Author's Notes

So a quick note on Ozpin's willingness to go along with this plan even though it costs him his life. His current body has a terminal illness that will be mentioned in this chapter. That's why he's willing to throw his life away on such a slapdash plan that's so high risk high reward.

It was going to be brought up near the end of the story, but hearing feedback and rereading it, I think it might sorta be essential info to know now just so the last chapter doesn't make zero sense. It was going to be a minor twist but I think it's so weak a reveal and so important to know now that I'm just going to reveal it here.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!


Chapter 4 – Ruby's Recruitment

They'd explained to her clearly that she wasn't being given the task of finding the Spring Maiden because she was suited for it. She wasn't. Ozpin hadn't meant for Ruby to become a new Qrow to replace the one she'd killed. No, the only reason he'd assigned her this mission was because he didn't want to come out of Ruby's uncle's death empty-handed. In his wisdom, he'd seen a rare opportunity to place a spy within Salem's ranks, and he'd been willing to surrender his own life (albeit temporarily; Ruby kept reminding herself of that) to achieve it.

No one was there to watch her cut down the hordes of Beowolves her anger had brought as she trudged through the Emerald Forest back down to Vale.

It was an absurdly long trek, intended to deter citizens from venturing out on their own to Beacon without prior approval. Ruby had read all about Beacon in several books over the years, and she had a decent mental map of the entire place. Thus, when she'd been forced to flee the academy for her own safety in a haze of bloodshed-induced terror, she got her bearings once more after just a few glances around.

Miss Goodwitch had explained the plan from beyond this step back in the smithy…if it could even be called a plan. At this point, she was going to simply wait around lurking in the shadows. Said shadows were supposed to be the domain of Salem and her evildoers, meaning that it was all the more likely for them to reach out to her from there.

If she wanted to speed it up, she did have some ideas – going to gangs asking for work, seeking out Roman Torchwick, buying a plane ticket to the Grimmlands (if they even sold them) – but that wouldn't help. The whole point was for Salem or one of her people to come to Ruby, so they could think the idea was theirs. If Ruby reached out to them, they might smell a scam. If they reached out to Ruby, that would be a point in her favor.

Slaughtering the creatures of darkness had always been child's play for Ruby, and their presence wasn't normally a cause for concern, but she had typically limited her hunts to Patch's forests, and when she was in her right mind. As such, she wasn't entirely sure whether the reason for their unprecedented numbers was due to the new terrain or her own heightened emotional state. Either way, they were coming at her in numbers she'd never seen before.

And she was destroying them just as easily as normally. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was so distracted by running over the events of the past day in her head, again and again and again. Killing the Grimm was second nature to her, and as long as she didn't think about it consciously, nothing they threw at her could slow her down.

The lack of sleep for the past day and a half was countered out by the sheer rivers of adrenaline that were floating within her bloodstream. The fact that this may have been her last chance to kill Grimm was not lost on her.

When next we meet, you guys might just be my greatest allies, Ruby thought to herself as she slashed through the last lingering remainders of a pack of Beowolves. She dared not say the words aloud and jeopardize everything that she worked so hard for.

If this failed or succeeded, it wouldn't bring Qrow of Ozpin back. In regards to the former, he hadn't even died for this cause – it was merely an opportunistic grab for advantage by Ozpin in the wake of the unexpected slaying. As for the latter, well... Ozpin had said he was sick with something... cardiopulmo... chronic cardio...something, something really, REALLY bad, that the doctors couldn't cure. He was dying either way and would reincarnate (Ruby still wasn't sure how much she bought that and how much it might've been an excuse to get her to comply) but he would've lived for a lot longer if she hadn't been there, plus it had been such a painful way to go, shredded up by Crescent. Either way, two people and their potential marks on the world were gone, and Ruby felt like so much suffering had to amount to something positive. Like, if both of the veteran huntsmen died and it didn't have a good cause at the end of it all, it would just be the worst.

Another Beowolf leapt from the shrubbery in her direction, and Ruby pulverized it into a poof of smoke. Catching her breath and remembering to focus on the task at hand, she pressed on in the direction of Vale.


"Yo, she dead?"

"She's stirring."

"Could be death throes."

"Her chest is rising."

"Figures a dyke like you would stare at her tits."

"Mercury, she may not be dead, but you will be if you ever call me that again."

"Hey, I see the way you look at C…women. Don't blame me for the way you are."

"Fine, I won't. In exchange, when I snap and murder you, you don't get to blame me for the way you die."

