Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It happened again.

And like always, she was at it again.

Ruby grimaced as she caught a glance of Weiss working on some homework on the other side of the dorm. She had a glare that could melt steel and scribbled down answers with a viciousness that visibly damaged the paper. One of their teachers was bound to call Ruby in for a ‘talk’ tomorrow. Even other students could tell when the two fought recently by Weiss’ murderess rage that she unleashed against the innocent paper.

It was like a dance to her at this point. A silly ritual that she would have to go through every other week. Sometimes they could go up to three weeks without a single fight. Those weeks of peace would give Ruby hope, hope that she was doing something right. But the peace would always end; like a timer going off. Weiss would start a fight over something dumb, Ruby would have to be the bigger person and then it was back to their studies like nothing happened.
And again, for Weiss’ brooding to end, Ruby would have to, once again, convince Weiss that they were a team and needed each other.

But Ruby was tired.

Ruby had spent almost half a year making this work. And for the most part, they did work. There were days when Ruby felt that Weiss was one of her best friends. Weiss was on par with Yang for being family. Weiss had even been invited to her home for the holidays. But then there were days like these. The days she couldn’t tell if Weiss even wanted her alive. A few months ago, hell even a few days ago, Ruby would have just apologized for whatever Weiss was angry about this time. It wasn’t like Ruby could even bother to remember what set Weiss off anymore. But this time, Ruby was just tired.

And again, Ruby asked, “Why?”

But this time, Ruby didn’t just ask herself.

Weiss stopped her heavy-handed attacks on the paper for a moment before continuing. “What why?” she asked bluntly in return not even lifting her head from her work.

An exhausted sigh flowed from Ruby as she looked over to Weiss. Still ignores her, but now seems to least started listening to what Ruby is saying at least. Well, it's not like things could get any worse than the status quo so Ruby continued.

“why do we keep doing this?” Ruby asked as she kept Weiss in her line of sight. “Why do we keep doing this silly song and dance every time they fight?”

“We fight, don’t talk to each other for a bit, and then act like nothing happened? That’s not normal Weiss.” Ruby turns away from Weiss to look at her weapon and hands as Weiss’ furious writing is in the background. “Every time we fight, we do this. Aren’t you tired? Aren’t you tired of fighting and ruining our week over things that don’t matter?”

“Dust organization matters Ruby,” Weiss states with little sympathy, not even lifting her head to look Ruby in the eye.

Ruby pauses for a moment, only a moment for Weiss’ words to go through her mind before turning her whole body to face Weiss. The only thing Ruby could do for a good few seconds was to look at Weiss, just dumbfounded. Ruby wanted to say so many things but the only thing she could manage was, “Are you serious?”

“Obviously, Ruby” Weiss answered bluntly, “We don’t want a repeat of our first meeting.” Ruby caught a slight smugness in Weiss' last few words annoying Ruby on a primal level. As well as Weiss continues to keep her eyes on her paper and away from Ruby.

“Weiss!” Ruby snarled with barely contained rage and a hard gaze directly at Weiss, “I don’t care about Dust organization right now! I care about US! Would it kill you to care too?!”

Weiss jumped at Ruby’s tone and Ruby realized, she messed up. While Ruby didn’t want to scare Weiss, a part of her didn’t care if Weiss was uncomfortable. Ruby was angry with Weiss after everything she had put her through but Weiss was still her teammate. Even after everything, Ruby still just wanted to be friends. Holding her breath before she said something else she could regret, she thought carefully about her next words.

“This isn’t right, Weiss. And this isn’t fair… for either of us.” She continued her gaze and voice softening, “Weiss, We can’t live like this for the next three years. I can’t live like this for the next three years. But this keeps happening. Again and again and again and again… Why do you keep doing this to us? You always want to fight. And I always have to apologize.”

“Why can’t we be friends?”

At that Ruby hears the scribbling of Weiss' pencil stop. Ruby looks up to see if Weiss has something, anything, to say only to see her slam a book shut. Before Ruby can fully process Weiss is already halfway to the door. Ruby tries to ask Weiss to stay only to find her dorm room door slammed in her face.

Chapter Text

Weiss was a ticking time bomb and she knew it. She just had to avoid Ruby for a bit. So Weiss started wandering the halls as her mind was thinking through everything.

While Ruby wasn’t terrible all the time, there were moments when Weiss just couldn't stand her. And that was normal, right? You can’t just be happy all the time. There are always fights between friends and that's normal. If there weren’t any fights then Ruby would stop trying to improve herself. Since Weiss was Ruby’s partner, she needed to keep improving her standards.

If she never fought with Ruby, she would still be a foolish child and nowhere near as good as she is now. But does she appreciate and see all the hard work she put into their relationship?

No! And that Hurt!

Ruby only saw the pain and not the benefits of their relationship. Not how Weiss worked her ass off to make problems for Ruby to learn from. Not how Weiss put up with her desperate attempts to be friends for weeks upon weeks. Not how Weiss didn’t even try to take over Team Rwby for two whole months.

No, Ruby only saw Weiss as a pain and wanted her to just be her friend and loyal partner. To just go along with all her ideas and let her be childish. Ruby was the leader and Weiss, the Schnee, was stuck taking orders from a child. And Ruby just wanted Weiss to play along as if this whole situation wasn’t ruining her reputation. And Weiss didn’t even complain about it anymore!

Ruby was really trying to be a good leader, Weiss could acknowledge that, but Ruby just wasn’t good enough. She was a competent child but still a child nonetheless. And if Ruby couldn’t see everything Weiss was doing was for her betterment then maybe she would never be good enough.

It’s not like Weiss doesn’t enjoy hurting Ruby. That's just the best way to make her improve. Her father did the same, and look at Weiss' achievements! She is one of the best duelists in Beacon. She has top grades in all her classes. While Ruby barely passes her classes and is a dame good sniper on her best days she acts like she is better than everyone else. Ruby has fun with the rest of the team and her friends and is a disappointment to her family name she tries desperately to uphold.

Ruby shouldn’t even be here! She should be finishing up her studies in combat school! She isn’t even good enough to be in Beacon and especially not to be a leader!

“It should have been me,” Weiss said to herself. But she wasn’t the leader. As much as she wanted to be and thought that it would be the best decision, she wasn’t. And in her anger-filled wandering, she had gotten herself completely lost. Weiss was now in a long, tall hallway with rows of balconies on her right and countless locked doors to her left. It was dark outside, the lights from street lights in Vale could be seen even from here. It reminded Weiss of looking out her bedroom window and seeing Mantel below. Sighing Weiss went to the balconies for some fresh cool air. The air was just as cool as she had expected. While it wasn’t as cold as Atlas, it sent a comforting shiver through her skin. Weiss looked out onto Vale, and while she wished she could enjoy it, her anger wouldn’t leave her alone.

