" ": Normal Ruby

"": Scarlet

"Scarlet Fever…"

The phrase reverberated through Rubys mind like the ring of a tuning fork. She blinked, tired and understandably confused as she was coming to the realization that she was not in Vale anymore. Surrounded by nothing but black yet again, she could only presume that she was back inside of her dream-space.

"Did I… pass out…?" She pondered aloud as she tried to look around in the darkness. "Maybe it was all of the sweets…? Did I overdo it again?"

Surprisingly, Ruby had passed out before from having an intense sugar rushes so that wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Even now, she felt oddly drained for some strange reason, her body felt sluggish and heavy.

"No, that was just me."

A voice, a woman's voice spoke to her from within the abyss, familiarities in her voice were gnawing at Rubys innermost thoughts. It sounded… almost just like her own but with an odd sing-song quality that she couldn't place. Strangely enough, she didn't feel threatened or feel as though she was in any danger.

"Who's there?" Ruby slightly shouted as she turned from side to side. She made a final turn to her right, only to be met by a face that looked just like her own.

"Hello again." The Ruby lookalike said softly, she even sounded like her. The only real differences in the two being the doppelgängers longer hair and badass yet rather formal attire. She smiled serenely and against her better judgement, Ruby began to smile as well. "Mmm… I really like that word… Scarlet… it's got a nice ring to it…," the other Ruby mused as she continued to roll the word around on her tongue.

Rose petals danced in the void around them as the badass-looking copy began to converse. "You're probably wondering who I am and what's going on," the real Ruby nodded vigorously as her double went on to explain. Nodding alongside her, the copy spoke again, "Well to be frank, I don't know about the 'who' part. I just know that I am them." She made an open-armed gesture to the rose petals fluttering in the space.

"Then that means… you're my petals?" Real Ruby was truly stumped at this point, was this a normal occurrence among those with a Semblance? How did this even happen to begin with? Suddenly, her mind was flooded with the images and memories of a past combat class fight with a certain bully.

"Yea. I remember seeing that brown-haired jerk, I could…feel how scared you were, how fearful he made you… I was born soon after that."

Rubys thoughts were taken back to her fight with Cardin again, how she changed into the petals themselves. At the time, she was emotionally distressed when Cardin was about to pull off a finishing blow, so much so that her Semblance must've somehow reacted to her feelings. Ever since then, her Semblance has gone above and beyond what she thought was possible, now it all made a bit more sense. Somehow, her Semblance has managed to personify itself inside of her and Ruby wasn't exactly sure how to go about handling it.

"So… do you have a name?" Ruby asked nervously but somewhat hopefully, to which the other Ruby tilted her head to the slide in confusion.

"No, actually. Now that you mention it, I do need one huh?"

She thought about it for a few seconds until she perked up excitedly. "I know, Call me Scarlet! I love how it sounds!" She bounced a bit as she announced her new name. Ruby was just dumbfounded at this point, she even wanted her own name too… Just how crazy was this going to get? Though, she'd be lying if a part of her wasn't curious about it as well.

"Sooo… now that we've got the names out of the way, there's the other thing we need to talk about." Scarlets voice seemed to echo within the petal-covered dream-space when she spoke. "It's… kinda the reason why you're feeling so out of it. I think we may be switching places for a bit." As tired as she may have been, Rubys sudden surprise was enough to keep her focused on the current situation.

"Huh!? W-wait! What does that mean!?"

Quite literally sensing Ruby's apprehension, Scarlet quickly moved to ease the young roses worries. "Woah woah! I know that sounded bad, but I'm sure it's only temporary! It's just that I can feel you getting more and more tired while I'm starting to feel more energized… so it's probably gonna happen soon… sorry." She inhaled heavily after unloading on her 'self' as she waited for Rubys reply.

"I… can't really say no in this, can I?" Ruby asked with an exhausted drawl, but she pretty much knew the answer.

"I'm really sorry, Ruby. I'll give back control as soon as I can, but in the meantime I promise to be good!" Scarlet pumped her fist confidently at her more or less master with a beaming smile.

Oddly enough, Ruby was ok with her promise. To be frank, she didn't like the idea of giving up control and if her extensive video game knowledge had taught her anything, it was that losing bodily control in any kind of way was a big no-no. However, this was her semblance she was talking about, something that even now makes her feel safe and secure. If she couldn't trust her own abilities, then what was the point of being here and training to be a huntress?

