A/N: Updating multiple stories today. This is just the first of them.

Apparently folks enjoy the last fragment.

So much so, that someone asked me to do the same "Limit" bit albeit with Ruby herself.

Sure, why not. I enjoy a good challenge as much as the next chapter...and it gives me an excuse to write this scene.

Its actually from something I'm working on. Details might change. Still, I thought folks might enjoy this.

Hold onto your hats!

With my fifteen year anniversary on this site here, I find myself reflecting on the little things in life. What was once a lazy pastime meant for me and a few friends really grew and evolved over time. There are days when I look back on the last fifteen years here and I wonder if anyone will remember me; if I made an impact, despite never making a single cent on any of these stories. Some days were happier than others, and some stories I enjoyed writing WAY too much; to the point where I'd stay up all night working on them.

And of course, there are times when I look to the future and wonder what will become of things when I'm gone.

Of course, I try not to dwell on the latter overmuch; I'm still alive and still writing. In an ideal world, I'd like to keep doing so for as long as I can. But old age is catching up to me and these days, the world is filled with so much madness and death. The recent earthquake in Turkey/Syria serves as a terrible example. Even before that, so many friends and fellow writers I once knew are gone, now. Will I still be here in twenty years? Ten? Five? Its a chilling thought. But for now, I'm still here, still writing.

As ever, I own no quotes, references, themes, or memes. Not a wit or a single one!

They're tributes to legends far, far, faaaaaaaar greater than I.

Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that.

In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~!

Hope you enjoy~!

"...give 'em hell, Ruby."

~?

Black Roses Red

It was over.

The end was inevitable, of course. She was immortal. They were not.

That blond boy had been a nuisance, but quantity had a quality all its own.

He was still fighting, the foolish boy, blasting through the army she'd arrayed against him. Great gouts of snow and Grimm hurtled through the air with every blow. She almost admired his penchant for destruction. My, my. The continent of Solitas would be quite the mess for years to come. No matter. He wouldn't reach her; not in time to prevent the killing boy. She had chose her victim. She reached down. Grabbed her by the srufff of her throat. Lifted her up, dangling her in the air like the broken doll she was.

"Dear girl." her other hand swept back, poised to carve out her heart. "You've reached your limit...

She leaned in. Pale lips brushed the girl's ear.

...just like your mother before you."

Ruby Rose twitched. Once, that insult had brought her to tears. Now? It shattered her. She saw the precise moment the poor girl broke. Her eyes widened and she made a strangled noise. Tears gathered in her eyes to pour down her battered, bloody face. She whimpered once. Hiccuped...and snarled.

"Limit...?"

A trembling hand reached up to seize her wrist.

"Limit...!"

Another reached to her belt. She grabbed something from it. Jammed it into her thigh.

"LIMIT?!"

Bright eyes blazed with silver light. Salem flinched and lost her grip on the girl.

Ruby sped away.

At first, she thought the whelp was running.

That she'd simply turned tail and given up at last.

She had not. Summer's daughter shot through the snow, through the Grimm, through her army and vanished into the distance...no, wait, she told a lie. She saw her from afar; a comet blazing on the horizon, shining with red light, a rising red star burning bright, racing up a towering mountain peak in the night. Higher she went. Higher still, burning as she strained her aura well past the breaking point. What the devil was she doing? Surely she didn't intend to...oh. Oh, dear.

"Ruby!" Distantly, she heard Naruto's voice. "Don't!"

Too late. The blazing red star reached the summit and lingered there for a moment.

Everyone looked up. All the Grimm. All the soldiers. The very world seemed to hold its breath.

Then she shot down. She struck the snow at speed, creating a great white geyser that seemed to pierce the very heavens.

A noise reached Salem's ears from afar. Belatedly she recognized that high, demented shriek; it wasn't weeping, or wailing, or even a whisper. It was laughter, maddened and deranged, the sound of a simple soul forced to bend for her loved ones time and time again...

...until she snapped.

Scarlet light burned the world red.

"I'VE GOT YOUR "LIMIT" RIIIIIGHT HERE!"

Crescent Rose filled her vision, wreathed in unnatural light.

Salem tried to block. Errors were made. Her arm flew away, severed at the elbow. She whirled after it, only for a torrent of roses to strike her from behind. She stumbled with a hiss, clutching at the gaping tear between her shoulder blades. She didn't even have time to straighten before Ruby stuck her again. Half her chest caved in and with it, Salem felt something she hadn't in years. Pain. She slashed out with a furious blast of magic, but the brat was already gone, vanishing across the horizon yet again-no!

Ruby raced past once more, striking her again.

Flank. Side. Face. Legs. Even her head.

It didn't stop. It never stopped.

A storm. She was a veritable storm of roses, a bloody hurricane without end. Again and again she came on, shrieking like a banshee. It was too much. She couldn't follow her. Each pass was faster than the last, each one accompanied by a debilitating flash of hot silver light. She couldn't keep track of her! That furious laughter was Salem's only warning and even then it wasn't enough. She vanished across the horizon for a blink, only to race back in and bulldoze her.

Too fast. Far too fast. She didn't even have time to heal.

Where was Rose runt running to?! The very edge of the world and back again!? No one was that fast! No one! Not even-

Salem snarled as seven scarlet streaks struck her near instantaneously, tossing her about.

Wounded and bleeding, she fell to to her knees. The attacks didn't stop.

Still they came. Harder. Faster. Stronger.

'What...is...she...?!'

More came. Up, down, left right center.

And for the next five minutes, all Salem knew was pain.

A/N: Don't poke the cinnamon bun Salem. It never ends well.

Aaaand there we go. Hope you enjoyed this little tease. Soooo? Should this be a story? Once again! This is an AU.

Hope someone, somewhere, enjoyed this. I just don't know anymore these days. Its terribly hard to tell...

So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...Review...Would You Kindly? Let me know what you think!

Preview are the same, because this just might become a story...

...but of course, that depends on feedback.

Hope you enjoy 'em~!

(Previews!)

"Thatta girl! Kick her ass, Ruby!"

R&R~!