“Hey, Weiss,” said someone behind her making Weiss jump in surprise. Turning she found Cinder standing next to her, Cinder’s amber eyes locking with hers.

“Oh, hello Cinder,” Weiss said with a flustered smile, “What are you doing here?”

“I needed some fresh air,” Cinder stated, “And it looks like you need some too.”

Weiss sighed and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Ruby is driving me up the wall.”

“Really?” Cinder asked but before she could continue Weiss started to ramble about Ruby and how frustrated. Cinder stood next to Weiss watching her ramble on and on about a girl she seemed to care about but literally only had bad things to say about. The moment Weiss stopped to take a breath Cinder took her chance.

“You know…” Cinder said casually while fiddling with her hands, “If Ruby were removed from Beacon, the leader position would go to you.”

“We, yes, it would but Ruby hasn’t done anything worth being removed for,” Weiss said bluntly, “She is barely passing her classes but she is still passing, she has never failed a combat lesson and hasn’t gotten any of us mortally wounded. Ruby is doing to good to be thrown out.”

“But what if she was removed for bad behavior?”

Weiss looked over at Cinder, seeing a lightly worrying smile on her lips. Was Cinder really suggesting what Weiss thought she was?

“Well, if Ruby is arrested for something she did outside of the school. She would have to be removed.” Cinder stated simply, “I mean she already got here from personal recommendation. The worst case for her is that she has to wait until she is of proper age to join again, Right? It will only be two years, she will still be able to see all of you when she is old enough.”

Weiss stared at Cinder for a few moments before answering, “No, no, I can’t do that to Ruby.”

Cinder sighed sadly telling Weiss the offer would always stay open. But that wasn’t what Weiss was focusing on. The offer given to her is horrible but, she isn’t actually as opposed to the idea as she feels like she should. Ruby is a kid, an annoying kid but still a kid. She would never try to do something like that to Weiss but here she was considering this one option. One side of her is discussed with herself but the other side could only think about how good leadership would be.

Maybe Ruby was right. Maybe there is something wrong with her. Or maybe, she has only noticed the countdown now.

Chapter Text

Ruby had arranged a training session with all four of them in preparation for the Vytal Festival. Some last practices before they would have to do it for real. But when Ruby signaled for Weiss and Yang to do their combo, Freezer Burn, against her and Blake it went wrong. They all were hit by either the main explosion or stray flying dust shards.

And Yang was hit by both.

Now, Ruby was losing her mind because Yang could have died and put all the blame on Weiss.

Weiss didn’t get it. Yang had the highest aura out of the four of them, probably as much as Blake and herself combined. But Ruby was talking as if Weiss had nearly killed Yang. Yang just got up like nothing had happened and was already getting help from Blake. Sure Yang was covered in soot, looked a bit singed, and was staggered but she was still able to walk and talk! But Ruby claimed that Yang could have actually died and can’t help but Weiss scoffed at the idea. Yang was strong, even stronger than her! There was no way that Yang was even in any actual danger. But Ruby was insistent that Yang was, in fact, in danger because of her.

“Fine!” Ruby nearly snarls as she looks at her partner, “If you're so sure, show me her aura level.”

Weiss sighed annoyed at her leader’s childish anger but checked what Yang and Blake’s aura levels were to prove her wrong. Once she could see it, however, she grimaced. As she looked down at her scroll to check for herself she saw that Yang was on the edge of shattering. Looking up to see Ruby’s face it was clear that she had seen her sister’s aura level. Ruby looked mad but not the same form of mad as before. Brow furrowed and an almost disgusted glare in her usually shiny silver eyes displayed a primal rage that Weiss had rarely seen for Ruby.

“God, Damn It Weiss! How did you mess this up so badly!?” Ruby yelled thoroughly enraged. At this moment, it was obvious that Ruby wasn’t thinking clearly so Weiss had to find a way to prove to Ruby that this wasn’t her fault.

“Ruby please, Yang will be fine. She has crashed herself into dust blasts before.” Weiss calmly stated but it did nothing to cool Ruby’s rage.

“This wasn’t Yang ‘crashing herself into a dust blast’ This was you failing to correctly judge the placement of your teammates and almost getting them KILLED!” Ruby said her silver eyes staring daggers into Weiss’s soul.

“Ruby please we can talk-”

“NO WEISS!” Ruby screamed at Weiss making her jump, “Stop acting like you have done nothing wrong! I know you did that on purpose. I can tolerate you giving me shit for existing but attacking my family is where I draw the FUCKING LINE! And then when I confront you, YOU have the nerve to act like you didn’t just try to kill our entire team in BROAD FUCKING DAYLIGHT!” Weiss was left wide-eyed as she watched as Ruby vibrated with rage. She was surprised but that quickly shifted to rage.

“It was an accident, you DOLT!” Weiss huffed in response making Ruby even more visibly upset.

“HOW the FUCK do you manage to accidentally blast someone with THAT much fire dust WHEN YOUR FIRE AND ICE DUST CHAMBERS are on OPPOSITE SIDES OF YOUR OWN CANISTER!” Ruby spat back making Weiss blink. She looked down at Myrtenaster and searched for the two dust chambers. Eyes widening, Weiss found that Ruby was right. She was currently sent to use fire dust and it was almost empty while her ice dust wasn’t even close to her fire dust. Dust safety was a topic they had argued about many times and one such thing is how fire and ice dust must be kept as far away as possible. Weiss had to design Myrtenaster’s chamber to have the two forms of dust as far away from each other as she could. It was impossible for any huntsman worth their dust to use fire dust rather than ice dust. Did Ruby really believe she was so concerned with keeping face that she hadn’t even realized the type of dust she used?

Weiss looked around for a moment and found that everyone in the area was looking at her and Ruby. Her teammates, her classmates, her teachers, and even strangers were looking at the two of them. Not only that but the platform they planned to use was now damaged and charred from the massive explosion of fire dust. From the cracking in the floor alone, a rookie might have thought a grenade had been used. But no, it was just the amount of fire dust and somehow Yang survived.

Weiss froze at the idea that Ruby was accusing her of attempted murder but a small part of her understood. If something like this had happened to Winter she would have lost it. This is why Ruby is wrong, she is just lashing out because she is overwhelmed and too young to handle this like an adult. Weiss calms herself the best she can and walks away from the team. She can hear Ruby screaming at her but it’s best if they continue the conversation when Yang is bandaged up and Ruby has had a chance to calm down.

Then it will be clear who is in the right.

Chapter Text

Weiss and Ruby aren’t really talking anymore. It’s obvious why but that doesn’t fix the simple fact that they do, eventually, have to talk to each other again. That is if Weiss would even bother to try!

