, a very annoyed looking Blake Xiao Long grabbed the man's clearly prepared clothes on the bed and threw them in his face. "You heard Ruby, not me." For a moment, the girl in question had to wonder if the Faunas was actually annoyed by that or not.

Once the man was back on his feet, and clothed, did Ruby turn to look at him again. His appearance was... average. Though, the men Ruby were used to seeing were Knights or Hunters, so she didn't have the best grasp on what the average male physic was meant to look like. It wasn't like she was attracted to his form anyway, which was why she didn't feel awkward when he refrained from putting on a shirt at first. Deep black hair that she could compare to Blake's own, and solid Orange eyes that Ruby could recognise the meaning of in a glance. Just a basic Fire Affinity, though the question of how high remained.

"Good to see you again, Blake." He outstretched a hand to shake her own, but the woman only responded with a raised eyebrow, not even unfolding her arms. "Ok then-" So, he turned to Ruby instead... and his eyes lit up. "Well, well... quite the beauty we have here." Blake's attitude towards him suddenly made sense, as Ruby couldn't help but fold her own arms. "Wow, record time rejection." He didn't even take offence, just laughed it off like it was genuinely funny and moved on from it. Quick to move, the man headed straight for his bedside table, blowing out the candle sporting a blue flame as he did. "So, what can I help you ladies with?"

"Dust shipment, it was lost over the island."

"Atlas?"

"Who else?"

"Any guards?"

"Small crew on the vessel, and an attack ship serving as guard."

"Ah... Well, that does complicate things."

Their words were quick and brief, as if the circumstance was the most boring conversation in the world, ever, of all time.

Turning back after he found what he was looking for, the man presented a book... Well, rather, a tome. Ruby recognised the magic in it quickly, the Grimoire practically dripping with it. Admittedly, she stared at the book for a moment, and only after she realised that the man holding it was smirking at her did she know she had been caught.

"Silver eyes must be so fun." He said it casually and moved past, heading to a corner of the room where a large standing mirror leaned against a wall. "So," He spoke while as he leaned down to the floor, beginning to copy a ritual from his book onto the ground. "Why has the Queen Consort of Vale come to my humble abode?"

"You know who I am-?"

"Oh, come on, Re-" He paused, somehow sensing her disdain for that nickname before he even completed saying the word. "-Ruby." He corrected himself. "Who wouldn't recognise you? The descriptions I've heard match you perfectly, and no one else besides you just walks around with Legendary items like they're nothing." The words were casual as he drew the ritual, hands repeating the motion like he had done it a hundred times... Ruby questioned why he even needed the book.

"Am I really that recognisable?" She turned to Blake with a bit of a meek voice, and the Faunas simply gave her a patient smile with a shrug... as if that explained anything.

"It doesn't help that most of Remnant has seen your face-" The man spoke up again. "Remember the Vytal festival?" Ruby nearly facepalmed, how could she forget that? It had been broadcasted to all over Remnant. "I'm pretty sure everyone in this town specifically would recognise you with a glance."

Ruby winced a bit at his words... it was true that, even counting the Capitals of all four kingdoms, this town celebrated the Vytal Festival the hardest.

"It probably wasn't the best idea to send me on a stealth mission..." Her words rung with a flat tone for a moment, but Blake rested a hand on her shoulder to hopefully ease her worries.

"Don't worry, that's why we're here with him." She gestured to the man, and Ruby could have sworn she watched him almost flinch.

"I have a name, you know."

"I actually didn't." Ruby piped up with a now more cheery tone, and the man sighed before turning to them again with exasperation.

"Onyx. My name is Onyx Malachite."

"So, what does this do?" Ruby finally decided to ask once she had been positioned over the ritual circle.

Her question only spurred confusion in Onyx for a moment. "You don't know?"

"I mean, I could. I just haven't looked at the ritual circle yet, I figured you wanted to show off and tell me all about it." Ruby's words were blunt, and the man standing nearby frowned.

"How can someone so pretty form an opinion about a person that quickly." That was the second time he had complemented Ruby's looks, and it was starting to weigh on her mind. Not for any of the obvious reasons, rather... She wasn't sure if she was pretty. Sure, she knew Weiss liked how she looked... or, at least, loved her personality beneath it. But Ruby didn't look amazing or anything.

Funnily enough, for once, her private and mental self deprecation went noticed. "Ruby-" She turned, looking at Blake with a tilted head. "Look at this." Pulling a slot from her Scroll, Blake showed it to Ruby as it changed and melded shape, turning into a flat piece of metal and forming a picture on it. Ruby recognised the device as a sort of changing picture frame, it could show any images the user had saved on it, and the one it currently held was one Ruby remembered well. Holding it gently, she let her mind wander and dip into nostalgia as she looked at the memory, the picture of her wedding day. It was before the reception or ceremony had started, only a few people were in the cathedral, and Ruby and Weiss hadn't even begun to get ready yet... So, of course, Yang decided that was the perfect time for a group photo.

