*Legend 9*

Know Thyself

...

"Hey, kid!" At the present moment, there were any number of people in the Vanguard hall that could of easily fit the description of 'kid', so Ruby wasn't immediately aware of Cayde-6 looking to flag her down. With a little perseverance however, the Exo Hunter managed to get her attention. Ruby and her fire team came to a respectful halt as Cayde closed the last of the steps separating them. "Well, aren't you tricky to get a hold of?" He said. His electric eyes swept over the other two less desirable people in the immediate vicinity. "New Titan, right? The Solar one?" Yang only nodded in response, not quite sure how to respond to Cayde's cheeky forthrightness. "Your Ghost is waiting for you at the mail kiosk. You and white might wanna go check it out."

Yang's eyes came alight with the prospect of meeting her new Ghost, and in a dash, she was off from the hall. Weiss gave Ruby a small smile and a wary glance at Cayde before following suit. Ruby now stood alone with the Exo Hunter, feeling rather scrutinized under the gaze of her Vanguard captain. Cayde then opened his speech in a tone more sober than Ruby thought him capable of. "I saw the tape of you and the Warlock girl whoopin' on that Archon. To say I'm impressed is definitely an understatement."

Two days in and Ruby had already caught the eye of her Vanguard captain. "Thank you, sir" she said.

Cayde nodded thoughtfully. "Everything about you just reminds me of him," he said. "Qrow Branwen; you have his semblance; his weapon; his fighting style; you even move like he does." Cayde saw the question in the young girl's eyes. "Before you ask me how I know all this, I had the honor of fighting along side him and his team long ago, out on the frontier before the Guardians were the unified force they are today." Cayde nodded slowly again, lost in his recollection. "That weapon of his was named for his reputation and appearance. Qrow's cloak was red as crimson. Legend has it that he painted it with the blood of his enemies, for wherever Qrow went, death would follow. Qrow Branwen, The Red Death.

Ruby had been regaled on many an occasion with the exploits and adventures of her legendary uncle, most of the accounts coming strait from Qrow himself. Cayde continued on, "Your father was a fine Guardian in his own right, and that Summer Rose as well-" Ruby's lips tightened as she did her best to hide her sudden flinch at the mention of her fallen mother- "But you definitely inherited Qrow's talent, no doubt about it. I basically just wanted to say that I'm proud to have you as a member of my Vanguard."

It was obviously a great personal honor to have her Vanguard captain go out of his way to tell her such a thing. So Ruby replied with as much grace as she could muster. "I'm truly honored. Thank you sir." She offered the Hunter salute along with the statement.

"No, no, Guardian. Thank you," Cayde said, returning the salute in kind. "Make me proud out there," he said, clapping Ruby on the shoulder. "Oh, and just one more thing. I-" Cayde cut of his speech as he espied something over Ruby's shoulder. "Oh, boy. Here comes trouble."

Glynda Goodwitch was currently making her way across the hall towards them, the heels of her boots clicking audibly.

"Top of tha mornin', Goodwitch!" Cayde said with cheer.

Glynda opted to ignore Cayde's pleasantry. "Your conversation with Miss Rose is over, Cayde. You have permission to withdraw." Despite the three Vanguard captains being in charge of their own Guardian contingents, there was a hierarchy even amongst themselves. And given Glynda's tenure here at The Tower, and her title as official assistant to The Speaker, she was, more or less, the captain of captains.

Cayde took the dismissal for what it was. "You got it, Goodwitch," he said. As he walked away, he muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously close to "Cupid ditch."

Having been left alone with Glynda, Ruby found that she had difficulty making eye contact with the imposing woman. She just always looked so...mean. "The Speaker wants to see you in his office within the next hour," she said suddenly and curtly. Glynda did not mince words.

"He wants to see...me?" Ruby was beyond what this could possibly mean. What did Ozpin want to see her personally for?

"Yes. You." Glynda said. The undertone in her voice said clearly, 'Heaven knows why.'

"Thank you. I'll be there." Ruby said. Glynda nodded curtly and took her leave. By the time Ruby herself left the hall, her head was spinning. Not only was she on Cayde's radar, The Speaker himself had requested an audience with her. A smile curved it's way into being on her face. "So far so good," she said.