Ever since the botched training session and Ruby refused to give the princess that almost killed everyone an apology, Weiss has been avoiding her. In their classes, the halls and even lunch Weiss distanced herself away from the rest of the team. The bitch didn’t even visit Yang in the medical wing! At first Ruby thought that Weiss would at least come back to the dorm. But no. Weiss was far too petty to let herself exist around such lower beings like Ruby. Rather than being sane and admitting she has been a pain in the ass, she sent Emerald and Mercury to tell Ruby that Weiss was now going to stay with Cinder from now on. She didn’t even have the backbone to look at Ruby and stand her ground anymore. Now she was sending Cinder’s lap dogs to stand up for her!

Weiss was treating this like were married and she had just learned Ruby was committing an affair! It was absolute absurd! Well if they were married they could at least get divorced. Unfortunately divorce was not an option in Beacon. Things only got more and more surreal as the days went on. It felt like Ruby was in a cheap telenovela as Weiss tried so spread rumors about Ruby as she cried how she was a victim. Thankfully their were plenty of people at the botched training session and people started making rumors about Weiss instead.

Ruby had heard plenty of the rumors from time to time. Some rumors kept up with the ‘telenovela plot line’ claiming that her and Weiss were dating and that Weiss had steamy love affair with Cinder. Others believed that Weiss was cheating to get good grades and was using this drama as a distraction. Or that Weiss was recently cut off and was taking out her anger on her team mates.

Honestly, the whole situation was a shit show.

Ruby had though that her first year at Beacon would be the best years of her life. She’d be in a team and form life long friendships like her mother before her. Then she would follow in her mother foot steeps and make make a name for herself. But now she is stuck with a team mate that wanted to be her new enemy for life. And that was killing her because even after everything Weiss had done, Ruby still wanted to find a way to make this work.

She wasn’t dumb tho! It was obvious that Weiss hated her but that didn’t mean that she was happy with how things where going. If only Ruby and Weiss could talk. At least Weiss was only directing her hate toward Ruby now. After the accident, Weiss was leaving Blake and Yang out of their fighting and hadn’t tried to hurt anyone else Ruby cared about.

Unfortunately, the rest of the team weren't doing well, even with Weiss leaving them alone now. Yang was still in recovery and that left Ruby and Blake to keep the team’s over all grade afloat. All of this while Weiss refused to work with them on team projects leaving a four man job left to two people. And time was not on Ruby’s side as her age was starting to hold her back from helping her team. She was strong but you can only push a fifteen-year-old body so much until it breaks and if Ruby broke, it was over. Blake couldn’t carry an entire team on her back for months of school work, not to mention team fights. There was a massive difference between a well strategized 2 v 4 and a solo 1 v 4. And Ruby didn’t want to force Blake to carry HER team for her.

She was made the leader! SHE had to be stronger to support her team in their biggest time of need but she just wasn’t strong enough. And if she failed to lead them, all three of them would be forced to drop out and retake the whole year. They probably would be split between three different teams and might loss contact with Blake.

ALL of this because one entitled little ice queen has to be right!

Weiss will only keep escalating things and one of these days, blood will be shed. And Ruby doesn’t know if she can say, when that day comes, she will be sorry for what ever she does.

Chapter Text

The situation between Team RWBY’s members was now much more than just squabbling between teammates; it was now a full-on civil war in Beacon Academy. Ozpin was familiar with Team issues in Beacon with the random arrangements of teams but Team RWBY was a unique situation. The situation between Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee had grown out of hand and had led to multiple fights and accidents between the members of Team RWBY along with other teams picking sides in the argument.

The first instant had been the training accident that left Yang XiaoLong in need of medical assistance along with fire dust poisoning. Then the abandonment of Weiss Schnee leaving her team to fend for themselves and attempting to start conflicts and riots in the school against her leader Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee had a few supporters in the older years as they found the addition of young Miss Ruby Rose an insult to the institution of Beacon. But while Ruby Rose was not a social butterfly she did help many other first-year students improve on and maintain their weapons. This meant that many first years had a lot of respect for their younger colleagues. Along with Yang XiaoLongbeing very active in many groups of older students, many Beacon students had their own opinions.

This hit a breaking point when Ruby was confronted by Weiss trying to taunt her into a fight. Another student struck Weiss first before Ruby could attempt to de-escalate things and those who supported Weiss stepped in. Those who supported Ruby saw what was happening and also started brawling with the students defending Weiss. Eventually, the entire cafeteria and the hallways leading there were filled with an all-out firefight. Now that the dust has settled and Ozpin has managed to get his students back in order a number of members of his inner circle are requesting to know what Ozpin plans to do next.

The Inner Circle gathers around a round table with intricate gearwork ticking away inside. All except for Theodore were at the meeting. Glynda and Ironwood were at his right while Qrow was at his left. To everyone’s surprise, Lionheart also arrived for the meeting since he was already on his way to Beacon to monitor his students. And so the meeting started with Ozpin explaining what this meeting was about and things quickly descended into infighting.

Ironwood and Glynda believe that all the members of Team RWBY should be expelled and brought back in the next year and placed on different teams. Weiss should be taken back to Atlas to go to Atla’s academy, of course, where Ironwood will keep her in check. But the rest of Team RWBY should be split apart and placed in different teams for the next year. The way their grades are currently, it is unlikely that they would even be able to pass this first year. Ironwood simply states that they will already fail so why not give the three remaining students of Team RWBY some time to recover before starting over? But to everyone’s surprise, including Ozpin’s, Lionheart disagrees with this perfidiously.

While Lionheart believes that Weiss should be expelled, the other three don’t deserve to be punished for being victimizes of Weiss’ stubbornness. They have been doing their best to keep their grades up but it is hard when one team member is contently undercutting their leader. Weiss is the problem, a parasite to Team RWBY, and if she was removed Team RWBY would significantly improve. Qrow is happy to second this idea along with questioning Ironwood’s interest in Weiss.

Weiss’ attack on Yang was attempted murder, plain and simple. Using that much fire dust against an ally and for the victim to be hit with enough dust to develop dust poisoning would have killed her if she had a weaker aura. There were also plenty of witnesses at the scene of the crime so if Weiss was tried by Vale law she would be placed in jail for a least ten years. And if she was expelled by Ozpin’s hand she would be able to be tried by VALE LAW. But in Atlas Weiss would be saved from any consequences of being a student of Atlas’ academy, which are basically the law and so can’t be arrested except internally. And being the little sister of Ironwood’s favorite officer, Weiss wouldn’t have any problems. It would be even better for Weiss if her whole team was expelled as in the future she could just claim she was just in a bad team. If she was the only one expelled that would have some social consequences as she would be deemed a problem student. But Ironwood wouldn’t possibly play favorites with ANOTHER SCHNEE, right?