Something kicked her, and Ruby jolted awake, tipping over and landing in a puddle of last night's rain. She'd heard the voices speaking, but making sense of what they had been saying in her sleepy state had been more or less impossible until she'd been woken up just a bit more from the kick. It was like all those times when she'd snooze her alarm back on a school day, not fully considering the consequences of her actions, only to gradually regain more consciousness a half-hour later and realize she was going to be late to class.

As she came to, she was faced with her surroundings and two unfamiliar faces.

The surroundings were far easier to interpret, as memories from last night came back to her. It had actually been the early evening when she'd fallen asleep in an alleyway, wallowing in her own suffering and choosing to hide herself from view in case the police came looking for her. It was with a heavy heart that she'd chosen to discard her belt and hood in a dumpster several blocks prior, but she'd known that the police would be searching for a suspect wearing such articles, and they were too distinctive. Crescent Rose was slung across her back, which did enough to keep people from seeing it unless they actively looked. Keeping it was a risk, but leaving it behind would render her defenseless, and Salem probably was looking for an armed combatant, not a vulnerable liability.

The two unfamiliar faces were, well, unfamiliar. Neither of them meant anything to Ruby.

"How long was I out?" Ruby asked, rubbing at her eyes.

"How the fuck am I supposed to know?" asked the taller of the two, a boy who didn't seem happy to be there. His skin was as pale as Ruby's but all of his clothes were the same color as his hair – pure, uninterrupted gray. Ruby decided then and there that she didn't like him.

"You Ruby Rose?" asked the other person. She was still taller than Ruby, but not by as much. Ruby had seen plenty of people with dark skin before, and half of her family had red eyes like this girl (at least if she counted Yang during her semblance), but the green hair was new.

Ruby raised her arms above her head to stretch out after the uncomfortable night spent sleeping on the ground, but the gray boy kicked her again.

"What's yer name, you little shit?"

"Look, I don't have time for this," Ruby said, glancing up at the sky to see how dark it was. Based on her best guess, she was say it was either around dusk or dawn, but she couldn't tell which.

"Why?" asked the boy. "Got somewhere to be?"

Ruby nearly cursed right then and there. Right now, she wasn't supposed to be on a schedule to meet Salem's minions. All she was supposed to be doing was hiding from the police and Beacon in the wake of her violent crimes of passion.

"I don't have time to be mugged by two hobos," Ruby corrected, saving the situation as best she could. She raised a thumb over her shoulder to point to Crescent. "Look, I'll save you losers the time and just come out with it – I'm a huntress. You try and go for my wallet, you…die."

"Huntress, eh?" said the boy, trying to kick her again. She leaned away, dodging the blow. "Sure about that, red?"

The girl shoved him, not so gently. "What my companion means to ask is if you're a huntress, or if you used to be a huntress."

Ruby's eyes narrowed.

If this is…that, then that was fast.

"What's it to you two assholes?" Ruby asked. Cussing wasn't pleasant, but if they were Salem-followers, they wouldn't be interested in a goody-two shoes do-gooder of a fifteen-year-old.

"If you are Ruby Rose, then I think we have someone who'd be interested in meeting you," said the girl.

"And if you're not, I want your wallet," said the boy.

Ruby frowned. "M-Meet with me?"

Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes it means something it's not for nothing yes yes yes.

"Why would I want to meet with whoever you two work for?" Ruby forced out.

She wanted desperately for this to be that easy. Salem apparently had spies everywhere, and in the time she'd been asleep, the message of Ozpin's death had spread. She was now about to be recruited and one step closer to completing her mission and saving the world from Salem.

She wanted that, but she wasn't supposed to. A real serial killer wouldn't just meet with two random stranger's boss. It wasn't Ruby's own instincts telling her this but the hours of coaching Miss Goodwitch had given her on how to appropriately react.

"I'm askin' you again – why the hell should I care about whoever you're asking me to meet?"

"Because," said the boy, with a grin. "We're not asking."

"Yes, you are," said Ruby. "You just asked if I could meet with someone, like, fifteen seconds ago."

"We ain't asking. We're telling."

"O-Oh," Ruby said dumbly. "Oh. So, like, do I just follow you, or do we have to fight to assert dominance, or…?"

"Just follow us," said the girl. "And feel free to ignore Mercury if he's being an idiot. It's what I do, pretty much all the time."

