Quick warning: This AU was intentionally written to be backwards in many ways, and it gets a bit dark at times. Read at your own discretion.


Once upon a time, there lived two young girls who should have been friends… but Fate had other ideas.

The first child was called Ella, the youngest daughter of the Fall family. She was a sweet girl, pale with black hair and ember-yellow eyes, always loving on her dear Mother and Father and all 3 of her sisters, even though they were all born before her parents had properly wed; such things did not bother her even a little.

The second child was called Ruby. We shall come back to her in a moment.

As for Ella's home, the estate of the Fall family was as large as you'd expect for Rich People; it had a giant Manor House with a thousand rooms, there were four spacious gardens across the property (one for each daughter), comfortable dwellings for all the servants, more open land than any city could use in twenty years, and many other things not worth mentioning here. A veritable army of manservants and maidservants waited on each member of the family in turn, and guests came in droves, daily, to entertain and be entertained. They held glorious feasts nearly every week. It was a very comfortable life.

Ella herself was the Lord and Lady's first true child together, and as such was treated like actual royalty. She was given free reign of the entire estate, and no one was permitted to discipline her for any reason. Fortunately, Ella was naturally inclined towards goodness, and her pure spirit knew nothing of anger, malice, or even greed. Even so, a child cannot grow and mature without any restrictions, and so the rambunctious Ella often got herself into trouble. It was the innocent trouble of a child who knew no better, but it was trouble none the less. Rather than whip young Ella, as they had done with all 3 of her sisters, the Lord and Lady Fall purchased a young slave girl to be whipped in her place (in those early days there were no laws forbidding the sale of slaves younger than 16). This was done upon young Ella's 5th birthday celebration, and the whipping girl was put to her duties almost at once.

This young slave girl was, as you might have guessed, Ruby. A frail and sickly child, with hair and eyes both black as charcoal, she had no surname of her own as her cruel mother had sold her into servitude the moment the child was weaned; we shall address that woman later. All we need know of young Ruby at this point in time is that her duty of bearing the punishment for young Ella's folly is the only life she ever knew. And this hard, painful existence is what sowed the seeds of bitter resentment.

For 2 years this way of life continued uninterrupted; Ella would get into innocent, childish trouble, Ruby would be whipped for it, no one would learn a lesson and the cycle would repeat. At times Ella would behave well for days on end (her record was one whole week), but inevitably she would bring down the rod upon Ruby again and again. And Ruby, for her part, was made to understand exactly why she was forced to suffer. They made sure she knew who's fault it was (in hindsight her keeper might have been a little overzealous in his duties, though sadly we'll never know that for certain).

Now let it not be said that young Ella was intentionally neglectful, nor that her ignorance of Ruby's plight was in any way on purpose. Ella was far too sweet for such thoughts. It was simply that she did not understand how her behavior was connected to the pain and screaming of the young slave girl. She was still too young, and simply assumed they were separate events. And at the time, she thought nothing of slaves; her family owned several, and they worked the distant fields. Owning a slave was a sign of wealth, and even the poorest families had at least one.

Ruby was merely a curiosity; then everything changed on Ella's 7th birthday.

For the first time in waking memory, the child made an intentionally bad decision; Mother had asked her to wait before eating her cake so their guests could see the baker's hard work (and it was certainly a lovely piece of confectionery art), but she decided to dig in anyway, ruining the design for a taste of frosting. No one was angry about it of course, they never were, but Ruby was still hauled out and whipped as per usual.

This time, however, something clicked into place in young Ella's mind. She finally understood that her actions had caused pain to another person. Her awakening forever changed the course of her life, and in time would come to alter the fate of an entire kingdom.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Soon after realizing she had been hurting a girl no older than herself (none knew Ruby's true years, but they guessed she and young Ella were around the same age), Ella set out to befriend the girl. She visited Ruby in her room, merrily talking through the bars and trying to share her treasures, but nothing worked. Ruby would not say a word to her, nor even acknowledge her presence. If anything, Ella's attempts only added fuel to the smoldering fire that was Ruby's anger, though neither of them knew it yet. Many things are lost to the simple minds of children.