After these suggestions, all hell broke loose with insults, and cursing being thrown around like a volleyball. Ozpin was only able to end the squabble by firing a gunshot into the ceiling causing everyone to freeze. And once everyone Ozpin was sure everyone was quiet he said she was going to do what he has always done.

“You're not actually going to do anything are you?”

“No, I’m going to trust in fate to lead Ruby down the right path.”

“So, Nothing?”

“No, I’m going to let things play out. I trust Ruby to make the best decision for her team. And that is final”

Chapter Text

Ruby’s getting desperate.

Rumors are multiplying like rabbits. Weiss has gotten out of control and has thoroughly abandoned any chance at still being civil. The entire school is now involved in their conflict and is basically in a civil war. Yang has accepted the idea that they're going to get expelled and has given up. Blake is starting to have a minor breakdown because of the consent stress and Ruby can't do anything to help!

She asked, begged, and pleaded with Ozpin to expel Weiss but he always danced around the request. Even when Ruby drought evidence of what was happening inside of her team, even after the literal firefight that erupted in the school, Ozpin told her she would find a way to do the ‘right thing.’

But there was no ‘right thing’ to do. Every option laid out before her was bad. There was no talking things out anymore, Weiss wanted blood.

Weiss made an offer. On offer then seemed to be the only way out now.

A duel.

The two would duel in the Amity Colosseum for all to see. The first to be knocked out or maimed loses.

Ruby had to win. And Weiss could only end here. Winning on her terms and playing by her rules, Weiss wouldn’t be able to pull some whining bullshit since this dumb duel was her demand. She didn’t want this to end this way. But there was one main problem…

Weiss was really REALLY good at duels.

So, with this lose-lose situation, she had to get help. While Yang did know a lot about fights, she never had to fight someone with a sword in a duel. Qrow was also good for advice but with Ozpin refusing to help, Ruby didn’t know if her uncle would go against his boss and that was a position Ruby didn’t want to put him in. The same would also probably apply to her dad and so that left one last option, Mauna Vulcan.

Mauna Vulcan was an older woman and the only mother figure Ruby had for a while. Ruby started working under her not long after she learned how hard Yang was struggling with bills when they were younger. Mauna was very blunt and very hard on Ruby at first. That was until Ruby came to work with dirty clothes and explained to Mauna that her sister was busy with bills and school and couldn’t clean her clothes that day. After that Mauna Vulcan treated Ruby like she was her daughter. And now Ruby was planning to see her again.

Thankfully the back alleys of Vale hadn’t changed much in the time she had been away. To think it was three years ago that Ruby was repairing weapons for Mauna to help pay for water and groceries. She couldn’t visit Mauna after Qrow banned her from working until she was older, but after that, they never had to worry about food again. Qrow would help them pay for water and groceries until Tai got back on his feet. And while he visited to help he trained Ruby how to fight.

But even after those three years, she hadn’t forgotten where her first job was. It was like second nature walking down those old, shady streets. Ruby let out a small prayer as she walked past some lighter sections though. The light would give a normal person comfort but not Ruby, she had learned early on in the year that Ozpin had eyes everywhere. So she changed her outfit completely wearing black armor, white accents, a dark purple hood, and a mask over her recognizable eyes. If any of Ozpin’s many little eyes saw her silver eyes she would be caught the instant she returned to Beacon. The whites and purple were a massive departure from what she usually wore and with the scorched dark gray mask over her eyes, as long as she didn’t cause a scene, she shouldn’t be recognized. And before she realized she was back at her first forge. It was a large sturdy old factory with a sign that read ‘The Mountain’ above a two-door entrance. Her old work was the same as she remembered, though as she looked at those outside she found more White Fang lingering around than she liked.

Well, it’s far too late to be scared away by some White Fang so with a deep breath Ruby entered ‘The Mountain.’ That is when Ruby saw Mauna behind the counter along with someone else. The girl with Mauna had a dark tan, freckles, black and gold clothing, and her long brown hair was in a tight ponytail. She must have been a new customer since only regulars come around this time of day. And that is when Mauna and the new girl looked in Ruby’s direction. The two looked at her intensely that was until Ruby removed her mask. There was no way that any of Ozpin’s eyes were in the shop and it would be best to talk to her old friend face to face. There was silence for a few moments until Mauna said, “Why do you look like shit?” as she looked at Ruby’s face.

Ruby couldn’t help but laugh at that comment. She hadn’t had any good sleep since Weiss started that firefight. The stress wasn’t letting her rest any more than two hours of sleep each night. Her usually bright eyes had dimmed quite a lot in the last few days along with a few eye bags making her look like a sleep-deprived zombie.

“Well,” Ruby said with a weak sigh, “That’s what happens when you go to war with a Schnee.” Unfortunately for Ruby, that was enough for both of them to understand what was going on. By the surprised expression on the freckled girl and the horrified look Mauna gave her it seemed like the news of the conflict had spilled into the rest of Vale long ago.

“That’s YOU!” The freckled girl yelled in surprise but was quickly silenced by a stern look from Mauna. “Do you need Crescent Rose to be upgraded? I’ll do it for a discount if you're low on money, dear.” Mauna said quickly walking over to the old book of orders she uses for returning customers before Ruby could get a word in. “I’ll have Ilia help you get the best dust in the underground!”Mauna stated before grabbing Crescent Rose out of Ruby’s hands and walking away. Before she was completely out of earshot Ruby could hear her talking about making it more dust-resistant and more built for duels. And so Ruby is left with Ilia.

The two looked at each other for a second before Ruby tried striking up some conversation. “So, your name is Ilia, Right?”

“Yes, Yes I am, and you're the girl who has split Beacon in half?”Ilia asked as she walked around Ruby.

“Yep, that’s me,” Ruby said sheepishly as Ilia continued to look her up and down. Ruby felt like she was being squared up for a fight. Eventually Ruby did notice that Ilia wasn’t glaring her down but rather looking oddly closely at her highlighted leg and arm muscles. As she looked at Ilia she could have sworn that her freckles were now a slight shade of pink. “My eyes as up here Ilia.”

“RIGHT!”Ilia said jumping back at Ruby’s words, now obviously pinker than before. “Thatisright. You- umdang- YouneeddusttobeatthatdameSchnee!” Ilia said at rapid-fire as she looked around for something. “uh- Don’tyouworry- Iknowjusttheyguytogetyousome- um ohwhatarethey- calledagain- enhancers! Thatsrightenhancers! Thenyou’llberiverdancingonher-”

“Hold on, what are enhancers?”

