AN: This is just another role swap fic, but with some different swaps then what you'd usually see. It all started off the idea of swapping Ruby and Weiss, and everything else is built around that. Some characters haven't directly swapped positions with someone else, but rather, swapped some aspect of their character, be it motivations, ideology, goal, or simply what they know about the world at large.
Also, some characters ages were swapped around to fit them into the show's age ranges for the characters they swap with. Main examples here being Adam and Blake, and Winter and Yang. In both instances, the former is much younger than in canon, and the latter is older.
I do not promise consistent uploads.
Early story will mostly be volumes 1-3 but man oh man, do I have divergences planned.
This is my first fic, so please, enjoy:
Weiss was doing her routine checks on the Schnee Dust Company store. Her mother's start up was doing well, by all standards. Weiss took Winter's spot working the store now that she was set to go to beacon. Weiss would miss her.
But that wasn't important right now, Weiss needed to focus. She just had a few more shelves to stock, and she could head home. She had to be at Signal first thing in the morning for her training.
She set down a box of magazines and prepared to throw them up onto the rack, when she overheard a number of footsteps walking in through the front door. A large number of footsteps.
"Do you know how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?" A charming male voice drifted from around the corner, followed by the click of a gun.
Weiss froze for a few moments, before deciding to pretend she didn't notice them.
"Please just take the lien and leave." The old man they hired to work the register said.
"Relax, I'm not here for your money." The charming voice said. Weiss drifted to where she could see the thieves in the reflection of her scroll, and a plan quickly formed in her mind.
"Grab the dust." The voice said, and the thieves grabbed and began filling empty canisters with dust.
One of them began making his way over to where Weiss was, so she pretended to be stocking shelves, as if she didn't notice him.
"Hey, you." the thief said, footsteps leading Weiss to believe he was approaching.
"I'll be with you in one second." Weiss said, as if to a customer, but she didn't look back to the man, not even when she heard the sharp sound of a blade being drawn.
"I'm not a patient man…" The thief said, blade tip pointed at Weiss. She smiled, and turned to him.
"The Schnee Dust company promotes patience when dealing with belligerent or slow customers, please do not stretch mine thin." Weiss said.
"What..? I'm not a customer, now put your hands up!" The thief said.
This statement prevented him from hearing the large glyph forming beside him, and left him blindsided by the large icicle that flew out of it, sending the man flying out of the glass front of the store. Weiss followed closely behind, taking advantage of everyone's shock to reposition and avoid being boxed in. She held Myrtenaster aimed at the man who appeared to be leading the operation.
He stared back at her for a few moments before speaking to the rest of his crew: "Okay… get her."
The thieves advanced on her, and she quickly dispatched them with her sword one at a time, dancing carefully between swings and taking advantage of any openings until she had no opponents left.
"You were worth every cent, truly you were." The man said, walking forward and putting out his cigar by flattening it on the ground. "Well Snowflake, I think we can all say it's been a pretty eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
The man swiftly lifted his cane off the ground, before firing a flare at Weiss. Weiss summoned a glyph to block it, but by the time the smoke cleared, the man was gone. Weiss looked around and saw the man climbing the ladder up the fire escape on an adjacent building.
"I'm going after him." Weiss said to the old man. "Call the police."
Weiss formed a sort of staircase with her glyphs and chased the man up to the roof.
"Hold it, there!" Weiss called out to the ringleader.
"Persistent.." the man muttered, barely loud enough for Weiss to hear.
Just then, a bullhead rose up over the rooftop, and the man jumped into its open side door.
"End of the line, Flake!" The man called from the bullhead, throwing a fire dust crystal towards Weiss. She moved to react but was too late and braced as the man shot a flare at the crystal, awaiting the heat from the flames slamming against her aura.
But, it never came, as instead, a woman with two swords of fire redirected the majority of it away from them, and back at the ship.
A new figure stepped into view of the ship, her white shirt and black skirt all that was visible in the shade of the bullhead. A summoned purple glyph and blocked the flame. The woman who saved her tried to redirect the flame around the glyph, but the woman in the ship formed the purple glyphs into a sphere, blocking anything from making contact with the ship.
The ship, under the protection of this sphere, took off towards the edge of the city.
Weiss turned to the woman who saved her, who's piercing amber eyes peered deep into her own.
