A/N: text in is alien language
"RAAAAAAAAAAA," Ruby screamed, as she launched herself at a hell knight that was charging at her. Ruby quickly spun around with her scythe, using the centrifugal force to cleanly bisect the Hell Knight, the demon letting out one last groan before its corpse went limp. Ruby then quickly stood up and scanned her surroundings, keeping her eyes out for the next threat. She suddenly tensed up at the sound of heavy footsteps coming from her right. Without hesitation, Ruby turned and fired a shoot from her scythe, immediately accelerating herself to full speed. She pulled her scythe back, prepared to absolutely mutilate whatever creature had dared to attack her, before her eyes widened as she recognized her target. She quickly activated her semblance, turning into a cloud of petals, as she harmlessly sped past The Doom Guy, whose expression was unreadable due to the helmet on his face. Once She had cleared the doom guy, she reformed back into herself, but before she could stop herself, Ruby slammed into a large boulder, embedding herself into the rocky surface.
The Doom Guy turned to face the girl, slowly shaking his head, before his raspy voice echoed from his helmet. "Good… Awareness…" he said, his deep, raspy voice reverberating through Ruby's body. Ruby quickly pried herself out of the rock, unharmed, a smile on her face from the praise she had received.
"Thanks, Uncle Doom," She said in a cheery voice, which heavily contrasted her gore-covered appearance. Ruby smiled as she recalled her time in hell. It had been two years since the incident, and the now 17 year old Ruby had grown immensely compared to her 15 year old self, both physically and skillfully. She was now quite adept when it came to slaying demons, having been trained by the Doom Guy himself. He had taught her everything she needed to thrive in hell. How to cook demon meat (It doesn't taste as bad is it sounds), the best ways to kill demons, how to harness hell essence for ammo (It didn't make sense to her, but she learned not to question hell's logic), and how to easily navigate the difficult topography of hell. The most important thing he taught her, however, was how to harness the fiery ball of anger that seemed to well in her chest 24/7. He didn't talk much, especially about himself, and she didn't know much about his past. But Ruby had pushed past that, and had formed a familial bond with man. Uncle Qrow would love hi-. Ruby's cheerful expression at having received praise from the Doom Guy quickly fell, as she slumped to the ground. Her entire disposition seemed to make a 180, as tears began to well up in her eyes. "Dad… Yang… Uncle Qrow… I'll make it home soon, I promise," she whispered to herself in a small voice. Suddenly a large hand landed on her shoulder, startling the teen back to attention. She looked up to see the Doom Guy kneeling over her, a reassuring hand patting her back.
"We'll… find… a… way…" he said, looking the distraught girl in her eyes. Ruby gave a soft smile, before suddenly a loud crack startled them to attention. The two quickly jumped to their feet, entering combat stances, before lowering them in confusion. In front of them stood a portal, Ruby's eyes widened in surprise as she recognized it as similar to the one she had first fell through. Ruby let out a whoop of joy, before turning to the Doom Guy.
"That portal's the same as the one that brought me here," She said excitedly, tugging at the Doom Guy's arm to get him closer. The Doom Guy seemling let himself get pulled along, a small frown just barely visible through his helmet".
"I can't wait to introduce you to Yang, and Dad, and Blake, and Uncle Qrow," Ruby started listing off the names of her friends and family as she rushed over to the portal with the Doom Guy behind her. The two stopped in front of the portal, Ruby peering through it to try and get an idea of what was on the other side. She frowned at being unable to tell the topography through the portal, the hell essence around this one warping and distorting the image to an unrecognizable amount. Her frown quickly disappeared as she turned to the Doom Guy, the excited smile returning to her face.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" She asked, extending a hand to the Doom Guy. The Doom Guys frown had yet to fade, but allowed the girl to take his hand, as she prepared to step into the portal. Suddenly, Ruby got a feeling that something from the portal felt off. It didn't feel like home. Instead, it felt alien, as if it was a whole other world. However, instead of acknowledging the feeling, she pushed it down and ignored it, too excited to finally be reunited with her family. She took a deep breath before stepping into the portal, pulling the Doom Guy behind her. Their visions were engulfed in a bright light, before it faded depositing the two in front of a massive city like structure. Ruby excitedly began to scan her surroundings, trying to get a grasp on their current location. Her smile faded as she realized that she didn't recognize any of her surroundings. Before she could get a solid grasp of her location, she and the doom guy were suddenly surrounded by a group of armored guards. Ruby and the Doom Guy quickly got back to back, entering combat stances.
"Put your weapons down and surrender," one of the guards spoke in an unrecognizable language. Ruby flinched at the alien language, before reaffirming her stance. The guards then began to edge closer, unfamiliar weapons pointed at the two hell escapees.