Her next idea was to simply make it so that they had no need to whip the poor thing anymore; Ella spent several weeks in fastidious concentration, making sure she never acted out of turn wherever possible. The results were pretty much immediate; where once Ruby had been whipped daily, now she only ever felt the sting once a week, often less. And while this was overall a good thing, it had one major repercussion young Ella could never have imagined – the sting of the whip became sharper, more refined, when allowed time to heal between lashings. The pain was less frequent, but had become much, much worse as a result.

Nothing improved between the 2 girls for many months, not until the estate was paid a visit by a man with a great mustache; this man was Arthur Watts, a fellow described by Ella's Father as a brilliant scholar and a professor of Aura Studies at one of the 4 Huntsman Academies. He and Father were old friends and Professor Watts simply wanted to spend a few days in quiet conversation.

That is, until he met young Ella, only halfway to 8 years of age, and already in possession of a noticeable Aura of her very own! This discovery shocked the entire estate, Ella most of all. Until now she'd only heard tales of the Mighty Huntsmen, soldiers possessed of endless strength and vitality, waging their ceaseless wars for control of the world of Remnant (naturally this does not take into account the Great Peace of nearly 70 years earlier, where no wars were fought for a maddening 12 month period). According to the Professor, the power of Aura was a little more complex than what she'd heard.

Aura, for the uninitiated, is the power of the human soul made manifest in the real world. Only the most powerful of souls can be used in this way, and for a child of Ella's age to have one strong enough for him to even sense was unheard of. With the Lord and Lady's blessing, the mustachioed man unlocked young Ella's Aura and she immediately began to control it as though by sheer instinct.

Watts concluded that Ella's soul must be a rare variety that grows strong through sheer love of life, for her Semblance – that way in which the Aura becomes manifest – enabled her to produce dancing flames from her hands, each a rainbow hue. Beautiful, but potentially very dangerous, as fire is wont to be. Ella didn't mind, as the flames did no damage to her skin, but her mindfulness of her own behavior now told her to pay attention to his lessons. Watts gave her very basic instructions on how to regulate her new power, how to summon and suppress it at will, and how to keep it in her thoughts at all times; the most common weakness of new Huntsmen is the inability to monitor their own power. Many run dry at the most inopportune times, leading to their untimely deaths.

They parted company in the highest of moods, and Ella ran at once to commit what was probably her gravest error in this entire story: she went to show Ruby her new flames.

Now what happened next bears a little explaining – in her youth, and truly throughout the rest of her life, Ella bore a mindset that could generously be described as gullible. She wholeheartedly believed that everyone, lowborn or noble, rich or poor, lowly human or sacred Faunus, had within them a spirit of goodness. Evil was not a concept the child ever experienced, nor did she understand it. Later in life she would grow to understand it, but that day was still far off.

There is also the matter of her personal feelings towards young Ruby. Ella had sisters, true, and even a few other children her age that Mother and Father referred to as her friends, but Ella herself didn't like them much. Ruby was different. Ruby never treated her like a fragile glass bauble, fearing she would shatter at the slightest touch. Ruby didn't butter her up with flowery words and grand gestures that ultimately meant nothing. Ruby was the most real, most honest person Ella ever dealt with. And bear in mind, the girl hadn't said a word to her this entire time nor even looked over at her. If anything, young Ella was smitten over the slave girl and her refusal to respond – Ruby was a mystery, and she was determined to solve it.

And so on that day, Ella called forth her Aura and let her rainbow flames dance for her friend.

This, more than anything else, got Ruby's full attention.

Ella was delighted at the long-awaited reaction, and she let her flames dance for nearly an hour. Ruby still said not a word, but gazed at the magical flames with her empty black eyes. Ella was struck by how similar they were in appearance; if not for their stations, Ruby could easily have been another of her sisters. In that moment, she felt a connection between them and was moved to weeping. She apologized for everything Ruby had been put through until now, tearfully vowing to do whatever she could to make it right.

In the silence that followed this declaration, Ruby reached a hand through the bars and took one of Ella's (the child often gripped the bars of Ruby's room while she spoke), holding it gently, almost caressing it like Mother would do back when the lightning storms rolled overhead. Ella's heart nearly burst, and she decided then and there that she would do anything to get Ruby out of there. She would help Ruby escape, maybe even run away with her. Ella Fall had practically fallen in love at that very moment, and the fantasies began playing out in her mind almost at once.