Ruby and Weiss stood next to each other, practically holding the other close with all their might and gigantic smiles on their expressions. Yang and Blake were to their left, doing much the same... and to the right of the picture, Jaune and Pyrrha stood close... But separate. "I still can't believe he didn't notice that she liked him..." Eventually, of course he had, but even looking into this image, it was crystal clear that she wanted to pull him close and stand like the other couples.

"Pay attention." Blake said with a smile, using two fingers to focus the image so it concentrated on Weiss and Ruby in the middle. The entire piece of metal was now taken up by just those two, and Blake gestured to Ruby in the image. "Look closely."

She did, she really did. But, after a minute or two of staring at herself... Well, Ruby had no clue what she was supposed to be looking at. "Blake-"

"Now, look there." Following her instructions, Ruby looked away from the image and turned to her right... looking into the tall mirror, and seeing herself.

Only, she didn't see what she expected to. Ruby was meant to be of a shorter height, standing well under both Blake and Yang... Ruby had puffy cheeks that looked like she still somehow had baby fat in them... Ruby had a body that while most would call attractive, few would call well-defined.

But that wasn't what she saw. Instead, Ruby saw... her? Maybe? She wasn't sure. It was almost certainly the same person... just...

"Older."

Gone were the strange assumed baby fat in her cheeks and lack of definition in her face, Ruby had a well-defined structure and a strangely mature focus to her eyes now... like the shape of her eyes had shifted from full circles to a sharper shape. She was taller, seeing Blake in the mirror next to her revealed that she was slightly taller than her now... maybe only just under Yang's height as well. Her body was different, her proportions had shifted ever so slightly enough and given her a figure that she once would have killed for... None of it was right, she knew what she looked like and... glancing back at the picture, she saw it. She saw what she was meant to look like, so... Why did the mirror show different?

Taking the image once again in her hand, she held it up so it took up half her vision, with the other half being the mirror... It was like playing a strange game of spot the difference, and it confused her to no end. These two were definitely the same people but... She had changed, grown, gotten mature, older... Ruby looked like an adult, and it was strange that she ever thought she didn't.

"What's going on...?" Her voice... now that she thought about it, concentrated on it... it was different. Only slightly, just a small drop in its tone that gave her that same growing familiar sense of maturity.

"Ruby-" Blake smiled at her. "You grew up."

"Is... is this the ritual-?" She turned to Onyx, but the man just shook his head.

"That's all you. You really haven't noticed what you look like?" Ruby shook her head nervously as an answer, and with a hand lifted to her face, she gently touched her own cheek as she stared at her reflection.

"I... I guess I never noticed." It was a strange sensation, and one she would no doubt feel for a while now that the difference had been pointed out to her.

"You stopped changing about a year ago." Blake helpfully chimed in, giving Ruby a time frame to look back on... but why had she changed at all...?

"Creatures all reach physical maturity at twenty, with Humans as the exception at about twenty-six... I guess, changing into a Dragon... I kept maturing, just faster?"

This was likely how she would look for eternity... and even after all of that confusion, Ruby wasn't about to complain. Still, though, a thought lingered at her mind as she glanced at the picture again... The image of Weiss next to her making her wonder if she had somehow missed the changes her wife had undergone...

But, for now, there was work to be done. Specifically, the work involving the ritual Onyx had just completed.

The man stood with a sigh and activated the ritual with a snap of his fingers, the circle giving off a faint glow... though, it itself turned black. "Alright, got any ideas, Blake?"

"A few... first of all." Ruby watched with confusion as Blake waved her arms about in the air between them, the actions looking strange from Ruby's perspective... So much so in fact that she turned to face her.

"You sure? I feel like she just stands out more now." Onyx's voice reflected the uneasiness on his face, and that was enough for Ruby to glance down at the ritual.

"... Illusion magic based, seems to place a temporary enchantment on the target, enchantment becomes permanent until the Mana supply runs out once the ritual is done... Currently, the enchantment is in a sort of... 'editing' mode... if I had to guess what this does..."

Her eyes moved back up, and she turned again to the mirror.

Funnily enough, what she saw this time was even more foreign than the last surprise she had gotten from looking into it.

Her shape, figure, body, it was all the same... baring two changes. Her hair was now a flat snow-white in colour and seemed to fall straighter across her back, while her eyes had changed to an almost crystal Light Blue in colour. Of course, she recognised those features immediately, and turned to Blake to question why exactly she had made her resemble a Schnee proper. Her question failed to leave her mouth however when she turned, interrupted by Blake snapping a photo of her from the front.

"Um... Blake?" A different question than she meant to ask, but one Blake just responded to with a smile. The vague nature of her behaviour grew even stranger as the camera in her hands collapsed, changing into a small metal piece that slotted neatly into her Scroll.

Ruby, being a Technical Wizard, was able to connect the dots. And once she had done so, looked at her sister-in-law with a frown. "Who are you sending that photo to?"

Messages, a new form of communication created recently in Vale, and for once, the new technology was not of Ruby's own making. The system went hand-in-hand with Scroll's, which were slowly becoming less and less exclusively for the higher class as their prices dropped, and they became more affordable for the average citizen. A certain man had taken it upon himself to take advantage of the situation, and created a new form of communication using the now soon-to-be readily available Scroll's... being Messages. Linking multiple slotted devices together in the Scroll, it was possible to send images and even strings of text to another Scroll in range.

