Rushing to upload this before my laptop runs out of battery - lets see how Ruby reacts to her new situation!

Memory Everlasting

Chapter 2

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A lot happened over the next few seconds.

In the first second, Ruby's eyes opened as she felt a soft ache from limbs that were just a little too short, saw hair brush over her eyes that was far too long, felt well loved clothes across her body that she remembered leaving back at Patch.

In the second after, Ruby held back a scream at the familiar sight of the Beacon auditorium – and the equally familiar sight of sleeping bodies around her, a moment from her dreams (and nightmares) of the past made startlingly real. She recognised Yang, young and snoring, sleeping beside her. Blake sleeping while sitting up across the way. Weiss somewhere out of sight, presumably.

In the third second, she was already rushing with her semblance, leaving as few petals as she could in her wake, out of the room, out of the building, out of the school-

At the beginning of the fifth second she found herself crouched, staring into the Beacon fountain's water at her impossibly young face.

What?

She stayed there for a minute, or maybe two – she wasn't paying attention to the time passing. That attention was taken, stolen, in reading the curves of her own face; fat pockets framing her face that she'd lost in the trip to Anima, hair pooling and touching the water that she'd cut away and gelled up in Atlas, two silver eyes – not as unfamiliar as the others, but she could have sworn she just felt one of them melt and boil in the aftermath of her battle with Cinder-

Cinder.

Ruby felt rage bubble up, saw it manifest in the bared teeth of her own face (and how odd was that, she'd lost one or two of those in Mistral, so even her teeth looked weird) at the thought of the woman who'd ruined everything. The monster, hell-bent on hurting others for no reason! Just the thought had the bile threatening to rush up her throat, had her blood pooling cold in her cheeks, her eyes watering. The woman who'd killed so many, killed everyone, left her alone. Killed her, too.

Breathe.

Ruby realised with a gasp that she hadn't been breathing, fighting with hyperventilation as she struggled to wrestle her heart back into her own chest. She turned around, away from that unnatural reflection, stared out at the courtyard and the Emerald Forest. In, out, in, out. She could hear her heartbeat slowing, slowing, slowing…

She settled. Breathing out one more time, a kind of long-suffering sigh, she picked herself up and tried to take her bearings.

She was at Beacon. Not just her Beacon, either – a fully repaired, fully functional Beacon. No – not repaired. It was more like the damage hadn't even happened yet.

The same could be said for Ruby herself. Her hand drifted down to her chest, unbroken by the arrow Cinder had killed her with, then back up to her eye, which moments ago she'd felt pop like a blister. She too was somehow reversed, and not by a small amount – she knew that face, that hair, this body. Somehow, she was 15 again.

Her mind drifted back to the auditorium, to the many bodies slumbering away. There was only one day when they'd all slept like that, the day before assigned dorms. Today, somehow, was her Beacon initiation day.

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She'd remembered the layout well enough to find the one training room with the faulty lock, and was now punching up a sandbag inside. It was a habit she'd picked up in Atlas, when she'd had so much to think about but so little to do – to work her way through a problem while she trained and work off steam while she did.

As far as she could tell, she'd been sent back in time to Beacon initiation inside of her own body. How? Something something fall into void something something. Why? Who knows. She'd wondered if this was a dream, if she was actually dying and just dreaming this, but if that was true it's not like she could do anything about it. And those last few years… that couldn't have been a dream, either. No way.

Had anyone else come back too? Unlikely – she'd died as she fell, but the others were already dead, and she figured Yang, Blake and Weiss would have woken up at the same time as her if they had.

Most importantly: What was she going to do about it? She kicked the sandbag, watching as it swayed under the blow. There were so many variables. In the morning, teams would be picked, leaders would take their posts, and history would begin again. Then they'd get to know each other, the White Fang activity would increase, they'd stop that robbery, crash that rally, stop that train, the Vytal Festival would start and then everything would go horribly wrong, again.

Ruby tested a new technique she'd been working on – using her semblance to speed up her own fist, sending ripples through the surface of the sandbag. She had to stop it all from going so wrong – she had to stop the Fall of Beacon.

But how?

The first thing she could remember happening was the robbery. Blake accidentally outed herself as a Faunus… Ruby frowned. That'd be a whole thing, all over again. Maybe she could do something about it?

Then Blake ran, and met up with Sun, and they'd gone looking, and then she'd bumped into P-

She stopped abruptly at the end of the punch. Blinking away tears, she took settling breaths as she pulled her hand back and looked at it. She tried to still the shaking. Penny wouldn't die – not this time, not ever.