However, if she had known what was going on inside Ruby's head at that time, she would have pulled her hand away like it had been in the mouth of a serpent, fangs dripping with deadly venom.

Seeing Ella's flames had driven Ruby right past bitterness, beyond even rage, and straight into madness. The slave girl had already begun to crack long ago, during one of her whippings, and this flagrant display of her "master's" superiority fully broke the rest of her mind into tiny, glimmering fragments. Even before the flames had ceased to dance, Ruby was contemplating her murder. Even as Ella pleaded for forgiveness, Ruby wanted her blood. But that's the thing about certain forms of pure madness; unless you know the signs, many are impossible to detect even for experienced adults, never mind naive children. Ruby's act of grasping Ella's hand in tenderness was borne of an insane desire to have whatever it was that made Ella better than herself. To know the power that lived within those tiny, soft hands. To suck the life out of those odd, flame-like eyes.

Whatever Ella had, Ruby wanted it… and she wanted it intact.

And so came that most fateful day, when Ella decided to help Ruby escape her captivity. It was on the eve of her 8th birthday, a full 2 years after the Fall family had purchased Ruby. Ella carefully chose a path out of the estate that would permit them an unhindered exodus, then used her flames to melt the lock on Ruby's room and they quickly fled together into the night. However, there was no fear in her heart, only excitement at what was to come. This was a new day, and her innocent, pure spirit saw no chance of anything going wrong.

Now, you are probably asking… why did she not go to her Father and Mother and simply ask them to let Ruby go? Surely such wonderful, loving parents would not deny such a request, especially from their favored daughter, right? Well that's the tragedy of this tale; they absolutely would have done exactly that. In fact, had she waited even 1 more day, Ella would have learned that the Lord and Lady Fall had intended that very thing as part of her birthday celebration. Their beloved daughter no longer needed such things as a whipping girl. But no, Ella's impetuous nature and desire to endear herself to her friend caused her to act with haste, unknowingly putting herself in mortal peril and spelling disaster for the only life she'd ever known.

Ruby, aware that Ella had no inkling of her true thoughts, chose to play along and bide her time. If the young master took them far enough into solitude, no one would arrive in time to stop what Ruby planned to do.

And indeed they went far, making it halfway across the vast fields around the estate before stopping to rest. Ella was not used to running for so long, and was just starting to get dizzy when Ruby took hold of her and threw her down into the grass, climbing atop her chest and beginning her attack. At first Ella thought they were playing, but that thought was quickly and angrily tossed aside when Ruby took hold of her neck and began to squeeze. Ella summoned her flames, not to hurt Ruby but to scare her off, and thankfully it worked, but Ella's heart was torn; Ruby, the girl she'd tried to befriend, had just tried to kill her. And still she didn't say a single word, nor even blink her cold, empty black eyes.

Why, cried Ella, why are you doing this? I thought we were friends!

Ruby's blank face curled into a hideous sneer.

Before Ella knew what was happening, Ruby ducked down and tackled her former master back to the dirt, this time reaching one hand directly into Ella's left eye. She started to dig. Screaming, the pain was almost too much and Ella barely focused enough Aura to blast Ruby off of her again. Ella scrambled back and clutched at her left eye, now throbbing and making her vision fuzzy, as she looked upon the child who seemed hell-bent on hurting her. Her right eye brimmed with tears. She still couldn't understand why any of this was happening.

Now there is one detail about Aura that Professor Watts failed to mention in his lessons to young Ella, for it was not relevant then though it is now; its long history. Early in the Warring Age, when the mysterious power of Aura first came into its own, ancient warriors would find themselves in dire circumstances and trouble from which they could not escape on the strength of their sword arm. In their determination to survive, early humans unlocked the power of Aura through means no civilized person of today would ever willingly repeat; when the mind and body are pushed to the breaking point, and then beyond, the soul responds in kind and emerges to protect itself. Fight or flight in its purest form.

Ruby pointed a finger at Ella and spoke, saying only 4 words unto her former master, but those words triggered the release of her own tortured and beleaguered soul, activating a power many in this world would call unnatural.

She said, I want your power.