"What's good?" said an electronic voice in her ear. Ruby looked up to meet the voice and found herself staring into the eye of a Ghost that was hovering just inches from her face. "Hello there," Ruby said to it.

"Sup," the Ghost said back, giving his shell a quick tilt upwards.

"Hey, Ruby!" Ruby turned towards the new voice, one she would recognize anywhere. Yang and Weiss were standing near the delivery kiosk , just at the head of a line formed of the newly appointed Guardians, all of them here to receive their Ghosts. "Ruby, where's yer Ghost?" Yang asked musically.

Ruby chuckled at the question. "Well I see you've already got yours," she said. Yang's Ghost was currently flying laps around Ruby's head, as though vying for her attention. Ruby held up her left hand and managed to gently capture the flying device in her palm. She poked at it with her opposite index finger. "He's cute too."

The Ghost flew from Ruby's palm, suddenly affronted. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said. "Celica does not do cute!"

"Oh, Traveler, he's just like you too," Ruby said with a pleasant roll of her eyes.

"Taught him everything he knows," Yang said triumphantly. "Isn't that right, Celica?"

"Damn strait," Celica concurred.

Weiss, who was watching the little scene with a smile that her face could barely contain, finally spoke up. "The line is clear, Ruby, if you wish to claim your Ghost."

"As a matter a fact, I do wish," Ruby said whimsically. She stepped up to Weiss's side and approached the kiosk, but that's when she felt something. A strange sensation that told her that she was being watched, and with prejudice. Ruby turned her head just to the right and saw the leader of the newly appointed Fire Team Cardinal, Cardin Winchester, standing just a few meters away. He seemed to be attempting to bore a hole into Ruby's skull with his (admittedly) intense blue eyes. But here, Ruby did not shy away. Cardin Winchester was not The Speaker of the Light; he was not a Vanguard captain; he was not her Fire Team leader.

He was no one to be afraid of.

Silver met blue as Ruby matched him stare for stare. If he was looking for a fight, Ruby was more than sure she could trounce him with one hand tied behind her back. At length, however, Cardin finally blinked. A smile crossed his face then; a smirk really, one that spoke of his loss in this small contest. He made a gesture with his hand to his two teammates and they started back across the plaza. Weiss, who had watched the scene play out said, "That Cardin Winchester. I'd like to show him a thing or two."

"Don't worry about it," Ruby said calmly. "He's nobody." She was free now to approach the delivery kiosk. She did so. "Hello," Ruby said to the worker drone on duty. "Package for Ruby Rose?"

"Checking..." the drone said. "...Negative. No package found for Ruby Rose."

Ruby's eyebrows knit themselves together. "Are you sure?"

Weiss cut in then. "There's been a mistake," she said curtly. "Search again."

"Checking..." Ruby held her breath. "Negative. No package found for Ruby Rose."

"How can that be?" Weiss said, on the verge of losing he temper. "You useless piece ov-"

"Weiss, it's okay," Ruby said, defusing the girl's imminent outburst. But Ruby knew that the situation wasn't okay. How could her Ghost not be here waiting for her?

"What's the deal?" Yang said as she wandered over.

"My Ghost isn't here..." Ruby moaned.

"Well that's stupid," Yang said. She cracked her knuckles as she suddenly became all deathly business. "Lemme have a word with this piece a junk...see if I can't persuade a Ghost out of it for ya."

"No, no," Ruby said. A sudden thought hit her then. "Maybe The Speaker can sort it out for me."

"Good idea," Weiss said, glaring ice-blue daggers at the delivery drone on duty in the kiosk, who was currently humming an off-key tune to itself.

"I'd figured I'd have my Ghost by the time I got to his office to see what he wanted to talk to me about, but-"

Ruby cut her speech short then, as Weiss had whipped her head around to stare at her with such an appreciatively shocked expression, one would have thought that Ruby had suddenly sprouted a golden halo from the top of her head. "The Speaker asked to see you personally?" Her voice was an awed whisper.