Forcing herself to calm down, she sighed, and went back to it. She needed the practice – she kept missing or falling short due to her weaker, shorter limbs, and if she was doing that while training, she'd do it in a fight. Better to head that off as early as possible.

Where was she? Oh, right – she and Penny (who absolutely will not die this time, no matter what) had been drawn to the robbery and helped Blake and Sun fight Torchwick off. And he… had got away.

Maybe she could catch him this time. He'd taken his leave with as much dust as he could while Penny took out his other ships last time – maybe this time she could stop him from escaping, got him locked up early. But then what would happen? Neopolitan might come after her again, and in this body she had no clue if she could fend Neo off. And if that happened, would the Fang act differently?

She couldn't just change the timeline however she wished – the more she changed, the less her knowledge of the future would be even useful. She couldn't play this reactively – she had to be active, but also cautious – to make just the right changes to derail Salem and Cinder's plans. So, what were they?

Ruby thought of the events she remembered. Torchwick was stealing dust, and lots of it. What for? The train, for the Breach. The Breach had always seemed a little out of place in the plans – it had happened before anything else, but it didn't seem like it did anything long-term. Except bring Ironwood's army to Vale, and get Torchwick on Ironwood's flagship.

Unless… realisation dawned on her. They'd forced it to go early. Which meant it was meant to happen later – probably even concurrent with the Fall of Beacon. She imagined it; Pyrrha made a murderer, Penny dead (not this time), the White Fang attacking Beacon, and suddenly, the Breach happens. It would have brought that level nine alert to a level ten – it wouldn't have just been the Fall of Beacon, but the Fall of Vale.

She allowed herself a smirk. At least they'd managed to thwart Cinder there. Maybe they should do it again. Could they stop the train this time? In hindsight, it had been a suicide mission to try – they'd have just ended up stranded in a dead-end tunnel with dozens of White Fang and hundreds of Grimm.

She was getting sidetracked. Torchwick getting dust for the train, which they'd sent off early and caused the Breach. After the Rally, they'd headed to Mountain Glenn to set up there. Cinder had high-jacked the CCT – probably on that night of the dance – and used it to control the broadcast at the Fall. From what Mercury had said to her that night, they'd probably been able to control the matchups as well.

Building outrage, that's what it was. They'd been trying to build up tension, to draw in the Grimm, until that final moment where everything came loose. Yang being framed, followed directly by Pyrrha's match… Both relying on Emerald.

She'd helped them, in Atlas – whatever she'd done before, there was a good person in there who was in way over her head. Could she get Emerald out of there early? She wanted to, but that would change their plans so much it would be hard to predict what they'd do – and with them pivoting the Breach to manipulate Ironwood and commandeer his army, Cinder was clearly capable of adapting her plan and turning setbacks into solutions of their own.

But overall, the plan was simple enough – stoke racial and inter-kingdom tension until something broke, then steal the Maiden's powers while everyone was distracted. That Wyvern had to have something to do with the plan too – probably to keep Beacon uninhabitable while Salem searched for the Relic.

She blinked in momentary surprise. Initiation. Collecting the chess-piece relics. She rolled her eyes – Ozpin was such a dork sometimes. It reminded her of Oscar. Poor Oscar – she'd try her best to keep Ozpin alive, to give her friend the chance for his own life. Even if it meant they might never meet.

Still, the thing to do to counter Cinder was obvious. To stop the Fall of Beacon, you need to ensure that tensions don't get too high.

Ironwood couldn't come to Vale with his army – the occupation had been one of the things Cinder had used to stoke the flames. Ironwood came in response to the Breach – so, she had to stop it from happening.

And before that, at the dance – Cinder couldn't be allowed to take control of the CCT. That break-in was at the only time that would have been possible, with everyone's attention on the celebrations. If she could stop that, Cinder couldn't control the broadcast, or the matchups.

And then, if she got Emerald out of there – Cinder couldn't use her to interfere with the matches.

She'd probably pivot towards the White Fang, to focus on racial tension instead of inter-kingdom tensions. What could be done about that? Adam Taurus was their in with the Fang – take him out, and they likely wouldn't listen to Cinder.

What would Cinder do in response after that? She didn't know. But whatever it was, she knew that she'd stop the Fall – one way or another.

She sighed as she noticed the sky turning a dark blue out of the window, wiping sweat from her brow and picking up her things. It would be morning, soon – no need to leave herself exhausted for initiation.

She stepped out of the training room and closed the door slowly behind her. She turned to see Ozpin, standing a few feet away, staring at her inquisitively.

Crap.

'H-hey, Oz- Professor! What's up!' She laughed nervously.