And so it was that a strange bond formed between them, and young Ella felt something important, a part of her innermost being, pulling away from her. Transferring into her attacker. Her strength failed her and she fell to her knees, barely able to see straight. Her left eye felt like it was on fire with no Aura to dull the pain.

Ruby started to laugh. And then she produced Ella's magical flames herself, causing them to dance in the air. Her laughter increased in volume and intensity, more so, until the sound became itself hideous and unbearable.

Ella cried out with a weak voice, Why, why do you attack me? I only wanted to help you!

Ruby focused her flames into one hand, then shot them right at Ella's face. The ball of fire exploded a mere foot from her skin, knocking her out as her flesh burned black in many places. The child lay where she fell, unmoving but still breathing in ragged, short gasps.

Until this moment, Ruby had seriously contemplated consuming the girl, alive, in an effort to possess that which clearly made her superior. There was still the temptation, but as she gazed at her own hands and the flames therein, the temptation waned and soon faded into nothing. She had Ella's power now, and all she had to do was demand it. Which meant the little rich girl was no longer of any use to her. Just like that, much of her anger faded and died, but not all. The few remaining connections between reason and logic in Ruby's brain fired up, allowing the former slave girl to walk away from the scene and abandon young Ella to her fate rather than finish the attack and kill her.

But then Ruby spied the Fall estate a short distance away, the giant Manor House and the four gardens (one for each daughter), and those connections faded once again. Ella would not die this night. No… she would instead suffer the agony and torment Ruby herself had suffered. Ruby used Ella's own magical flames to burn the entire estate to the ground, which was not difficult as the weather had been unseasonably dry these last few months. No one escaped. No one survived. Ruby watched it burn down for several minutes and just smiled an empty smile.

She turned to leave once satisfied, and did not again think of the little girl who sacrificed everything to help her escape, only to be betrayed at the last minute. She no longer cared.

In time they would reunite, but… that's another story.

Ella came to her senses almost an hour later, long after the estate had fully burned down, and looked upon the embers and smoldering ashes with her one good eye (the other had started to go dark even before she fainted). Shock overtook her mind for a great length of time as she struggled to accept the sight before her, trying and failing to rationalize the events that had taken place. She had tried to free Ruby. Ruby attacked her, tried to kill her. Ruby stole her flames. And now she'd stolen her home, and everything she'd ever loved.

This was the moment when Ella began to understand that not all humans are good. Some are bad. Some are pure evil. And while she felt a growing hatred for the girl who so blatantly betrayed her, Ella's fury would soon enough be redirected at herself, mainly when she finally started to see how foolish and gullible she'd been in those few years. Ruby had never wanted to be friends, but she'd stubbornly refused to give up on the 2 of them. She never expected the price would be so high.

Now her old life was completely gone, burned to ashes. All that remained were cinders. So too did she leave her old name behind, letting it burn away with the remains of happier times. She left the memories of playing in the gardens, of helping a few of the groundskeepers on hot summer days, and of building the occasional snowman during those rare Mistralian winters. With a vow to find Ruby and make her pay for this, Ella Fall left her old life behind, smoldering under the midnight moon.

All that remained… was Cinder.


The paths taken by the 2 girls after this point diverged wildly from one another, and remained separate for quite a long time.

Ruby, acting on faint memories of following a wide road south from a city, made her way gradually back towards civilization. Within a day she encountered the luckiest man alive (until now, that is): Qrow Branwen. Here was a man walking along, happy and whistling to himself, his plain clothes decorated with all manner of gold baubles he'd found on the side of the road. He twirled a cane with a golden head he'd won at a raffle. He walked because, as he often said, there was no telling what sort of rare treasure he'd come across, and driving a car would cause him to miss it. At first he believed Ruby to be one of these treasures.

His last mistake was explaining his luck to the poor, emaciated runaway slave. Ruby, still giddy at the idea that she could obtain anything by simply demanding it, decided to test her power once again.

I want your luck, she said to him.