"Ok… just be nice to my friends and don't cause any trouble…" She muttered as she began to feel something akin to sleep take a hold of her. "Aye Aye, Captain!" Scarlet jumped to salute herself with a chipper attitude and a slight skip in her step.

Just then, Ruby could stay awake no longer and her body began to lean over. As she nearly fell to the floor, her fall was broken by a cloud of rose petals and was surrounded in a red cocoon of sorts.

All was silent in the void of Ruby's mind.

"Well… I guess it's time to experience the real world. Wow, I'm actually excited~!"

A blinding white light soon engulfed the space around her, she smiled as she felt her world suddenly shift.

[FB]

Meanwhile...

A scene was taking place within the heart of Vale. At a local art stall, seven teenage huntsman and huntresses in training were experiencing something highly unusual and out of the norm happening to one of their friends.

Said friend being none other than the young upstart, Ruby Rose.

In a strange turn of events that had occurred earlier, she had fallen unconscious and unresponsive to external stimuli, much to the worry of her older sister, Yang. The teens had no idea what to do, the concern for Ruby's wellbeing was rising by the second. In that moment, it was Nora who had the idea of someone trying to revive her via mouth to mouth resuscitation.

The idea itself fell on deaf ears for the most part, that is until Yang mulled it around in her lecherous head for second or two. "That's a great idea! Now you can totally be a knight in shining armor, Vomit boy." Yang jeered with her usual flirty grin as she pushed JNPRs leader to the ground to everyone else's annoyance. Pyrrha was not amused at all.

In an instant, Jaune had found himself on his knees, and very close to Rubys face. His cheeks reddened as the space between them grew smaller until... Ruby opened her eyes. Startled, he jumped back just in time to avoid the massive plume of petals that exploded from out of her.

By now, everyone was shocked but even more so currently, because after the petals were spread and released all over the place, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey there, cutie.~" Suddenly, Jaune could feel the heat of someones breath on his neck following the sound of a very familiar voice. He spun on his heel only to be met with the face of his first Beacon friend.

"R-Ruby..?" Jaune just about squealed as she pressed closer into his back.

"Mhmm~," she sing-songed her response while she smiled widely with an unnerving sweetness. This wasn't just some ordinary teasing, and even Jaune was starting to see it, so he tried to move forward and away from the awkwardness of having her so close to him, alas she wasn't having any of it. Without warning, Ruby locked her arms around his chest and held tight. She even went as far as to snuggle a bit, "Aww, don't go~."

By now, quite a few members of the group were visibly upset, one Ice queen in particular. "You dolt! What is the matter with you?" Weiss quickly made her way over to Ruby, completely tired of the irresponsible behavior and with all intentions to put a swift end to it.

Only for Ruby petal phase away from her as soon as she came close to grabbing her arm, "You're a mean one, huh," she said while never dropping her smile. Weiss was not amused. "Excuse me?"

"No, I won't." Ruby chirped out just as quickly as she finished. "You're mean and rude, why do you care what I do to begin with? Are you... jealous?"

Weiss was absolutely floored, she couldn't believe what she was seeing and hearing. Suddenly, her pale complexion was very red and flushed.

Just then, Yang stepped in-between the three of them. She looked her little sister in the eyes, noting the slightly odd glint of red within the sliver. "R-Ruby? What's gotten into you," she questioned intently as she locked eyes with her younger sibling. "You passed out and now you're acting...kinda like me, to be honest. Are you ok?"

Understandably, Yang was concerned for her sister's well-being. She had no idea how to go about handling the situation as it was.

"Peachy. I'm as right as rain," she grinned happily before her body phased out, completely disappearing from sight and nothing but petals fluttering in her place. Jaunes personal space was done for however, because before he could even turn around to look for her whereabouts, she was staring into his eyes with a light blush directly in front of him.

"So, where were we?~" she inched closer to him until his chest and hers were slightly pressed together.

"U-uh, um Ruby... maybe we should uh...," the blond boy stuttered, red faced and clearly flustered and confused beyond all reason. He tried to back away, holding up his hands pleadingly but Ruby was at his right side before he could even blink. "Find somewhere more private? I was thinking the same thing~." She didn't miss a beat and was all over the poor boy in a split second, pulling him by his arms as she led him down an alley.

Only to be speedily intercepted by a concerned Yang...

And one, very peeved looking Pyrrha.