He looked up as if in thought. 'Just taking an early morning stroll – a habit from my days in the field. And if I may ask, Miss Rose, what exactly were you doing in one of our training rooms at…' He looked at his watch. 'Five in the morning?'

'C-couldn't sleep, and… the door was unlocked, so…'

'I see. The lock on that door doesn't work anymore, I'm afraid – I've wanted to get someone in to look at it, but we just don't have the budget right now, with the Vytal Festival coming so soon.'

'I see.' She tried her best to seem like this was new information to her.

'Nervous about the morning?'

'Huh? Oh! Y-yeah, just… big day, you know? Lotta… responsibility?' She winced internally as the questioning sound at the end there – she had never been a good liar, but if there was anything she could lie about, it was pretending she was fine. Because she was! Fine.

She had to be.

Ozpin nodded thoughtfully. 'Yes, it is an important occasion. The day you begin your journey towards being a huntress in earnest – having second thoughts?'

'No!' As if she could walk away from this. 'No, it's just…' She couldn't help herself as she let some of her true feelings through. 'What if I'm not good enough? What if I can't…' save everyone.

He hummed. 'You didn't seem quite so nervous last time I saw you.'

Ruby sighed. 'I know, it's just… being here…' being back here… 'It puts things in perspective, you know?'

'Good choice of words. Though, Miss Rose, I have to say; I have made more mistakes in my life than any other soul in Remnant-' -no kidding- '-but letting you join my school does not seem like one yet.'

She looked up. 'Well, what if I mess it up later?'

Ozpin chuckled. 'You would not be the first to have such worries. I worried very much the same, one upon a time. And to be frank with you, I did make mistakes.' He smiled to himself. 'As I just said. But making mistakes is a consequence of making choices, and to choose is one of humanities great gifts.'

Wow, he wasn't even being subtle about the whole relics thing, was he? 'You think so?'

'I know so.' Oh my gods. 'Personally, in fact. And I know that whenever you make a mistake, that isn't the end – it's an opportunity, to learn and grow and do better next time.'

Do better next time. That was the plan, wasn't it? 'Thanks, O- Professor.' Damn, it was going to be hard not calling him Oz.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. 'Would you prefer to call me by my name instead of Professor? I notice you keep slipping.' Crap, he noticed.

'I mean…'

'If it would make you more comfortable, I don't mind it – you wouldn't be the first student to address me as such. All my students are very much important to me, as is their comfort, and I'd like for my students to be comfortable coming to me for help.' He laughed to himself. 'Though don't expect the same courtesy from Professor Goodwitch – she's not quite as lenient as I, as I am sure you will learn.'

That sounded almost reasonable – if she didn't know his habit of picking teams to be his new fighters, she wouldn't suspect a thing. Still, it's not like she wasn't planning on working with him – they were allies, if shaky ones. 'Can I call you… Oz?'

He stared in mild surprise but acquiesced with a small smile. 'I don't see why not. Picked it up from your uncle, perhaps?'

'You could say that.'

'Ah, Qrow – we're old friends, you know. I'd tell you I taught him here, but I imagine he's told you all about that already.'

She nodded.

'You know, you remind me much of your mother.'

Summer. She frowned, looking away. It was always her, wasn't it? Everyone who looked at her, so many of them saw her mother in her before anything else. And where was she now? Dead – or worse, one of Salem's Hounds.

Ozpin tensed. 'I apologise – I did not mean to cause upset.'

'No, no! It's...' A lot to deal with? A lot of pressure? 'Complicated.'

'These things often are. I should have been more careful about the topic. If it's any consolation, I think she'd be proud of you.'

Ruby smiled sadly. 'I hope so.'

They stood there for a few moments, basking in the growing light of the morning. Ozpin looked like he always used to – thoughtful, mysterious, secretive, kind. Ruby wasn't sure what she looked like. Did the extra years show in her eyes, like they did in his? Could he see how haggard she felt, the weight on her shoulders?

'Welp, I guess I should go get ready for Initiation.'

He nodded again. 'Yes, that would be prudent. Should you pass – and I have no doubts you will - these training rooms will always be open to you, Miss Rose. But might I suggest using them at more reasonable times?'

She laughed, though she wasn't sure it sounded real. 'Sure thing, Oz! Thanks for the advice.'

He offered her directions, and she accepted, though she didn't really need them – she knew this school well enough to find her own way back to the auditorium. She needed a quick shower, and to get changed. It was going to be an important morning, and she wouldn't let anything go wrong.

Lets hope Ruby taking on all this responsibility doesn't become a habit... who am I kidding, it already is a habit and it's only going to get worse.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
-Cya dreckly.