At that, Ilia froze and looked over at Ruby. “Wait, you don’t know what enhancers are?” she asked looking at Ruby before mumbling about how good Ruby must have been to get in without any under her breath. That’s when Ruby realized what Ilia was talking about and her thoughts were confirmed when Ilia explained it to Ruby. Enhancers were dust-powered steroids that enhanced a Huntaman’s aura and semblance. They were very illegal and if a Huntsman used enhancers in a tournament or duel they could be given punishments ranging from five years in prison to execution. The punishment is so extreme because enhancers have one major side effect, heightened emotions. If a Huntsman on enhancers lost their cool they could kill their opponent without realizing it.

“But don’t worry! We also have Ice Dust patches that numb your emotions. I’ll get them both for you real quick. Stay here!” Ilia said as she rushed out the door leaving Ruby all alone and all alone to think.

Ruby was desperate. But was she desperate to break the law? Well, technically she has already broken the law by wanting to duel with Weiss but this was a new level of law-breaking. But using the enhancers sounded like something that Weiss would do. Ruby didn’t want to stoop down to Weiss’ level. Ruby wanted to be better, to win without the use of enhancers. But if Ruby placed her ego above her team’s safety she would be even worse than Weiss. If she had to use them to keep her team safe, to help them, to be the leader they needed… should she even be a leader in the first place?

Her age was holding her back. If she wasn’t strong enough to lead her team through a mini-war against Weiss, how the hell was she going to lead them through a full-blown mission against White Fang or even a massive pack of Grim!? Ruby should have been able to save Yang but she couldn’t. Yang survived this time but what if it happened again? She was two years younger than everyone else and two years was a significant age gap. What if she didn’t get better at leading with Weiss gone? What if after everything she is going to do to win this duel, they still have to disband due to their grades?

Ruby sighed and looked down at her hands. She had done a lot of things with her two hands and it showed in her hand’s scars, calluses, and faded burns. Ruby didn’t want to do this. She really didn’t want to do this. Maybe she shouldn’t have been made leader, but that didn’t change the fact that she was and she had a team that relied on her. Blake needed her to win. Yang needed her to win. There was only one thought running through her head as Ilia returned.

“Team RWBY deserves a great leader, and I can’t let them down.”

Chapter Text

Weiss looked over her beloved weapon as she reviewed her final preparations for her duel with Ruby. Confidence radiated off of her as she fiddled with the revolver. Weiss supporters were already making bets on how quick the ‘duel’ was going to be. Others were taking bets on how badly Weiss was going to maim Ruby but that wasn’t Weiss’ intention, getting this over with as quickly as possible was all Weiss wanted. Weiss was honestly surprised that Ruby even agreed but was thankful for the end of their worthless fighting. With how much her style was built for duels and how big Ruby’s weapon is Weiss could easily see attacks coming. When the time comes to go to Amity Colosseum she walks with pride.

Weiss watches from a distance as her supporters slowly trickle into the Colosseum along with Ruby’s supporters to get their sits for the match. Thanks to Weiss paying off some of the Colosseum’s employees when the duel started no one would arrive until Ruby had already lost. They had to draw as little attention as possible so no one would get in their way so they were to duel at noon. At noon most of the employees went off to get lunch and they only left a skeleton crew to keep the Colosseum in the air. It also wasn’t uncommon for students to go up to the Colosseum to eat lunch. Along with the school cafeteria still under construction having so many students up here now shouldn’t raise any alarm bells. As Weiss walks to her place waiting for Ruby to show her face she notices more faunus in the control station than she remembered.

When Ruby arrives the starting time of their duel is close approaching. Ruby is wearing her usual clothing except for Ruby wearing pants and some black armor on her legs. Other than that she still had her dumb corset, overly flashy red cape, and her mother’s emblem on her belt. Ruby’s eyes were a cold silver as she looked Weiss dead in the eyes from the other side of the Colosseum. Weiss could feel the tension in the air. She could hear the faint buzzing from her audience. And when the bell rings noon the two launch themselves into the center of the Colosseum to start their duel.

Weiss starts the duel by covering the ground in ice as soon as she lands. Because of the ice Ruby slips when she tries to land herself. Her petals swerve to the ground, but rather than slamming down revealing Ruby, they drift upward and curve in Weiss’ direction. Ruby didn’t have that kind of control a month ago. But that wouldn’t matter, Weiss would need Ruby to get close anyway. Weiss prepared a block for a strike to the chest. But Ruby wasn’t aiming for Weiss’ chest. With Weiss in her stance, Ruby reviled Crescent Rose as she swept at Weiss’ ankles. Weiss’ momentum suddenly shifted as she started to fall face-first.

A dust blast saved Weiss but didn’t do anything to her opponent. Ruby wasn’t even fazed. She continued to build momentum as she curved around the ice-covered floor. And suddenly Ruby skidded right next to Weiss and sent ice mist into her face. Weiss was just barely fast enough to send up a glyph to stop Crescent Rose from cutting her head off. As quickly as she sent it up Weiss threw Ruby flying to the other side of the ring. Before Weiss could blink, Ruby shot herself right back into Weiss’ face.

Weiss felt like she was getting hit with a wrecking ball as Ruby slammed herself into her. It was only when Weiss couldn’t feel the ground did she realized she was in the air. Along with the cracking sound of her aura as she crash-landed and skidded across the ice. Weiss lifted her head to see Ruby above her with Crescent Rose’s gun barrel at the side of her head. The sound of Crescent Rose’s firing sent a burning shiver straight to her spine. Only matched with the deafening ringing in her ears and the physical cracking of her aura. Weiss would barely hear Crescent Rose fire before sending up a wall of ice around her. She felt something hit the ice and the wind of Crescent Roses winging next to her back. Instantly Weiss sent every dust she could in that direction. She couldn’t know if she hit Ruby until she opened her eyes. But Weiss’ ears were still ringing and her eyes burned from the light of the gunshot. At least she could still smell. So she could tell it worked when Ruby tried to ram her again and Weiss smelled the burnt and static scent on Ruby’s cape.

Thankfully this time she missed. But only by an inch. Weiss finally managed to open her eyes to find Ruby skidding on the ground a few feet ahead of her. Weiss threw up a glyph and Ruby was now stuck to the icy ground. With her enemy immobile Weiss could finally breathe and think. Weiss looked up at her audience and they had broken out into fighting again.