She stood in front of the two with her arms behind her back and a deceptively, disarming smile on her face. "Ruby, I think that's enough now. You're starting to make my partner uncomfortable..." It sounded honest and innocent enough, but everyone knew about Pyrrha's massive crush on the dork knight.

This was a veiled threat, plain and simple.

Yang noticed that fact first and was instantly on point to run interference, "Leave him be Rubes, you've had your fun but you really need to calm down now."

"Let's get out of here, cutie. They're starting to ruin the mood." Simply ignoring the words of the women in front of her, she summoned her petals and whirled Jaune into the air unceremoniously. She leapt into the air and flew away with him in tow, soaring over Yang and Pyrrha's heads as they sped through the alley.

To her credit, the champion kept her composure moderately well. Pyrrha just scowled, grabbed the nearest stop sign with her Semblance, hurled it like a javelin in Ruby's direction before she activated her Semblance and jumped from her standing position onto the stop sign in mid-air as she too, now soared to its target.

Yang was not about to be left behind while her sister went crazy around the city, she didn't have Ember Celica on hand but she had enough Aura to work with. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a vial of red dust and smiled inwardly.

She had everything she needed for her genius idea.

She took off into a sprint down the alley, suddenly spotting the perfect springboard to launch from. A large, closed dumpster was just a few steps ahead of her but she was ready and waiting for it. She threw the dust onto the top of the dumpster and jumped into the air, just before she landed onto the lid she pushed her aura into her legs.

Boom... Take-off.

Yang was now a living rocket and gaining speed by the second.

The others, Weiss, Blake, Ren, and Nora were literally left in the dust. Dumbfounded and just at a total loss for comprehension. "Wow... talk about a love-triangle!" Nora shouted with excitement as she sported a wide grin.

it was Blake who spoke next. With her ringing ears, twitching madly, she looked around, completely perplexed.

"What... just happened?"

Meanwhile...

The city of Vale was all abuzz as it usually was, people of from all walks of life were moving about and carrying on. With a beautiful day such as this, nobody was going to waste it and the sheer amount of citizens in the streets was staggering.

An errant rose petal softly tumbled through an empty alley, besides the whispers of the wind it was calm, quiet even.

"Ruby, get back here!"

"Hold on, Jaune!"

"Too slow~!"

"Aaaaaahhhh!!"

Piercing through the silence with the sharpness of a spear, the commotion put a swift end to the calm silence of the alley.

Pyrrha and Yang dashed through streets and alleys alike, trying and sadly failing to keep up with their wayward friends. It didn't help that she effectively, easily and somewhat mockingly evading them at every turn. The Champion had seemingly come close multiple times only to phase through flower petals, tripped by an errant petal of all things or just plain ran around and leapt over.

Yang too, had a chance to try and apprehend them, Ruby actually toyed with her quite a bit via blinding and disorienting her with petals causing her to crash into various things and objects. Currently, she was pulling herself off a nearby lamp-post after having been tumbled into it.

She was definitely getting frustrated.

Rubys speed was truly unmatched and while they put up a valiant first effort, they just couldn't keep the pace and were beginning to lose sight of her. It wasn't like they could just attack her after all, this was Ruby they were chasing so their only recourse was to try and get a hold of her long enough to convince to calm down. Easier said than done, as she was quickly showing them just how elusive and fast she could be.

"Yang! I can try to grab her with my semblance but it might hurt...," Pyrrha had to make sure that she was clear to try and yank the both of them out of the sky.

Sisters permission and all that jazz.

"Go for it! I'll catch her," the blonde brawler was already set on ending this some time ago.

With that, The Champion needed no time at all to pull at the two with her polarity. Her blackish aura oozed out of her arm as she 'felt' the metal on their person, belt and buckles, steel-toed heels and an armored chest plate... so much to work with. Wrenching her arm back, an instantaneous reaction was seen when Ruby and Jaune were suddenly being dragged by her belt and his boot buckles back down to Remnant.

"Can you guys stop pulling me around in the sky?! Ugh... my stomach...," Jaune paled as he plummeted.

Yang, sprinting down the road, slid underneath the two falling friends and was ready for anything.

Ruby however, had other plans. Before they were even a yards length from the ground, she phased into petals and snatched Jaune up quickly before they landed. She kept him contained in one of her petal clouds as she hovered just a foot above ground.

"Yang, now!" Pyrrha shouted before she sprinted into action, running straight into the fire. Yang following suit, kicked off of the ground and started barreling towards Ruby with her fist cocked back and ready.