"You're a huntress." Weiss observed. "What do we do now?"
Weiss couldn't believe it. Arrested. Or well, taken in for questioning. She supposed it did make sense, but it didn't feel good when all she had tried to do was help people.
"What you did tonight put people's lives on the line…" the woman who had saved her, Cinder Fall said. "If it were up to me, you'd be harshly reprimanded and sent home. But, someone here wants to talk to you."
The door opened as Cinder finished and an older woman walked in, with her blonde hair up in a knot looking down on Weiss with emerald green eyes. Weiss recognized her as the headmistress of Beacon academy, Salem.
"Weiss Schnee." She said in a serious tone, before lightening up and smiling at her. "Hello. Apologies for the assuredly dreadful reception. For someone who's semblance lets her control fire, Cinder here can be incredibly cold."
Cinder groaned in response, before leaving the two of them alone.
"So, where did you learn to do this?" Salem asked, holding up a tablet with security camera footage of Weiss fighting with the thieves from earlier in the night.
"Signal academy, ma'am." Weiss said, sitting straight in her seat.
"You can relax, you're not in trouble." Salem said, reassuringly. Weiss did as she was told.
"So, tell me, why go to train at Signal?" Salem asked.
"Well, I want to be a huntress, like my sister. She'll be in attendance at Beacon this year." Weiss said. "After I finish my time at Signal, I plan to join her."
"You do know who I am, don't you?" Salem asked, with a smile on her face.
"Of course. Professor Salem, headmistress of Beacon academy." Weiss answered.
"Indeed, I am." Salem responded. "And as headmistress, I think you've shown your capabilities plenty tonight. I see no reason we shouldn't expedite the process, if that would be ok with you."
Weiss couldn't believe what she was hearing, and a massive smile lit up her face.
Winter walked into the bar. She had a plan. If anyone in Vale had information on her father, it'd be Junior. She walked in and up to the counter with purpose.
"I take it you're Junior?" Winter asked the man she knew to be Junior at the counter.
"Depends, who's asking?" He replied, cautiously. Winter knew that was as close to an answer as she was going to get.
"Well, I'm looking for this man, we've got a score to settle. Know anything about him?" Winter asked, showing a scroll with pictures on it
On her scroll, was a man with black, messy hair, and light red eyes. Light red eyes that matched the one's scanning him now; as Winter watched the man's body language, to see if he was lying.
"Never seen him." The man said, coolly
He definitely was. Winter smiled.
"Well, that's interesting. Y'know, I've heard that if you wanted to learn anything in Vale, this was the place to go. I bet the cops would just love to hear about it. I don't think they'd be too fond of the illegal weapons stashed around the place, though." Winter said
Junior seemed to reanalyze the situation
"You did your research. I'm kind of impressed. You remind me of myself when I was younger. Smart enough to get yourself into trouble. let's see if you're smart enough to get yourself out." The man whistled, and the music cut out. A number of the armed thugs around the place drew weapons and aimed them at Winter, who merely smirked, before using her semblance to form two sets of walls trapping the two of them in a V shape.
"Why bring friends into it now, we were just getting somewhere." Winter said, drawing her sword and swiftly placing it at the man's throat. She continued: "Y'know, if you stop keeping secrets from me, I see no reason why I can't keep your secrets for you. Otherwise, I'm not sure this ends well for anyone."
"You've got some gall, kid. Fine. That," He said, pointing at the scroll with his hands up, "is Qrow Branwen. As far as I know, he's been in Mistral for the past eight years. Hope that's worth something to you."
Winter's piercing red eyes, the last thing she got from her father, scanned the man again, before sheathing her sword.
"Nothing I didn't already know." She said, bitterly, before dropping the walls, and stalking out of the club.
Outside, she was pulled out of her brooding by a familiar voice.
"Winter? What are you doing here?" It said.
"Nothing, Weiss." Winter replied. "What about you, aren't you supposed to be on shift?"
"Well, I was…" Weiss said. "But you'll never guess what happened tonight."
Adam didn't know what he expected. He had known Blake had a more violent streak, and quite frankly, it was hard for him to blame her. She had been in this fight for longer than him, since her birth really. Her parents founded it.