Ruby got up to her feet and took another look at the two. Now that she knew what to be checking for, she could tell that they were both hunters. The girl had guns on her waist, and the boy clearly carried himself with the cocky air of someone used to getting into and winning fights. Their outfits weren't explicitly show-offy, but Ruby didn't expect that normal civilians would dress up in such bold fashion schemes unless they were models on the runway.

The girl, who still hadn't introduced herself, put a hand on Ruby's shoulder and began leading her deeper into the alleyway. Ruby looked back at the street one last time before following her.


It was no understatement to say that Salem was probably the most beautiful woman Ruby had ever seen.

The red dress she wore covered up just enough of her body to leave something to the imagination, and it also helped accentuate the natural curves of her body. Those eyes of hers twinkled like burning stars, radiating both a calm warmth that called out to Ruby and a simmering heat that warned her off within. Her hair fell over one eye, giving her a slightly quirky appearance, but the look of her face told Ruby that she wouldn't appreciate being referred to as such. Ruby hadn't realistically expected the Dark Queen of the Grimm to have black blood in her veins and skin as white as ash, but nevertheless, this individual was far more approachable than whatever nebulous image she'd kept in her head.

Just the same, she radiated danger. If Mercury had been dripping with confidence in the way he moved, Salem was overflowing with it. As she walked up to Ruby, her eyes roved all over the young girl – not in a creepy way, but in a 'I am assessing you as a threat and/or potential minion' way. Both of her arms sat calmly at her sides, but Ruby recognized the same tension that her old combat tutor had instructed her to watch out for. At a moment's notice, Salem could spring into action. Ruby saw no weapons, but she doubted they could be far. Or maybe Salem fought hand to hand, like Yang. She couldn't say for sure.

They weren't in some comic book villain lair like an abandoned warehouse or something equally silly. The two hunters had brought Ruby to a decently sized apartment on the higher end side of Vale that had to have had at least five rooms. The quartet of them were currently in the kitchen. Salem had risen from the couch to greet Ruby, while Mercury hovered in the background and Emerald stood attentively at the front door.

"You must be Ruby Rose."

"And you must be…hey, wait a sec, I recognize you."

Salem blinked, and Ruby instantly bit down on her tongue. She hadn't meant to say it out loud, but it had just sort of slipped out.

When Roman Torchwick had been flying his getaway bullhead above Dust Till Dawn, a huntress in a dress identical to Salem's had been out there, throwing fireballs and creating explosions that had nearly killed Ruby. At the time, she'd recognized the motions as Dust-Weaving, which had caused her to commit the dress into which the Dust was presumably laced to memory. There was no guarantee that this was the same woman, as Salem could have easily lent her clothes to a friend, but Ruby had spoken on instinct.

If Salem figured out who Ruby was, Qrow would have died for nothing.

Please don't let it…

"I was thinking you might've," said Salem. "It's good to see that you aren't blind, Ruby. We aren't out looking for someone who forgets an enemy they crossed blades with but a week ago."

"L-Look, about that, I was…"

Ruby didn't know what to say. Should she apologize and beg for forgiveness? Should she play it off as nothing important? Should she double down? Her mistake in calling out Salem had actually been the right thing to do, but there was no telling how far would be too far.

"…I had some misconceptions about what side I was on," Ruby decided to go with, eventually.

"As it seems. Worry not; I am not here to exact vengeance. Quite the opposite, in fact. Miss Rose, you don't know me, but I know you."

Ruby didn't freeze like she wanted to. She didn't tense up. She kept herself cool, calm, and collected, because Miss Goodwitch had schooled her on how not to react to anything. This wasn't the time to show weakness. Any mistake could spell her doom, and if Salem figured out Ruby's true intentions, it could not only spell out Ruby's death but the death of everyone on Remnant.

But then Salem's eyes narrowed. Two seconds passed in which Ruby pondered what she'd done wrong. When it clicked, Ruby realized that everything Miss Goodwitch had told her, every second of every minute of every hour of her training, was useless.


"Y-Y-You do?" she squeaked, stuttering like Ruby Rose the socially useless weapons dork and awkward huntress nerd always did. "You know…me? How?!"

Salem nodded, pleased with the reaction. "I've heard of the events in Beacon. Of the death of your uncle and the headmaster. The academies betrayed you, and you exacted your vengeance. A powerful statement, and one that did not go unnoticed by myself and my organization."

Ruby let herself wince guiltily at the mention of Uncle Qrow, which was the reaction that she would have done naturally. Salem saw it. She was meant to.