When Weiss looked up she felt her glyph brake. Another glyph was summoned but now Ruby was only three feet from Weiss. This duel was not going how Weiss had expected. She thought that Ruby would be an annoying fight, like trying to kill a fly with a sowing nettle. Never in Weiss' worst nightmares had she thought that Ruby would actually be such a threat! Weiss set this as a duel but she didn’t actually think Ruby would try to kill her! Ruby was too loyal, too childish, too young for that! The only time Ruby had ever been like this when fighting-

oh…

Ruby wasn’t actually fighting like she was in a duel. She was fighting like Weiss was a GRIM. And it all clicked. The momentum, the body slamming, the weaving in and out, it all made sense. Ruby was fighting her with the same bloodthirsty reckless and unforgiving style. She was going for the kill and thinking through every strike to do as much damage as possible. With the ringing in her ears persisting she could barely hear the Atlas forces coming in to try to retake the Colosseum. She was running out of time. She was almost out of dust. But she could still speak and Grim didn’t.

“Well, I don’t know how you got this strong…” Weiss said keeping an eye on Ruby, “But you're still not anything special.”

Weiss smiled inwardly as she watched Ruby’s expression shift from one of pure focus to one of anger. Ruby was losing her cool.

Weiss surged an earth pillar below Ruby that forced her up. Ruby surged at her but Weiss was ready this time. “You still don’t get it do you dolt,” Weiss said as she blocked and gabbed Ruby between the ribs, “You have never been special.”

They shared blows but Weiss’ taunting was working, Ruby was getting sloppy. “You are just some kid that got into Beacon because Ozpin was close with your mother! And guess what? YOU are a DISGRACE to your mother’s NAME!” Weiss said as she repeatedly glyphed around the arena dodging Ruby’s increasingly shortsighted strikes.

Then Weiss saw an opening. Standing in the center of the and screamed, “YOU. WILL. NEVER. GET. MY. RESPECT.” That was more than enough to get Ruby to send herself at full force directly at Weiss. Right as Ruby was in range Weiss slammed her down to the ground with a glyph with a satisfying splintering sound. Weiss was surging with Adrenaline as she looked down at Ruby. She summoned a massive sword behind her as she raised her own above Ruby. This was FINALLY going to end. Weiss felt herself thrust her weapon down only to be met with a scream and a blinding light.

Then chillingly familiar burning on the left side of her face. Weiss could hear the muffled sound of people speaking over the weakened ringing still in her ears. But eventually, she was met with an exhaustion that dragged her away to the land of sleep.

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It’s been a few days since the duel. Ruby is now the unchallenged leader. Weiss is now forever her second in command. Yang has finally recovered. Blake has been less stressed lately. Beacon is at peace and the civil war has ended with their victory. But Ruby wasn’t happy.

The duel ruined Weiss’ life. Blake and Yang heard Weiss getting yelled at by her father and from what they were willing to tell Ruby, it wasn’t good for Weiss. Weiss was disowned by the Schnee family, no more money, no more support, no more dust and she was no longer the heiress of the Schnee dust company. This wasn’t for the attempted murders or how Weiss had treated her teammates or started a civil war in the school but rather for her new look. Ruby had shredded the skin off of the left side of Weiss’ face in her final attack before being forced away from each other at Atlas forces. Even though she had almost fully healed by now, Weiss’ left half of her face was covered in massive scars that were impossible to hide. And there wasn’t enough lien in the world to fix her face. Her left eye wasn’t blinded somehow and she had healed surprisingly fast but her father didn’t want anything to do with her anymore.

Weiss completely shattered after that and most Atlas security would glare at Ruby like she wanted to happen. She just wanted her team to be at peace! Weiss was trying to kill her, she just wanted to knock Weiss out as quickly as possible! Weiss is the one who insulted her mother. Weiss is the one who asked for the duel! Weiss was the one who wanted to be a leader! This would have never happened if Weiss just talked to her, or if she had just compromised. But no, she refused and now Weiss was dealing with the consequences of her actions.

At least that’s what Ruby tells herself. And it’s true, Weiss wanted this problem and escalated things so far that peace was no longer an option. But that doesn’t mean that Ruby doesn’t feel bad about how things ended. Ruby couldn’t forgive Weiss but just wanted to forget. The conflict also raised some questions for Ruby. Questions Ruby didn’t want to answer. For now, Ruby just distracted herself by working on her weapon in her free time. It would be a few more days until their new teammate would be brought it.

Walking to the school workshop, Ruby sees many familiar faces and finds some less friendly faces. Winter walked on the other side of the hallway heading to the med wing. Ruby avoided eye contact with her but could feel the cold glare of a vengeful big sister. Guilt clawed at her soul but she kept walking. Weiss is facing the consequences of her choices. Ruby walks past a few more hallways before daring to look up. When she does she finds herself next to a balcony with a clear view of Vale. Drawn to the view, Ruby walks up the balcony and looks over the city.

Ruby took a breath as she took in the view, she could almost see Patch in the distance. She could even see Penny zipping around Vale. God, what was she going to do about Penny? Atlas hated her now, if a solder saw them hanging out together, or lord forbid Winter saw them, Penny would be forced away. And that would break her. Ruby felt herself dive into her thoughts, the real world slowly drifting into background noise.

“Ruby?”

Ruby literally jumped in a mini petal burst at the sudden noise behind her. When Ruby turned however she found Leo Lionheart standing behind her.

“Oh! Headmaster Lionheart! I’m so sorry! I-”

“It’s alright Ruby, you don’t need to apologize,” Lionheart said as he waved away some stray rose petals that lingered from Ruby’s earlier petal burst, “It’s completely understandable that you're so jumpy after everything.” “I just- well, I wanted to check on you,” Headmaster Lionheart said turning his attention to the city in view.

“Why?” Ruby asked slightly confused, well it would be expected that one of her current teammates would be worried about her. They hadn’t said anything to her other than some variations of ‘congratulations.’

“Ruby, leaders are expected to do the right thing. Or at least do what seems like the best option for those you have to protect,” Lionheart with a weight that could only be carried by experience, “But that doesn’t mean that doing what’s right is easy. It is very hard, especially when you have to do it alone. That’s something Summer told me when we were in school.”

Ruby looked up in surprise. “You knew my mom?”

“Yes, and she didn’t have an easy time as a leader either,” Lionheart said with a faint smile under his gruff beard, “I could tell you some old-school stories if you would want.” At that, Ruby lit up.

After that, she and Leo would talk about Summer and about weapons. Ruby found the comfort she felt with Ozpin now in Leo. Leo was a lot more like her. He was a leader but not a beacon for perfection like Ozpin. He wasn’t perfect, he had made mistakes and Leo actually gave Ruby advice. She started to talk to her friends regularly again. She even found ways of sneaking away to see Penny. Blake and Yang resumed team training, the team got their grades back up and Ruby started feeling like a student again. For the first time in a long while, she felt like she really could be a huntsman.

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It’s been a few weeks since the duel. Ruby is now the unchallenged leader. Weiss is now forever her second in command. Yang has finally recovered. Blake has been less stressed lately. Beacon is at peace and the civil war has ended with their victory. And Weiss was angry.