When some of the Fang's cells got aggressive and started vandalizing a select few racist shops, an angry group of humans took out their anger on the Belladonnas. Blake was the only one to live through it. But no Belladonna truly survived that day. Perhaps that was why she was so intent on ensuring no humans survived this day.
The raid on the train had been going well, all things considered. They dispatched a few Atlesian bots, secured a massive amount of dust. Then Blake had asked him to plant charges throughout the train. The train that, aside from a few carts at the back, was loaded with completely innocent civilians.
The thought made him sick to his stomach.
"Blake…" He said. She froze, before her amber eyes flicked back to him. All he could see was seething rage.
"NOT now, Adam. This is for the Fang. For the Faunus." She said, with a quiet rage. "A few worthless humans getting hurt is an EASY price to pay."
Adam wasn't surprised by what he was hearing. Deep down he knew that the Blake he had first met was gone. Reduced to nothing but a roaring inferno of rage. The girl he had grown up with, who had mentored him, who he wasn't quite sure he didn't love, she was gone. Consumed by a need for vengeance on all of mankind.
It didn't hurt him any less. A quiet grief flooded through him, as he finally accepted what the rational part of his mind had been telling him for years. He knew he couldn't do this anymore. He had to get out.
Blake, for her part, didn't seem to notice the revelation tearing Adam apart at the seams. She was too focused on the mission. Blake went to open a door to the next cab, preparing to plant a charge, when the wall opened itself. One of Atlas's newest toys, a large spider tank, burst through.
"Intruders. Identify yourself." It said, to which, Blake scoffed. When the bot decided they had been granted enough time to attempt to absolve themselves, had they been truly innocent, it began spinning up the rotary gun attached to its arm.
"Adam!" Blake called out, and Adam's instincts took over. As the spray of bullets came from the gun, Blake used her semblance to phase out, reappearing behind the droid. Adam raised his sword to block the shots before his brain had processed they were coming. Blake slashed at the droid's back with her own weapons. The bot turned in place, directing its fire at her.
Adam fired Blush at the bot as it turned, aiming to further the damage done by Blake. While still facing its guns on Blake, the bot rushed Adam forcing him back onto the next flat car of the train. The bot, turning its head around on a swivel to face Adam, stepped halfway onto his new cart. It was then Adam saw his chance, and he began charging his semblance.
The moonslice he unleashed barely cut a sliver of the bot's lower legs off, to which it seemed relatively unbothered.
What did bother it, however, was the rest of the moonslice's path, severing Adam's cart, and notably the rest of the passenger's carts, from Blake's.
The bot, caught between two slowly separating train carts, stumbled as it fell between the carts. Even given its size, it was hardly a match for the speed at which the back half of the train was moving, and it was smashed into pieces to either side of the cart.
Normally, Adam would be taking in Atlas's oppressive machines being destroyed, especially when it was such a spectacle. But the only thing Adam could focus on were the amber eyes staring deeply back into his own. There was an intense heat there, brought on by the wrath in her soul, but what was truly bothering him about it, was the shred of pain he could see in her eyes.
He knew it was an image he would be seeing for a long time.
Ruby looked to her older sister's reassuring gaze. Of course, anyone watching from the outside would see nothing but a cold, calculating stare, but Ruby knew Yang better than that.
Still, Ruby focused on the task at hand. This was her chance to get away, just as Yang had before her.
Standing across from Yang was her mother, Summer Rose. The woman who had made her life hell for the last 17 years. When Ruby had asked to go to Beacon instead of Atlas, as her mother had planned for her, Summer responded with a challenge.
If Ruby can beat whatever grimm Summer throws at her, Ruby would be free to make her own choice, and go to whatever huntsman academy she pleases.
"Remember, Ruby. If at any point, either of us declare this fight to be over, it's over, and you will be attending Atlas academy." Her mother said, gesturing to herself and Yang.
Summer's usual scowl was very deep today. Ruby looked back to Yang one more time, to catch just the slightest hint of a smile and nod, before Yang returned to her neutral expression. That at least brought Ruby some comfort. Her sister believed in her.
Ruby squeezed the handle of Crescent Rose. It brought her more comfort.
Across the grand hall, her mother stared at her.
"Are you ready?" She asked. Ruby nodded, and brought up Crescent Rose, in rifle form.