"He did," Ruby said back, feeling just a bit uncomfortable. "But..."

Weiss overlapped her hands over her chest. "Ruby, that is an incredible honor you've been given." She suddenly made a shooing motion with her hands. "What are you still doing here? Go see him now!"

"Well, I-"

"Go, go!" Weiss insisted. She literally gave Ruby a shove in the direction of the Tower North to get her on her way. And with a final encouraging wink-and-gun gesture from Yang, did Ruby finally head off to The Speaker's office.

The going was relatively easy, physically speaking. Mentally, Ruby's mind was whirring with a slightly panicked train of thought. Why was her Ghost not waiting for her at the kiosk as it should have been? And what could The Speaker possibly want to talk to her about? Were the two phenomena related? Wait...what if The Speaker was holding her Ghost back deliberately; believing that there had been some kind of mistake in making her a Guardian!? No, that couldn't have been it; he wanted her to succeed. So what was the problem?

"Hey!"

As engrossed in her currently morbid thought process as she was, Ruby didn't immediately hear the call for her attention; which is she why she walked right by a certain Fireteam leader without so much as a glance. Only when the call was repeated, with the addition of her actual name, did Ruby start from her cycle of thought.

She found herself face to face with a Guardian girl that was quite startlingly familiar, although Ruby could not remember from where she had seen or met her. The girl was accompanied by two others, clearly the members of her Fireteam, all three of them staring at Ruby with varying levels of intensity. Ruby could see herself reflected in the lenses of the dark sunglasses the girl wore. These were soon removed by the girl herself, revealing eyes of velvety cocoa brown. After a brief inventory of Ruby's person, did the girl ask, "You're Ruby Rose, right?" A nod from Ruby. There was another short pause, this one for scrutiny, before she asked, "Did you really kill that Archon?"

Ruby smiled inwardly. Rather than be insulted by the girl's need of validation regarding the feat in question, Ruby felt a certain form of pride at knowing that people wanted to know if she had accomplished such an endeavor. "I did," Ruby said, having confidence in the truth. "I had help, of course. My partner Weiss Schnee was right there along with me."

The girl nodded a few times, a long lock of brown and red hair sweeping across her forehead. But then one of her Fireteam members spoke up. "I believe the effort to be genuine." Ruby turned to the owner of the voice. She immediately recognized him from the initiation pairings, one did not easily forget a Titan of his immense stature; although Ruby would not have admitted to having forgotten his name...

The man continued, "Pyrrha Nikos herself gives the vouch on the matter. And if anyone's word is gold, it would be that of my Vanguard Captain's." He gave Ruby a small smile. "Well done," he said.

Ruby blushed her appreciation of the compliment. The third member of the team simply stared at her with an intense and brooding silence, although Ruby didn't immediately notice this as her attention was focused back on their leader. "At any rate, I'm going to have to keep an eye on you," she said, replacing her sunglasses over her eyes. "You may be a threat to me come Crucible season." She said this with a light smile on her face, but there was no missing the clear warning in her undertone.

"The name's Coco," she said in late introduction. "Gunslinger, rank twenty-five; leader of Fireteam Coco."

"It's an honor," Ruby said, offering the Hunter Salute.

"Back at ya," Coco said. She then introduced her team members. "This," she said, cuffing the man's chest with the back of her hand, "Is Yatsuhashi, our Striker." The Titan inclined his head in greeting and acknowledgment. "And this silent and deadly mo-fo, is Fox, our Voidwalker."

'He's a Warlock!?' was Ruby's mental outburst. This particular revelation completely blew away Ruby's initial guess at his semblance, which was Blade Dancer. Ruby gave him a long look over. His physical build definitely lent itself well to a Hunter's cause, as did his choice of armor. He wore no robe or similar Warlock garment, opting instead for a sleeveless orange vest and simple black trousers and boots.

But then there were his eyes.

They were strange eyes; frightening but still strangely beautiful. Fox had no irises at all, his eyes simply glowed a stark, stolid white. Ruby was sure this had everything to do with his connection to The Void.

"Well, it's been fun shootin' the shit," Coco said. "Be we gotta be back at the hall; somethin' about escorting some noobs to The Moon." She gave Ruby a last look over. "See you around."