As with the little rich girl (whose name Ruby was already forgetting), a strange bond formed between them as something important was ripped from the soul of Qrow Branwen and given to Ruby. His good luck. Immediately the man took a bad step and slipped on a loose rock, falling hard to the ground and loosing a valuable pendant from around his neck. Ruby would later pick this up and wear it herself. When Qrow tried to stand back up, he stumbled again and rolled down a hill, soon falling into a stream that led to a waterfall. Ruby watched all of this in wonder, not making a single move to help the poor fool. She watched him float along the stream as it carried him away, for the older man never bothered learning how to swim. No one ever saw or heard from Qrow Branwen, the luckiest man alive, ever again. His luck well and truly had passed to her, as Ruby had taken no more than 5 steps from the scene when a passing car stopped and the driver offered her food, warm clothes and a trip into town, all of which she accepted with a cold, empty smile. They even offered her a place to stay for the night if needed.

Truly it was her lucky day.

Cinder, as Ella now called herself, took a different road away from her old home. She soon made her way to a small town outside of the city of Haven, under the care of a sleazy man called Rhodes who put her to work to earn her keep right away. The girl did all sorts of odd jobs for quite some time, always thinking of her betrayal and how she might make it right. Over time she obtained pieces of information that led her to a single conclusion: Cinder would have to try and enter one of the Huntsman Academies. Even without her flames, she still had enough Aura to make her dangerous to the common citizen, so surely the school could make her stronger.

In her time working under Rhodes, the young Cinder encountered a great many people, all of whom were so vastly different to Mother and Father's old guests that it was always a shock. Part of her job included being a "companion" for certain paying customers, and Rhodes made it all too clear what that meant. Fortunately for Cinder, most customers who requested her company were not inclined to treat her harshly. She was still young, after all.

One such customer was a young Faunus called Adam, who didn't even want to use her for sex as everyone else did; he just wanted someone who would listen. He was a strange one, discussing theories and ideas that could quickly get him excommunicated from his own people if the right words reached the wrong ears. Adam, one of the sacred Faunus race, was somehow under the impression that Faunus and humans were not as different as commonly believed. He sought equality. Admittedly Cinder remained skeptical throughout his preaching, but even she had to admit that he made some good points.

Ruby's journey eventually led her to the city of Argus, where her luck won her a place at a homeless shelter that did not question anyone's background (her status as a runaway slave would've gotten her arrested otherwise). While there, she encountered a man who was, in every way, interesting. His name was Shay D. Mann, and he was known in Argus as the most interesting man in the city, quite possibly the world. She often saw him along the road, multiple girls on his arms, smiling and carrying on without a care in the world. Shay was a man who knew exactly what people wanted to hear, and freely said those things that opened them up and won them over to his side. His strength was in his charisma, and the day Ruby learned of this was the day that spelled the doom of Shay D. Mann.

One evening, in a rare moment when Shay was alone, Ruby approached him and said, before he could utter a single word, I want your charisma.

Once again that queer bond formed between them as Ruby stole away his most prized trait. The man Shay immediately began stumbling over his words, getting confused when his dates inquired what happened, and letting slip his innermost thoughts that revealed his perversion. Within minutes his friends and lovers had abandoned him, and a passing cop even arrested him under suspicion of lewd behavior. Ruby saw all of this and laughed. She also began to see the world in a slightly different way now that she had a piece of his mind to work with. She saw the people around her and understood how best to get under their skin. She realized how easy it would be to take them for every cent they had.

Something of note here is that Ruby's mind was being slowly reconstructed with each trait she stole, though she never knew it. Her sanity was slowly returning, but in a way it was not the same as the girl she used to be. Darker thoughts formed within her head, and she began to want more. Her thoughts eventually turned towards the woman who put her in this position in the first place: her birth mother. Ruby now sought to find her parentage, a journey that would lead her across the sea and into the kingdom of Vale.

Cinder's time with Rhodes was cut short just in the nick of time, as the sleazy man had intended to use Cinder himself before killing her and disposing of her useless corpse. Instead she was taken in by a traveling healer by the name of Marcus Black, who immediately understood the danger the girl was in and acted, getting her out of there. His kindness was a shock to the young preteen, who had become used to the callous ways of Haven citizens. Marcus made a living on restoring people back to full health no matter their condition, even rescuing some from the very brink of death. His technique involved restoring Aura, and he got to work right away on restoring the piece of Cinder's soul taken by Ruby. It was a long process, but she found herself with a surprising amount of patience. He could do nothing for her damaged eye, however, as Ruby had partially blinded her back then and the damage had become permanent.

