Weiss was sitting on her bed, dabbing at the injury when there was a sudden, loud "thump" on her balcony. Turning, she saw a red robed individual laying face first on the ground. Groaning in pain, the woman rolled onto their back and sat up, looking around, "Where in Hydaelyn's name…? This isn't the Void…"

"Wha- who are you?" Weiss demanded, grabbing Myrtenaster and the woman focused on her, letting Weiss get a good look at her. Silver eyes stared at Weiss curiously, while black-red hair fell towards her left eye and a large chunk of burned skin was visible beneath it along with a pair of tattoos on either side of her neck. She staggered up, fingerless gloves grabbing the balcony railing and finally she spoke.

"Just as a preamble," the woman said, pointing at Weiss's eye, "I didn't cause that, right? Because if I did, sorry?"

Weiss felt an incredulous laugh out before saying, "No. Now, who are you and how did you get here?"

"I'm Ruby Rose," she said, before raising her head and looking into the sky, "and for how I got here, that is a very good question. Especially since I don't know where "here" is."

"How do you not know where you ar-?"

"Dimensional transit gone wrong, if I had to guess. It still isn't a precise field. Trust me, I would know, my boyfriend is the lead archon in the field. Gonna be a pain to get home though…"

"Dimensional tran-? Are you saying you aren't from Remnant!?"

"Remnant…" Ruby said, "Sounds familiar, dunno why. Anyways, yes, I am. I know it sounds absurd."

"Then where are you from?"

"Uh, the Source of Ethyris?" Ruby said, "Sorry, what's your name?"

"Weiss Schnee," Weiss said.

"Nice to meet you," Ruby said, "I, uh, do you know anywhere I can stay while I figure out the whole "dimensionally lost" thing? An inn or something?"

Weiss took a deep breath, sighing, "You seem really calm about this…"

"I'm kinda used to weird stuff," Ruby said, before blinking and grabbing something from her pocket, "What the seven hells? Why're you… Seriously, what are the chances?"

Ruby turned the small crystal shaped like a rose petal, turning it over between two fingers before flicking it towards Weiss, who caught it on instinct. It was engraved all over with many tiny words, a strange symbol held suspended in the crystal.

"What's this?" Weiss said cautiously.

"Soul Crystal," Ruby said, "it holds the memories of previous generations of Red Mages. If you want to take the Red, I'd be willing to teach you, I did it a couple years ago. Do you have a place we could spar?"

—

Ruby was, if she was honest, rather put out. Being stuck in another shard was not how she expected the day to go. Still, she equipped her Red Mage gear in a flash of aether as her and Weiss walked down the hall, getting a jump from the younger girl.

"How did you do that?

"Trick with aether, I'll show you it sometime, really convenient."

"Can I ask what those tattoos mean, if anything?"

"Oh, yeah. They mean I'm an Archon in the field of percussive aether dispersal."

"What-?"

"I'm acknowledged to be the person with the most skill in the world at beating the crap out of Primals," Ruby said bluntly.

"Primals?"

"Don't have them here? Good. Primals are concentrated aether and prayers that take the form of a sacred being to the faith that creates it."

"Are you implying there are gods wherever you're from," Weiss asked incredulously.

"More like false idols," Ruby said casually, "they were a real mess back home. We only recently got them under control."

"I… I just can't believe you," Weiss said.

"Then don't. It's a hard subject to wrap your head around, I know, so just treat me as a rambling crazy woman until you can. But I can show you the Red, and you will believe that.

—

Weiss stood across from the strange woman, mind reeling. She was… She was from another dimension? Was that possible? Or was this an elaborate trick to get her alone in a place where her death could look plausible as an accident?

Ruby drew a rapier of her hip, a crystalline bobble floating above her right hand,

"Ready?" Ruby asked, settling into a fencer's stance alongside Weiss. Weiss nodded, and Ruby immediately snapped the bobble onto the end of her saber, firing a bolt of lightning at Weiss as she carefully skated out the way, only to be hit by a gust of wind that left shallow cuts in her skin.

"The idea of Red Magic was created by the survivors of ancient Mhach and Amdapor," Ruby lectured as she did, "City States that mastered Black and White magic. Their wanton use of the land's aether made them swear off using anything but their own aether to fuel their magic after the Sixth Umbral Calamity. However, that is dangerous, as the body has a limited amount of aether. That's why-"

Weiss lunged forwards, stabbing Myrtenaster at Ruby. The red saber deflected the attack.

"That's where this comes in," Ruby continued, undaunted, raising the floating bobble, "an Aetheric Accelerator, it helps you make sure there's absolutely no wasted Aether in your casting. But the most important part of the actual Magic component of being a Red Mage is balance. Too much aether aligned too hard with the Umbral or Astral will cause problems for the body so you must learn to regulate it."

Weiss was forced to dodge around bolts of fire, lightning, tornados of wind and the floor rising under her feat before Ruby flipped her sword into a traditional hold, and lunged forwards at Weiss, who quickly brought up Myrtenaster to deflect the strike. Ruby launched into a flurry of flaming attacks, ending with her sticking Weiss in the temple and sending her falling to the ground.

"So, what do you say, are you willing to wear the Red?"

—

Before anyone worries about Falling, I'm going to write another chapter of this, then a chapter of that, then we're switching depending on my mood.