"Later," Ruby said. The three of them departed, leaving Ruby to wonder if she just met a new group of friends...or rivals...

Or both.

She smiled as she continued her way to the Tower North, which wasn't very far from her position. She exited the short corridor and entered fresh air as the Tower North section came into view. Ruby knew this to be where the advanced Guardians lived, she may be able to find Blake around here. She saw off to her left, the headquarters of The Monarchy faction; their red and white banners rippling in the breeze. And unless Ruby was very much mistaken, she could see the blazing red hair of Pyrrha Nikos under said banners. Ruby would have called her attention, but she seemed to be rather...occupied...with what looked like the leader of The Monarchy faction. Ruby giggled a bit to herself, she didn't think adults made out like that, all in public and whatnot...she gave her head a shake. She was here to meet The Speaker, not spy on Pyrrha's love live.

She approached the stairs that lead to the building The Speaker called home, and it was here that Ruby stopped to stare at the marvel. The Tower North section offered the absolute best view of The Traveler one could get. Ruby's eyes rounded as she took in the sight; The Traveler, symbol of The Golden Age and it's Guardians; living testament to life and technology outside of our universe and understanding. And equally awesome in wonder was the strange machine that adorned this building. It's purpose was to gauge The Traveler's behavior and seemingly random Light fluctuations. It was a beautiful and kinetic thing; composed of hundreds of parts that whirred, and clicked, and always seemed to be in constant motion. Yet despite it's ceaseless activity, it made almost no noise whatsoever.

Ruby made her way up the short metal staircase leading to The Speaker's office, her nerves twanging with each footfall on the linoleum stairs. Upon reaching the landing, she pushed aside the decorative purple curtains and stepped inside.

Ruby was met with a space that was rather small, cramped honestly. In it's small confines were shelves, and tables, and chairs, all holding various things like maps, and detailed sketches of The Traveler, and thick leather-bound books. And all around the place, with little to no order at all, were all sorts of technically indigenous whatnots, thingamajigs, and doodads. In all, the small office seemed to play home to a rather haphazard scholar, and very active thinker. As Ruby crossed the threshold, The Speaker, who was on the opposite side of the small room, spoke without turning around. "I know you're there, Ruby. Be right with you."

"This is your office?" Ruby asked.

"Bingo," said Ozpin, pointing a finger in the air. He finally swiveled around to face her. "Not quite what you were expecting, right?" Ruby maintained a bashfully respectful silence as The Speaker busied himself with something just in front of him. "Almost done," he said, with something of an expectant sigh. He raised himself from his seat, with a little difficulty, to give Ruby a view of his work. The Speaker's Ghost was apparently hard at work repairing a series of other dead Ghosts laid out on his desk. The blue reparation beam of said Ghost seemingly working in overdrive. "Look good don't they?" he asked her, the biggest smile on his face.

"Yeah..." Ruby replied softly. Ruby was sure that, being The Speaker of the Light, Ozpin was a pure genius. But like most geniuses, he appeared to be quite mad.

Ozpin hobbled over to one of his crowded desks as he said, "I'd ask you to sit down, but you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the Ghost."

"What Ghost?" Ruby asked. She did a half turn to her left, and her elbow inadvertently knocked a dead Ghost off a short table next to her. Upon hitting the floor, the shell of the Ghost shattered in every direction. The central eye of the device rolled across the floor and came to a rest at Ozpin's feet.

"That Ghost," Ozpin said simply.

Ruby fell to her knees as she attempted to gather the shattered ghost shards. "I'm so sorry!" she squeaked.

"I said don't worry about it," Ozpin said, smiling again. "I'll get one of my Ghosts to fix it."

"How did you know?" Ruby asked in awe. She had no idea of The Speaker's ability to tell the (in this case) very immediate future.

Ozpin chuckled low in his throat, a sound conveying all his years and wisdom. "What's really going to bake your noodle later on is...would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?"

Only two seconds after that statement, and Ruby's noodle was already sufficiently baked.