The first thing that came back was her flames, but in a form she barely recognized – where once her fire danced in a rainbow hue and didn't burn her, now her fire was a deep, angry red, and it was far hotter than before, to the point it hurt to keep near her. Marcus believed this to be because of her deep anger and resentment at Ruby, for she'd explained her past to him by this point. He helped her develop a technique to harness the power of her flames, and even created a unique mixture of clay and ash that Cinder could melt and re-forge into any shape she desired using her fire. This became her primary weapon, and she carried it around in a sack at her waist.

While staying with Marcus, Cinder became fast friends with his son Mercury. The two of them bonded, and Cinder even began fanning a small flame of infatuation with the boy, but her memories of Ruby's betrayal kept her from letting them grow. She feared being hurt like that again. She lived with the Blacks for a time, with Marcus even agreeing to be her patron at any of the primary schools if she wanted.

Oh she wanted it alright. However, attending Haven Academy would put her too close to home. She asked him to help her get into Beacon Academy instead, in Vale, and he eagerly accepted the offer. Mercury, too, showed interest in following that path, for the slightly older boy had also developed feelings for his surrogate sister and wanted to at least be there to protect her if she needed it. Marcus Black was all too happy to support his son and the girl he had come to consider as his own.


Time passed, as it always does. The 2 girls gradually made their way to the kingdom across the sea, though by very different routes and for very different purposes.

Cinder and Mercury entered Vale's primary academy, Signal, at the dawning of their teenage years. Both showed tremendous potential, though Cinder clearly showed more than any other student at that time. The pair would come to meet 2 other trainees, both set aside for them by fickle Fate, and become fast friends: Roman Torchwick, the son of another wealthy family not unlike the Falls, who sought only to create his own legacy rather than ride his family's coattails, and Emerald Sustrai, the privileged daughter of a shipping magnate who entered the academy out of sheer boredom.

In time, these 4 would enter Beacon Academy and become team MERC (mercury)… but that's another story.

Before we see what Ruby does next, allow me to explain a few more things. In this world there exist 2 kinds of families, lawful and unlawful. These types each have their own traditions and values, but for the purposes of this tale I want to highlight only one; the title held by the head of an unlawful family. Within each of the 4 kingdoms exists a different title; the head of a Mistralian crime family is called a Mist'ltoe (and if young Ella's life had gone differently, she would have discovered her own Father held this very title), the head of a Vacuan crime family is called a Vac'uum, the head of a crime family in Mantle is called a Mantl'peis, and the head of a Valish crime family is known as a Valentine (pronounced VEIL-'n-tine).

With this in mind, allow me to introduce the Valentine of the Rose family, Summer Rose. Now middle aged, with blood-red hair and eyes, Summer was always seen as a wicked woman, flagrantly using people and tossing them aside if she deemed them useless. She cared nothing for the well-being of others, unless those others could serve her in some way; many of her men were beaten like slaves while a few of her slaves were treated like family (though often confined to her bedroom). None knew for certain where they fell in her personal hierarchy, but all were wary of her. She was also prone to violent mood swings, going from calm and professional to blind fury in an instant, and just as quickly into blazing passion if the right man or woman were in the vicinity. Summer Rose was a woman who thought only of herself.

It was into this woman's world that Ruby returned, walking nonchalantly into her offices one day looking very much alive in spite of Summer's attempt to change that. She'd had other children in the past (what woman hadn't?), but none of them had the wherewithal to both survive and come back.

Their first meeting was tense, as Ruby's appearance was something the aging crime boss was not prepared to deal with. Summer was mainly put off by her child's appearance, sensing within her black eyes an emptiness comparable to certain murderers she'd hired to deal with business owners who were late with their payments.

And then Ruby targeted one of Summer's guards, she never bothered to learn his name, pointed to him and said, I want your eyes.

After a brief flash of light, the man was left flailing with 2 gaping holes in his head. Ruby, on the other hand, looked upon her mother with the man's blue eyes set into her head like radiant sapphires.

Ruby, for her part, reveled in her mother's discomfort. Her reconstructed mind now had a sinister bent to it, guiding her to do whatever she could to cause Summer to shrink. Many stories of Summer's cruelty had reached her young ears while she traveled, as well as the wealth her family had acquired over time, and Ruby decided that she wanted that. All of it. So she came to demand it.