Weiss’ teammates hated her. She couldn’t even want to sleep in the same dorm anymore. Weiss knew that Ruby wouldn’t try to kill her in her sleep but her sister and the ex-White Fang member would probably at least try. It made sense since one of them did get caught up in her fighting with Ruby while the other had to pick up the slack alone. Meanwhile, half of the school was celebrating her downfall and the other half was turning on her as well. Even her most vocal supporters were avoiding her like the plague. Not only that but Weiss was also left with a massive scar over her already scared eye! The left side was gone, now covered in a missive scar that looked like Weiss had lost a fight to a cheese grater. And if that wasn’t enough, she was also disowned for her new massive scar. Her sight was still there but she had basically lost everything.

Well, not everything yet.

Winter still talking to her at least and was now doing so more frequently. And she also had grown a hatred for Ruby as well. More so after learning that she was mentored by some guy named ‘Qrow,’ how the hell do you manage to misspell crow? Winter did give her updates from Atlas every now and then. They would even talk about how Atlas was doing in the Vital Festival tournament. And while Winter was helping her get better, there was always something else in the back of her mind.

Cinder’s offer was always open. At one request, Cinder would get rid of Ruby. Revenge was always within reach, always an option in the back of her mind. Weiss wasn’t stupid however, she knew that getting revenge could only go poorly at this point. But that didn’t mean that it wasn’t oh-so-tempting. Then something snapped in Weiss, maybe it was seeing Ruby talking with Penny and speaking of her victory against her, maybe it was the glares she was given by even some Atlas soldiers, or maybe the ticking time bomb finally exploded.

Weiss talked to Cinder and took her offer. She was going to watch Ruby burn. She wanted revenge.

So why, when she left Cinder’s dorm and returned to her lone room did she feel a shiver run down her spine? Why did she feel dread? Why did she feel like the train of recovery she was on was starting to jump the tracks?

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Some part of Weiss felt like she should be excited to get revenge but she wasn’t. For the next few days, Weiss couldn’t stop feeling a deep sense of dread. The anger she had for Ruby had died down since the duel and now she was really taking in Ruby’s actions. While Weiss had heard everyone else spiting her and talking badly of her, she never heard those things from Ruby. Weiss had originally expected Ruby to be the one celebrating the most but she wasn’t. It wasn’t only that either, Ruby was different now.

Maybe it was because of how Ruby carried herself now or just the fact that she had a minor growth spurt but Ruby looked wiser but also sadder. Ruby wasn’t goofing off as often, was more serious about dust safety, and was taking training herself very seriously. Weiss would sometimes see Ruby training in the middle of the night. Sometimes she was mastering her semblance or other times it was just practicing with the endless modifications she would make on Crescent Rose. Weiss also noticed how everyone was treating Ruby differently now. Most students were either impressed or intimidated by Ruby. Only team CFVY, team JNPR, Yang, Blake, and Penny kept treating Ruby like a normal person. Every time Weiss would accidentally lock eyes with Ruby, they looked dimmer than the bright child-like eyes she remembered. Ruby kept new people at arm’s length, especially if they asked Ruby about the duel. The only exception is the new girl who joined Yang, Blake, and Ruby in their dorm. The new girl was very tanned, had a lot of freckles, and always had her hair up. But even though this new girl seemed all too eager to hate Weiss as well, when they weren't talking on and on about nothing, Ruby never complained about Weiss to her.

It gnawed at Weiss how good Ruby was being about this. Every time she saw Ruby being so good it drove her insane. Because it made her need for revenge look so much more pathetic, each day Ruby was just trying to live better, it made Weiss feel like a bitter ex with nothing better to do with her life than be spiteful. And even worse, when a dust accident happened in Vale destroying basically almost all the dust in Vale, Ruby checked in on HER. The nerve to make her feel shame. The nerve to make her regret. The nerve to be nice to such a piece of shit that Weiss had been after everything. WHY!? Why is Ruby like this!? Why can’t Ruby just let Weiss die alone in a ditch? That’s what Weiss would have done if she won! And now the person who destroyed her life was still treating her with decency and kindness. A part of her couldn’t wait to see her gone.

But Weiss would have never expected how it would happen.

It was getting dark, everyone was finishing their homework for their last classes. Weiss was sulking in the corner of the library while the rest of the team, now being called team RABY(Raspberry) by most students, were studying together. No one seemed to care when a group of Atlas soldiers walked in. But all hell broke loose when they swarmed Ruby. The library that had been peaceful only a few seconds ago was now in complete chaos. Ruby was shocked multiple times and beaten with batons while everyone else was fighting with the Atlas soldiers.

Weiss was in such a deep sense of shock that it was only when the Atlas soldiers were dragging Ruby’s unconscious bruised body out of the library did she noticed someone was staring at her. From in the circle of people grouped around a battered and out-of-aura Yang, the new girl was looking at her through the crowd of people. At that moment she realized, she fucked up.

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Ruby awoke to the sound of engines burring and harsh LED lights peering down at her. The room was eerily silent other than the burring of the engines and the occasional buzzing of LED lights. Then she felt the coldness of the room she was in. The surface she was laid against was hard and cold as stone. Her body felt sore as if she had been beaten multiple times with a club and noticed a taser scar on her side. Trying to get up she realized her arms were tied tightly behind her back. She struggled against the binds only to find every time she moved they got tighter. When Ruby looked around at her surroundings she found herself in a room painted white on all sides and two cameras looking directly at her. Even the floor and cameras were painted white. The only thing that wasn't white in the whole room was herself and a large gray door on the other side of the room.

Blinking a few times, Ruby tried to remember what has happened before waking up. She was in the library studying with her teammates, well most of her teammates, and then she was attacked by Atlas soldiers. It was all so sudden. She tried yelling out for someone, anyone, but no one answered. Ruby tried thinking back on the last month for reasons that the Atlas military would do this but found nothing. She had just been studying like usual. Maybe this was about her sneaking away to see Penny. But they wouldn’t straight-up attack her for that of all things, right? Ruby looked down at the floor trying to come up with something, some reason for this, but nothing came to mind. If she did something so bad to get held up like this she must have remembered it, right?

Confusion filled Ruby’s mind but as soon as she was about to yell out again she heard something click. Ruby looked to find the gray door before her being opened wide and two huntsmen came into the room. The first one was a woman who had a blond and brown Mohawk, a dark complexion, pink eyes, and something maniacal attached to her back. She looked down at Ruby in barely contained rage. The second was a man with short ginger hair and a paler complexion than his friend. He had several good luck charms on his person like a four-leafed clover and a rabbit’s foot hanging from his belt. It was only when Ruby really looked at their clothing did Ruby realize they were Asops.