This had been all well and good, and after many tests he had hoped to present this technology to the Council in hopes for funding... Unfortunately, Ruby found him first.

All forms of communication were done through Scrying Orbs, as they were easy, reliable, and had a massive range even when using a small one and not being near a range-extender. This obviously led to the creation of barriers and enchantments that could block the signals, then the development of methods to catch and hear private transmissions. This sort of battle that had been waged with the technology, was completely skipped over and dumped on by this one man. His creation of the message system used visuals only, not requiring sound to work. All the technology, designed to block transmissions or catch them when made with Scrying orbs, only worked to intercept sound.

Ruby had found the transmissions only thanks to a project she had never finished, a TV that had been mostly taken apart and sitting in her lab for her to never finish... But, it caught the signal of the test messages the man was sending out. After tuning it to better zero in on the source of the signal, Ruby tracked the 'wizard' down a whole week before he was set for a meeting with the council.

Suffice to say, she was impressed once it had been made clear that he wasn't an enemy. The man got what he wished and was given funding that was nearly reaching to what Ruby received when she had been looking for the Dragon Formula, but he wasn't allowed to show it to the public, not yet.

The technology would leak eventually, as was always the case... But for now, while it hadn't? Well, Vale was planning on abusing this system to relay information privately through Border Barriers.

"Oh-" Blake smiled, that smile that one could only do when they were planning on being cheeky. "Just the Queen."

Ruby wanted to voice her complaint... She wanted desperately to argue and tell Blake not to...

But a different thought came to mind first. "Hey Blake...? Could you um... ask her a favour for me?" Her nervous voice had the faunas girl intrigued... and she held off on sending the photo until hearing Ruby out.

Weiss Schnee

Another breeze passed through the room, and another sigh left the Queen's lips. How used she had become to Ruby's presence over the years, that now even preparing for bed without her felt all wrong. She brushed her hair diligently, but there was no want or urgency from her soul to climb into bed... her favourite part of the experience wasn't here, after all.

"Get it together, Weiss."

Once more, she sighed, and gently put down the brush as her body slumped in the seat. Her hands moved to her face and gently pushed her hair up as she tried to control herself. "I bet Ruby doesn't have this issue." Every time she left, for whatever reason, it always made Weiss miserable.

She wasn't stupid, of course, it made sense to miss her wife... Yet, the feeling was so overbearing... Why couldn't she shake it? Slowly but surely she looked up, hair falling like a waterfall over the back of the chair as she stared up at the roof and closed her eyes.

"Every time I close my eyes... every time Ruby isn't here... Why do I get this feeling...? This awful, sinking feeling..."

The feeling like they were marching towards something horrible, and Weiss had no way to stop it.

Her thoughts and fears were stolen from her as her Scroll on the desk in front of her let out a gentle hum of noise, accompanied by a soft glow of blue light. Reaching out for it, she pulled one of the pieces of metal from its Slot, a name appearing on its side and her brow furrowing in response.

"A message from Blake?"

The metal flattened and grew in her hand, forming a picture... with an image she wouldn't soon forget.

Ruby, Ruby Schnee, her Ruby... with white hair and light blue eyes.

For a moment, she had to drink it in, simply thinking about how strangely good she looked with it... and momentarily question why exactly she found it so alluring to stare at? It wasn't like any families besides her own normally carried those features... And she momentarily prayed that it wasn't some kind of desire for a 'pure blooded relationship'. Shuddering those thoughts away, she looked at the image again and smiled gently... finally realising why she liked it so much.

"We match."

A hand ran through her own silky white hair, and she almost missed the message at the bottom of the image before her eyes flicked to it... A message from Blake, of course. But one that made her even more strangely excited than the image had.

"Your wife wants a picture of you."

Weiss read it over once, twice, three times, then more times she could count before her brain finally settled on accepting that it did indeed say those words. "But... does she mean a normal picture... or...?" A blush stretched across her face at the thought of sending Ruby a dirty picture, not because of the actual sending of the picture mind you, rather her blush was formed thanks to her own reaction to the request of it. Weiss was eagerly accepting of it and willing to do it immediately.

"But... it would be awkward if that's not what she meant..."

Stealing a glance at their shared walk-in-closet, her mind drifted to certain outfits and... 'clothing' if it actually covered up enough to be called that. With a surprising willingness, the Queen put the image and Scroll down and was quick to finish her hair, even tidying herself up a bit.

"Actually... I should put on some make-up."

It was at least another hour before Weiss actually sent anything in response, but, when she did? Well, she sent two pictures.

20th Day, Fourth Strike, 2115 PE

In case you were wondering about the halting of the chapters release, I have been busy uploading this story to Ao3 as well. While usually that wouldn't take long, I wanted to go back and edit the chapter's already released before I uploaded it anywhere else.

I will also be updating all the chapters on here as well so they remain the same.