Summer now saw that her daughter was possessed of a power that could make her immensely dangerous. Not only that, but she easily gained the trust of her men, merely asking them to leave her alone with Summer and they somehow obeyed! It almost looked like she charmed them, but how could that be?

The Valentine of the Rose Family tried to maintain her composure as she reached for a hidden gun in her desk, one she only kept for emergencies, and pulled it free. If selling her child into slavery couldn't get rid of her, she'd take care of it herself. However, the chamber was empty. The hammer clicked over and over, firing nothing.

Must be my lucky day, said Ruby with a sneer.

Summer threw the gun to the floor in a rage and cried, What do you want from me? Money? Power? Let me live and it's yours!

Ruby's voice took on a cold edge as she replied, That's the entire point… I want your life.

Forgive me for interrupting again, but I need to point out that Ruby's power is not as straightforward as you might be thinking. She demands things via words, but that is not the sole factor that determines what she acquires; that rests on her intent. If she had wanted the man's eye color alone, her own eyes would have changed to blue and his to black and nothing more would have happened, but instead she wanted to take his eyes from him, and so he lost his. The luck of Qrow Branwen and the charisma of Shay D. Mann were also rather vague demands, but her intention singled out the very thing she wanted in both cases and took it from the 2 men.

With that in mind, Ruby didn't simply want Summer to die. No, she wanted the life Summer had in every manner of speaking. She wanted the experience, the beauty, and the soul of the one who had given birth to her all those years ago.

The bond formed once again, and Summer was stone dead before her body even hit the ground. However, this time a more permanent change came over the young Ruby – her body grew 3 inches taller in a moment, her black hair took on a reddish hue that grew lighter at the tips, and her new blue eyes gained a red tint that combined into a lovely violet. More importantly were the memories, flashes of images and scenes bombarding Ruby's head over the course of a few seconds. The life of Summer Rose was now part of Ruby, along with everything that came with it. Mother and child had essentially fused together.

From that day forth, Ruby did as Ella had done and left her old name behind, adopting and embracing the title of Valentine as was her traditional right. She had an empire to build, and there was no time to lose.

Many, many more things happened to each of the 2 girls during their lives, but those are tales best left for another time. I could spend hours telling you of the adventures of Cinder and her friends at both Signal and Beacon Academies, under the tutelage of Professors Rainart and Callows and the leadership of Headmistress Salem. I could spend even longer telling you how Valentine met and acquired her own team; Yang, raised as a bodyguard for Summer but quickly switching allegiances, Blake, a feral Faunus kept in Summer's basement, and Weiss, daughter of the Mantl'peis of the Schnee family and a skilled assassin who ended up charmed into the service of the Rose family.

However, I think I'll end it here. I'd say that's enough to help you think about friendship, loyalty, and the fragility of trust between people who could not be more different. Hopefully you learned something.

If not… then blame Fate.


Designation: Remnant-6681 (Backwards World)

Type 1 Common World
Class 5 Population – 70/30 (Human/Faunus) Ratio
Grimm Threat NOT DETECTED

Environment: YELLOW
Integrity: RED
Culture: RED
Dust/Aura: GREEN
Deviation from Standard: ERROR – INDETERMINATE NUMBERS

Special Note: I have nothing to say here. I mean, what am I supposed to think when all of my readings come back in the negative?! This world really needs someone to go and put a scanner in place, but not even Rain wants to bother. And I don't blame her. I should just flag this one as dangerous and move on.


Author's Note: At no point did I say that every iteration of Ruby Rose would turn out to be a good guy, or even morally gray, now did I? In the case of Valentine, I decided to take the relatively simple concept of a "reverse morality" AU and see where I could take it. Might've gotten away from me a little bit. On another note, this is the first time I've tried this kind of narrator-only writing style and while I'm not really a fan, I'll admit it was a nice change of pace and it fit this type of story fairly well. I'll probably try it again later.

(Edit) Next Chapter: AUs of this universe often drift into our reality, which are usually referred to as modern-AUs, and the next chapter will introduce the first earthling of the series. Here's hoping her intro is "punchy" enough for ya…

=^..^=