And that was the kicker. Miss Goodwitch had explained to her how to react or not react appropriately to all sorts of things, but that wasn't going to matter here. Salem expected reactions. If Ruby maintained her composure at all times and didn't stutter here and there and act appropriately shocked at the things Salem was telling it, it would look all the more suspicious. The best cover was the truth, and while it might've been convincing for Ruby to play the part of the stone-cold killer who hid her emotions well, that wasn't what a realistic fifteen-year-old who just left behind her entire life would do.

Ruby Rose's best cover would be as herself. She wasn't a spy, and if she tried to be one, it would raise more questions than it answered. Naturally, she would have to feign shock when she heard about the maidens for a second time, but otherwise, she should just act naturally. If Ruby didn't flinch when Salem showed her magic or demonstrated control of the Grimm, that would trigger alarms. Ruby would've bet dollars to cookies that Mercury and the girl he was with had been shocked silly when Salem did those things for them. Besides, there was no telling what Salem already knew about Ruby. The most realistic reaction was the expected reaction.

Ruby wasn't a spy. She was a child, and she needed to start acting like it.

"I-I-I didn't mean to kill them," she piteously wailed. "I mean, I did, but they…they weren't being fair!"

Ruby thought back to seeing Jaune when he had been allowed to apply for Beacon when she hadn't. Calling upon that memory, she let some of the outrage she'd felt at the time leak into her face, but quickly pulled it back. Salem noted the turmoil in Ruby's emotions and offered a comforting smile.

"You are not alone, Miss Rose. Beacon is a castle that lives high up on its hill and looks down on the rest of us. Its very walls teem with hypocrisy, and the hunters it and the academies churn out are just the same. My own mentor, Rhodes, sought to kill me in the dead of night when I committed the grave sin of defending myself from my tormentors. Emerald, they were content to leave starving in the streets, but when she stole just barely enough to feed herself, they came after her guns blazing. And Mercury…well…"

"I don't have a sob story," the boy proudly declared. Salem glared daggers at him, but he shrugged it off and sauntered over to the corner of the room.

"Ruby, we are the few who have seen behind the curtain that Ozpin uses to hide his ugly truth. I assure you, for every sin those in this room have suffered, ten thousand more exist and, worse yet, go unpunished. Faunus are accepted to the academies, but they aren't present in numbers greater than as a token presence to act as a smokescreen and deny allegations of misconduct. More male hunters are the aggressors of abusive relationships than any other career choice. And, as you've seen firsthand, the headmasters hold unprecedented power over their students. In my opinion, it seems a touch unfair that an old man years out of his prime can up and decide that a promising young woman must give up on her career entirely solely because he can't be bothered to organize a rescheduled exam."

Ruby feigned shock at Salem knowing so much about her. After what she thought might've been a reasonable amount of time, she narrowed her eyes manually, doing her best to make it a suspicious look. "You're talking like…like you plan to do something about it. Something bad, like hurting people."

Most kids don't instantly side with anarchists after their first bad day at school. If I just joined them without questioning it, she wouldn't trust me.

"The kingdoms were born from blood," Salem explained, turning away and folding her arms. "It took the Great Wars to develop them from hereditary monarchies into the modern systems that exist, but they didn't take it far enough. Sadly, that means that if a new order, a truly fair order is to be established, there must be more blood. But I can promise you this, Ruby: when the blood has been shed and the swords are laid to rest, the world will be a better place after our revolution."

Ruby pretended to waver for a few seconds and used that time to carefully select her next few words.

"Huntresses…Huntresses make the world a better place."

Salem nodded. "You'd not be a huntress, but serve me and you would be helping people. That, I can promise you."

Ruby bit her lips and met Salem's eyes.

"Who exactly are you?" she asked.

"My name," said Salem, her amber eyes blazing with a triumphant gaze of victory as she gained a new minion, "is Cinder."


Coming Soon – Ruby's Space


And now, a tip from Ruby:

Ruby's Tip #3 – Need a few quick lien? Donate some blood, then borrow what you lost from a friend.


Author's Notes

Cinder has unseen eyes on Beacon, meaning that word of a potential recruit travels fast. Recall that Cinder knows nothing about Ruby's good-guy-ness and just sees her as a former prospective academy candidate (the same thing she used to be according to V8) who then slaughtered more than half of the Valeans in on Ozpin's war. To her, it looks like too good an opportunity to pass up, which is why she's showing off her reach by having Emerald and Mercury roam the city in search of Ruby.

In other words, this is meant to be fast.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!