Is that the latest in atlas tech? Ruby thought to herself as she tensed up in preparation for combat. Suddenly, she felt a pat on her shoulder, turning up to see the doom guy relaxing his stance and dropping his weapon with his hands up. Ruby gave him a confused look before following his example. The guards around them seemed to relax their stances as well, before a couple of them approached with what appeared to be high tech handcuffs. They locked the cuffs over their arms before they began leading them in the direction of the mysterious city.
"You understand them," Ruby asked, giving the Doom Guy a confused look. The Doom Guy slowly shook his head in response.
"Surrender… Is… Universal…" He said, his deep voice causing the guards closest to them to startle, and slightly move away from them. Ruby felt some of her confusion disappear.
"Why not fight then? We could kill these guys in seconds?" Ruby continued her questioning, earning an unreadable gaze from the Doom Guy.
"Not… Demons… Don't… Kill…" the Doom Guy responded. Ruby simply nodded her head, seemingly unaware of how concerning her question was, before she turned to look at the grandiose architecture in front of her. There were many emotions going through Ruby's head, confusion, awe, sadness, fear, and the ever present rage. Where the duo was going or where they currently were was a mystery, but Ruby knew one thing for sure. This wasn't remnant.
Ruby let out a light gasp as her senses returned to her. She quickly glanced around, searching for threats, before she let out a sigh, realizing she was in professor Ports's class. Turning her attention back to her memory, she frowned. It wasn't a happy one. Her hope of returning home had been quickly quashed by the alien planet they had ended up on instead. Ruby let out another sigh, before turning to try and pay attention to the lecture, but it was only a moment before her mind began to drift again.
Despite her memory not having fully returned, Ruby knew that she wasn't the same as when she left. Going through hell tends to change a person. She was no longer the whiney little girl that she had been before. She had been forged and tempered by the fires of hell itself. She fought the denizens of hell and had faced demonic creatures and entities that would make the strongest of the grimm wet themselves and call for their mothers. She had been a sentinel knight during the unholy crusades, hell (pun intended) she had been the right hand of the leader. She had become the ultimate warrior. But, no matter how much hell had changed her, breaking her down to her foundations and reforging her into a being driven by rage and sheer willpower, one thing about herself remained the same. She hated class. It was boring. Even before her experiences in hell, she had never been able to sit still for more than 5 minutes. It is worse now. She hadn't had to sit down and listen to lectures for decades. She huffed before uncomfortably shifting slightly in her seat, not used to sitting for so long. She tried to turn her attention back to the lecture again, but she felt herself grow sleepy at Professor Port's lecture turned into a random story before even a minute had passed. Giving up on the lecture, She glanced at her teammates sitting next to her. Blake seemed to be adamantly paying attention, which surprised Ruby, she had never been the type to be so interested in a subject like Weiss had. Suddenly, Blake blinked and looked around herself, as if she had no idea where she was. Confused, Ruby gave her an odd look. Once Blake seemed to have gotten her bearings she noticed Ruby staring at her. She lightly blushed, before turning back towards the professor. It only took a minute for her to return to her original position. Ruby lightly shook her head, finally realizing that her teammate was just as tuned out as she was. Ruby turned her attention to Yang, who had taken a much less subtle approach to hiding her boredom. Her sister was passed out with her head down, drool leaking out of her mouth and onto the desk. Ruby lightly sighed at her sister's antics, before turning to Weiss. Who was staring right back at her. Weiss's eyes widened, but she didn't turn away, instead staring right into Ruby's eyes. Ruby stared back, her teeth gritting as she felt the rage surge again. Ruby suddenly turned away, taking deep breaths to calm herself. She wasn't sure why, but looking at Weiss made her anger flare. She gritted her teeth, forcing the rage down. This wasn't a place to lose control
Suddenly a loud ring echoed throughout Beacon, indicating the end of the period and cutting Professor Port's story off. The sound caused Yang and Blank to shoot up in their seats, both of them letting out a short yelp causing Ruby to let out a light chuckle.
"And I was just getting to the best part too," the Professor said, letting out a sigh of disappointment before turning to students, "Alright students, you're dismissed". Ruby stood up, her teammates following her lead as they began to make their way out of the class.
Team RWBY walked in silence for a short while, before Yang decided to speak up. "So, Ruby, how's the first day back going?" She asked her sister, draping herself across her back.
"Boring," Ruby replied, walking along as if unimpeded by her sister's weight, "Too… much… talking…"
"Well, the next class will probably be a bit more entertaining then," Blake said, "It's combat class, with Professor Goodwitch".
At those words, Ruby perked up, a menacing smile spreading across her face. "Although they probably won't have you fight since it's your first day back," Blake continued, not noticing Ruby's smile quickly vanishing back to her normal expression. If someone looked close enough, they could even see a hint of disappointment in her eyes.