Ozpin's smile widened then. "You're cuter than I remember." he said. Ruby wasn't quite sure how to react to this. Was The Speaker...hitting on her?She should probably be honored, but he was just so...old. Ozpin then followed that statement with, "I can see why she likes you."

"She...?" Apparently, in addition to prophetic ability, Ozpin could see into people's love lives.

But wait.

'She?' as in...another girl...liked her...?

Seeing the confused wonder on Ruby's face, Ozpin's smile reached it's widest point yet. "Not too bright though."

It was at this point where Ozpin's smile fell away and was replaced with a sober stare. "You know why Glynda sent you to see me?" Ruby nodded. "So, what do you think? Do you think you can be a leader?"

So that's what this was about. The Speaker was having second thoughts about making her a team leader after all. It was in the face of this seeming doubt from Ozpin, that Ruby began to doubt herself as well. "Honestly, I don't know," she said quietly.

The look on Ozpin's face just then told Ruby that that was not the answer he had wanted. "Do you know what that means?" He asked. He motioned above Ruby's head to a plaque set into the wall of the threshold she had come over. Emblazoned on it, in old English lettering was the phrase, "Temet Nosce" Ruby didn't recognize the language. "It's Latin," Ozpin clarified. "It means, 'Know Thyself'" He settled back into the chair he was in as he looked Ruby in the eye in earnest. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret, Ruby," he said. "Being a leader, is just like being in love. No one can tell you you're in love, you just know it, through and through; balls to bones."

Ruby didn't have any balls, but she certainly had bones. Problem was, she didn't know the name of the feeling that was running through them right now.

"But enough of that," Ozpin said suddenly. "You came here not for the existential ramblings of an old man." He rose from his chair and limped across the room. He retrieved something there, and returned to Ruby's position. "You came...for this." resting in the palm of Ozpin's outstretched hand, was a Ghost.

So that's why her Ghost wasn't at the kiosk, Ozpin wanted to present it to her personally. But there was a problem. "It's dead..." Ruby said

"As it is now," The Speaker said. "But by giving it an infusion of your own bodily Light, you can give it life. And in doing so, you can give it a name, a personality, even a gender."

Ruby took the Ghost from The speaker and held it in her cupped hands Ruby stared into it's eye; so dark and lifeless...so sad. 'Don't worry, little one.' Ruby thought. 'I'll bring you to The Light.' And she did, simply by focusing her Light into her fingertips did she feel the Ghost hum with power. Now fully alive, it hovered upwards to stare into her face as Ruby's smile glowed along with her Light. The little device simply hovered in place, staring rather expectantly at her. Ruby knew what it was waiting for. "Hello, Zwei," she said to her new companion."

"Hello, Ruby," The Ghost said back. It hovered to a position just over her shoulder, as though waiting for orders.

"And now you are in possession of a Guardian's most valuable asset," The Speaker said. "The Ghost is yours now; indebted and indentured to you for all your time in this universe. He will be your companion throughout your adventures and trials, and provide you with a number of invaluable services. I suggest you use them wisely."

"I will, sir," Ruby said, her excitement mounting. "And thank you so much."

"The pleasure was mine," Ozpin said, inclining his head. He crossed the room again and became lost in his previous ventures before Ruby's arrival. Ruby had the feeling that this little meeting as over, so she said to her new Ghost, "Ready to go, Zwei?"

"Ready when you are!" He chirped back happily. "We're going to do great things, Ruby, I just know it!"

"Yes, Zwei," Ruby said back. "Yes we are."

...

*End of Legend 9*

...

A/N:

Been a while since I updated, then again, it's always a while before I update. I gotta get busier on this thing, give you guys a real reason to follow my story. Speaking of which, I would like to thank all those who read, follow, and favorite this huge pile of largely useless words when you clearly have better things to be doing :)

And now I shall go back to what I was doing prior; listening to Luca Turilli's Rhapsody: Prometheus- Symphonia Ignis Divinus; playing Turok 2: Seeds of Evil: and brainstorming for the next chapter.

-B. D. Skunkworks

...

P.S.- Sorry for another chapter devoid of any action. I promise that in the next chapter guns will be blazing, and things will be dying.