Rose petals be damned, she was annoyed.

Ruby remained unbothered by the oncoming collision, she was really having a ball with herself and her captive. "Wow... they must really like you cutie... too bad though."

What happened next completely shattered whatever they thought they knew about the little reaper and her skill. She closed her eyes and dropped to her knees abruptly and with her hands open wide, having timed her movements to be just before their arrival. In a instant, every rose petal flashed brightly, twinkling and shimmering in the air. With what was thought to be the speed of light itself, they swirled around their mistress and gathered at her hands. Seemingly thousands of petals became two red shapes. A pole in each hand that she gripped tightly, the ends extending to taper off their forms with a sickled curve.

Two, glowing red, ethereal scythes were now in her possession and in one swift movement, she hooked both of their legs by the heels. Twisting her body the in the opposite direction like a screw, she wrenched them off the ground with her takeoff, spiraling them into the air with her. She made it to the top of a nearby light post before she abruptly dropped to the floor with them in tow, slamming them into the pavement and sliding them across the floor.

Ruby chuckled as she repositioned herself in the air, reclining on petals looking like the perfect picture of some sort of rose goddess. After she released the scythes in her hands and watched them scatter, she turned to face him, blushing madly and smiling.

"Finders keepers, right?"

Jaune audibly gulped. He was panicking at this point, whatever's going on with Ruby was definitely gonna get him killed at this point. However, before she could enjoy her assumed victory, the sound of heels clicking on concrete grew closer. Turning around again the greet her guests, she smiled demurely, "Hey, welcome back."

The Champion and Brawler stepped into view, both of which looked more than upset at prospect of Ruby rag-dolling them.

"Ok... that's enough Ruby. Put Jaune down and stop this!" Bis sis was definitely tired of this cat and mouse game she was caught up in. "Ruby, I'm still your big sister and if I have to... I'll get to you, my way." She slammed her fists together, with a smile and a wink, "Just like back home hehe... P-money, you just focus on getting Vomit boy down."

Pyrrha nodded the affirmation, positioning herself for maximum speed at a moments notice.

Yang started the countdown as she began lower herself into a running stance.

"Ready Pyrrha?" The Champion had already done the same and was poised to strike. The only difference now was that she had regained the stop sign and was twirling it somewhat menacingly.

"Ready."

"...Ok, g-!"

"Alright, alright~!" Ruby suddenly shouted, stunning the two girls on the offensive.

She floated down to the floor slowly, "I was just having a little fun. Here, take him." She motioned for the cloud of rose petals carrying the hapless, blond knight to disperse, dropping him unceremoniously onto the ground. "Sorry, Cutie~. Also about all this, didn't mean to scare you like that, I was just really bored." She said with a little pout added for extra brownie points

"Ack! Oww...," he groaned, having landed rather roughly. "Hehe... uh s-sure Ruby, no problem...," he weakly muttered. After he clambered off the floor, he walked over to Pyrrha pretty quickly. She hurriedly checked him for any injuries of any kind, somewhat doting on him as well.

Yang wasn't buying it for a second, "We just chased you all over half of Vale and now you're just done? Ruby, what is going on with you?"

"Oh, I'm not done playing. I'm just done playing with him," she finished with a wink in Jaunes direction. Turning back to face her sister, Ruby smiled widely again, clearly enjoying herself at everyone else's expense. "You said you wanted to play sis, so let's play. Come and find me," she became oddly determined for some reason and in an instant, she was gone in a cloud of petals once more.

"Huh? W-where did she...?" The three remaining teens looked around, somewhat at a loss for comprehension at what just occurred.

Yang threw her hands up with a loud sigh, "Well there goes my plan..."

"What on Remnant is going on with Ruby? She's usually not this outspoken about anything if it's not weapons." Pyrrha couldn't help but voice her opinion, she'd just helped chase her down after all.

"Yea, there's no way Ruby actually... finds me that interesting..." Jaune tiptoed through the topic carefully, the last thing he wanted to do was piss off Yang now.

She was currently too preoccupied to even pay much attention to his comment as she stared at the now multi-colored sky. Blue became purple then pink and red, the hues changing the shade of the city below them.

"Ruby... What's going on...?"

Words from the Author:

Back at it with anotherchapter folks! Things are starting to get good here~

Not much to add to this honestly, next up on the drop list isprobably gonna be another Omega chapter. Working on the next Death in our Breath chapter too and its gonna bebig~

Later~ Cubia out