"Begin!" Summer called, and a set of doors on the far side of the hall swung open, allowing the grimm she had chosen to come enter the hall. It immediately locked onto the most negative emotion it detected, Ruby's anxiety.
The Teryx flew directly at Ruby. It moved a bit faster then she had expected, and she had to fire a shot from Crescent Rose to get out of its path. The grimm's momentum carried it forward, into the wall Ruby was standing in front of. It seemed to be stunned by the impact.
Ruby took advantage of this by switching Crescent Rose to its scythe form, and slashing along the Teryx back, empowered by a shot from the rifle.
The Teryx screeched in pain, and quickly turned to face its target, before unleashing a beam of fire that Ruby could feel draining her Aura. She barely managed to escape with her semblance.
When she reformed, she switched her scythe to its rifle form once more, before firing off multiple rounds towards the grimm. A few made contact, but most bounced off the grimm's armored face.
The grimm took flight again, charging directly at Ruby with outstretched claws. Ruby deflected them by spinning Crescent Rose, and hooked the small hook on the back of the scythe's head onto the creature's wing, using its momentum to pull herself up onto its back.
The grimm, destabilized by the sudden increase in weight, began shaking, before eventually giving up on flight.
Ruby attempted to slash at the grimm's neck, but the sudden stop the grimm made catapulted her forward into the wall. The grimm moved to follow up on her impact, but she used her semblance to jet to the other side of the room.
The grimm quickly turned, and took flight once more, charging at Ruby and moving to bite her.
Ruby, not expecting to be under pressure so quickly, jumped back and swung Crescent Rose up at the beast, who caught the weapon in its mouth. Ruby tried to hold on, but the grimm ripped the weapon out of her hands with the speed it was moving, and with a flick of its neck, sent the weapon across the room. It crashed to the ground with an unceremonious clang.
Disarmed, Ruby froze for a few seconds, unsure what to do. The grimm used this to fly back in and attempt to grab her with its claws. Ruby came to her senses just in time to dodge out of the grapple, but a claw raked across her face, leaving a line of blood smeared across her cheek. Her already low aura temporarily shattered. Ruby, already off balance from her attempt at dodging, was sent flying across the floor, to where Crescent Rose had landed previously.
Time seemed to slow down for Ruby. She could see her mother across the room, and the Teryx approaching. All of this was for nothing. Her aura had shattered, she had lost. She knew her mother would call the fight here, step in to kill the grimm, and it'd all be over.
She could feel the blood leaking from her cheek down her face, but the pain didn't compare to the emptiness left in her stomach. She couldn't allow it to end like this, so easily disarmed and thrown to the floor. Across the room, she could see Yang, her face showing sadness and regret, as she activated her gauntlets. She could see her mother with a faint smile touching the corner of her lips, beginning to open her mouth to speak, her hands falling to the hilt of her ax.
No.
Before Summer could say whatever was on her mind, Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose from beside her and shot at the Teryx, slowing its advance, and propelling herself away from it.
She pushed up off the ground and landed on her feet. She needed to end this quickly.
She allowed the Teryx to fly at her, as it had done in the beginning, and it began preparing a stream of fire to blast her with. But as it released the flames built up in its throat,
Ruby used her semblance to get under it, and with all the strength she had left, cleaved Crescent Rose through its chest. The grimm screeched once more, before slamming into the wall, and dissipating into smoke. Ruby allowed herself only a second to celebrate internally, before whirling on her heels to face her mother, blood still pouring down her cheek. Summer only scowled at her, saying nothing, before turning and leaving.
"Ruby Rose, you have passed the test." Her sister spoke up. Ruby couldn't prevent herself from grinning when she saw the smile on Yang's face. "You may attend whatever academy you wish."
What the hell is Roman supposed to call Weiss? He calls Ruby "Red" which works cause
1. She's red
2. It's an allusion to little red, who's young and mostly helpless
3. It's short.
4. It ends with a hard sound.
but what to call weiss?
Snowflake? Has connotations outside of the story, but ultimately what I went with.
Ice queen is used affectionately in the show, and feels off to me.
Snow angel is even worse about the above issue.
Snowball? Doesn't hit.
Icicle? Awkward.
Icey? Frosty? Don't flow well with "End of the line, _!"
?
Reviews are appreciated.
More will come eventually. Maybe.
