Ruby was looking over jobs as she sipped from a fruity cocktail, looking between them for anything pointing towards Lugh or Remnant. Behind her, the guild was being its normal chaotic self, everyone fighting. Finding one about a strange portal, Ruby pushed the other to the side, folding up the request and finishing her drink.

The red-white cloaked God Slayer stood up, turning and walking into the chaos, heading for the door.

—

Tai Yang Xiao Long stood alongside his brother-in-law, Qrow Branwen. The two remaining members of Team STRQ stood in front of a pulsing portal in Forever Falls. They weren't the first that would be going through it, so hopefully they'd get back out. Reports were consistent, a small town with seemingly no protection from Grimm, the people (justifiably, in Tai's opinion) wary of anyone who came out of the portal. Hopefully hunting some local Grimm would make them more friendly.

Stepping through the portal, they both blinked as they immediately found themselves in a wooden building with a metal door. Tai looked at Qrow, who knocked on the door.

"What?" A quiet, scared voice asked, opening a small window to stare at them. It was a young woman, hair tied in a side palette as she looked at him, "What do you people want? Why do you people keep showing up and then leaving?"

Yeah, that would be suspicious.

"We were trying to figure out where the portal went," Tai explained, "We're sorry for scaring you."

"Still," the woman said, "you can stay there until a representative from a guild comes. Then-"

Guild? Tai didn't know any place on Remnant that still used guilds. But the woman was cut off by a voice saying, "Let them out, I'm here."

The door opened, and they stepped out to meet a confusing sight. A cloaked woman who looked vaguely like… Like Summer was approaching, wearing a cloak with a red outside and white inside. Tattooed on either side of her neck was a winged arrow in red.

"Summer?" Qrow asked quietly.

"Who?" The woman said, "I'm afraid you have me confused for someone else. I'm Ruby Rose, a wizard from the Fairy Tail guild, I'm sure you've heard of us."

Fairy Tail? Wizard? Ruby Rose!?

"Hey, why do you look nervous?" Qrow asked the woman who had let them out.

"Well, we knew it could be Fairy Tail that answered us, but… Well, we were kinda hoping they wouldn't so nothing got destroyed…"

Was this Fairy Tail known for mass destruction or something?

Tai looked over Ruby Rose, noticing parts of both Summer and him in her face. She had Summer's eye color, but his chin. She had his eye shape, but Summer's nose. This was… There really was…

"Listen, why don't we take this out of town? That way if we get rowdy, nothing gets destroyed and nobody gets hurt. Sound good to everyone?"

"Ruby… Do I… Look familiar to you?" Tai asked.

"Vaguely," the young woman said, shrugging, "maybe we met before? What Guild are you a part of? Or are you mercenaries, you have weapons."

No. Ruby wouldn't recognize him, would she? She had been so young when she disappeared, and this woman who had to be her looked so much older.

"We're Huntsmen," Tai said, "and I think… I might be your dad…"

—

Qrow looked between Tai and Ruby, scanning them for similar features. He could find them, enough that made him think there was a possibility, even if he didn't… She couldn't… Ruby had disappeared when she was two!

"The only person I ever knew as a father made it very clear we weren't related to him," Ruby said, and that stabbed Qrow in the heart. Even if this wasn't Ruby, wasn't the Ruby Rose they had lost, he knew what it was like to be rejected by family, "So you could be right, though it would be a very strange coincidence. Can I get your names?"

"I'm Tai Yang Xiao Long," Tai said, "and this is Qrow Branwen."

"Pleasure. Now, you said you're Huntsmen? What are you doing coming through a suspicious portal?"

She was clearly on guard, a long pause coming after every sentence.

"We were trying to figure out where it led. You haven't sent anyone through?"

"If they did, it wasn't included in the mission request. I was probably going to have to. Where are you from? Not Alvarez, I hope."

At the mention of the unknown location, Ruby shifted slightly. One leg behind her, drawn back slightly.

"I've never heard of there," Qrow said, "That a town nearby you have beef with?"

"You've never heard of the Alvarez Empire?" Ruby said, disbelief in her voice.

Empire? There were no empires on Remnant…

"Where are we now, if you don't mind me asking?"

"The kingdom of Fiore."

Where the fuck had the portal sent them?

"We're from the Kingdom of Vale," Tai said.

Ruby's face grew serious, "I'm gonna have to ask you to come with me. We need to contact the magic council to discuss this."

Magic council?

"You're talking like magic is real…" Qrow said, since Tai wasn't in that particular loop.

"Why wouldn't magic be real?" Ruby said, "come on, it'll take a week to get to the guild hall. Best get started now."

—

Mirajane Strauss looked over as the doors to the Fairy Tail guild hall swung open, letting in a little girl. Ok, so she was probably only a couple of years younger than Mira, but whatever.

She was wearing a dirty white dress, missing shoes and leaving smudges of blood on the floor as she walked in. Her tarnished silver eyes flickered around the room carefully, like she was expecting an attack or something.

"Hello," Master Makarov said, jumping down from his place at the bar to walk over to her, "Who are you, little one?"

"I'm… I'm Ruby Rose," she stumbled over the name like she wasn't used to it, "I was looking to join the guild?"

"Do you know magic, little one?"

Ruby nodded, a magic circle appearing in front of her hand, "I know White God Slayer Magic, grandpa."

Had she actually just called the Master grandpa?

"God Slayer magic, hmmm? Can't say I've heard of it, but there are as many magics as there are stars in the sky. What's that magic brand on your cheek, Ruby?"

Ruby reached up to touch a large silver mark on her right cheek, "It's… My number, of Father's children."

"Seven, huh? Are we going to need to worry about the others?"

"No, they're gone."

"Well, you don't need this anymore so…" Master Makarov brushed his hand across the silver seven, causing it to vanish, "let's get you bandages for your feet, then you can decide where you want your guild mark to be."

Ruby nodded as Lisanna came running up with bandages, wrapping them around Ruby's feet. Ultimately, the strange girl chose her neck for the mark.

Mira approached her a little over an hour later, ready to teach her the pecking order. Ruby looked up from the glass of strawberry juice she was sipping from.

"God Slayer Magic, huh? Pretty arrogant name," Mira said, "I bet you couldn't even hurt a fly, let alone another per-"

The next thing Mira knew, she was crashing into the wall of the Guild Hall, coughing up her lunch. It felt like she had just been smashed by a stone pillar!

"Ruby!" Master Makarov said, "What was that?"

"She said I couldn't hurt people. I was showing I could," Ruby's eyes blinked at Makarov, "Did I do something wrong?"

Mira looked up, grinning at the girl with vomit stained teeth, "No, nothing wrong."