Ruby opened her mouth to say something but before she could speak a single syllable she was kicked in the face by the woman. Flying into the right wall of the room, Ruby had the wind knocked out of her and gasped for air. The woman quickly started screaming at Ruby but she could barely hear herself breathing. The man started yelling as well but Ruby couldn’t tell what either of them was saying. Then Ruby saw another kick that was aimed at her head. This time Ruby dodged it and she was going to fight back.

Drawing up all the aura she had Ruby violently vibrated her hands against her restraints and in one searingly painful moment her hands were now free. The woman again tried to kick her. Before she could even strike the wall, however, Ruby jabbed a quick but well-aimed punch below the rib cage. The woman keeled over in pain and Ruby ran for the door. Unfortunately, she forgot the man was still there with her and again she was knocked out cold.

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When Ruby woke up for the second time she found herself with a headache, a collar around her neck, being tied down to a chair, and now in an entirely different room. Looking around this time she wasn’t alone. On the other side of a table and an overhead light, that reminded Ruby of their first meeting, were Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Glynda. This room however somehow felt more hostile than their first meeting with Professor Glynda, and she didn’t even have her ridding crop out this time. It was quiet for a long time but once Ruby finally tried to ask what was going on she was struck in the face by Glynda’s ridding crop as she yelled at Ruby for being so reckless.

It hurt like hell but Ruby didn’t try to say anything as she looked at the two in confusion. Why did she keep getting attacked for asking what the hell was going on!? Ozpin then started scolding Glynda and talking about the dust accident that happened a few days ago. At least she now knew that the dust explosion somehow had something to do with this. Eventually Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Glynda turned their attention back to Ruby and Ozpin had this odd look on his face. Was that confusion? “Ruby Rose, do you know why you're here?”Ozpin asked with what actually turned out to be confusion.

“No, what is going on? Why am I here? Why do I keep being knocked out and wake up tied up!?”

At that Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Glynda looked at each other and only Ozpin turned back to her as Glynda looked at the floor with a puzzled look on her face. “Ruby Rose, you are going charged with high treason, arson, multiple murder changes, and conspiracy with evidence from the Atlas Army. At the moment you are to be seen as guilty until you are proven innocent and until you can be proven as not guilty you will be kept as the property of the Atlas Army.”

After those words were said the silence in the room was deafeningly loud. The thoughts swirling around Ruby’s mind just kept getting faster and faster as she tried to process what was happening. “I- I wasn’t anywhere near the warehouse when it exploded, I was in your class an hour before it happened Professor Glynda!” Ruby said exasperatedly as she looked at Professor Glynda for help but was only ignored, “It can’t even move that fast! What connection could I possibly have to-”

Ruby was cut off by a small rattling sound as Headmaster Ozpin placed something down on the table but kept his hand over it. “Ruby, I’m only going to give you one chance to be honest with me,” Headmaster Ozpin said in a deathly serious tone. Ruby looked at him in confusion but felt the color drain from her face once he moved his hand off the object. Sitting there on the table for all three of them to see were Ruby’s enhancers. “Why and where did you get these?” Headmaster Ozpin asked and Ruby felt her throat close up.

She was fucked. While Ruby still didn’t fully understand what was going on, she knew that just telling Ozpin that she had gotten in contact with an old friend from the dark underbelly of Vale would be the worst thing to say right now. Not to mention that if she told Ozpin about Mauna, she would put them all in danger. If they were doing all this to her Ruby didn’t want to think about what they would do to Mauna or Ilia. So Ruby was going to tell them a half-truth. Something they would at least hopefully understand.

“I got them after I agreed to Weiss’ duel. I had to win for the safety of my team.”Ruby said looking down in shame, “I don’t know who sold them, I just got them from a middleman. He didn’t give me his name and he had a mask and it was around dusk when I got them too so I don’t know what he looks like either. I haven’t used them since the duel.”

At that, Ozpin had this look of regret on his face as he looked back down at the bottle. He picked it up and reviewed how many were there. He looked up and asked Ruby how many she had before the duel. “Two” Ruby answered and then Ozpinpulled out another bottle of enhancers and again Ozpin counted. Examining the bottle for a tense moment, he placed both bottles down and stared at the pills for a few seconds.

Ozpin asked “Why?” but Ruby couldn’t really tell if he was asking her a question or was just talking to himself. But if he was asking a question, she couldn’t afford to not answer. “You told me I had to pick the right choice,” Ruby said “My teammates were suffering, Headmaster Ozpin, I couldn’t let Weiss continue anymore.”Ozpin paused at that before saying the most pitiful “Fuck” Ruby had ever heard. Meanwhile, Glynda was still looking away from Ruby, her shame clear as day on her face. Then a beep went off somewhere and the two of them took at each other for a moment before Glynda made her way to wait at the door.

Ozpin how ever walked up to Ruby and placed a hand on her shoulder.“Ruby Rose, due to the multiple eye statements, video evidence, your DNA at the scene, and the illegal enhancers found in your dorm you will be kept as the property of the Atlas Army until your trial. I know you didn’t do this.”Ozpin said as he tightened his grip on Ruby's shoulder as a few stray tears threatened to break him, “But I can’t help you. Good luck, and I’m sorry.” At that, Ozpin left with Glynda following him out and for a large man to enter after they left. Ruby imminently recognizes this man but he seems off.

Ironwood enters with an odd look to him with a slight tint in his eyes. He glares down at her like a Grim with a stance to match as she holds a long taser in his hands. Some part of Ruby thinks it’s for intimidation but something else tells her it’s not. “Ruby Rose, I’m going to need his name,” Ironwood says as he takes his seat and fiddles with the taser.

“I don’t know his name,” Ruby said calmly, trying to sound as agreeable as possible.

Ironwood looked between the taser in his hand and Ruby’s arm from the other side of the room. It was a few too many times for Ruby to think it was chance. He doesn’t get up from his chair, he doesn’t even look Ruby in the eyes as he asks, “Can we change that?”

Chapter Text

Weiss had fucked up. All of Beacon was filled with a buzz and rumors about Ruby’s arrest yesterday. And to Weiss’ horror, she was going to be made leader of the team since Ruby wasn’t likely to return. She was avoiding her teammates as best she could since Yang and the new girl, Ilia apparently, looked like bloodthirsty animals out for the kill. All anyone in Beacon was aware of was that Ruby was being charged with treason against humanity by Atlas. Weiss needed to know what exactly happened and find Cinder if she was going to survive.

She managed to get to Cinder’s dorm without being found by either Yang or Ilia. Weiss didn’t even need to knock to be let in as the moment she approached the door opened for her. Rushing into the room, Weiss found that Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury were all there. Emerald and Mercury were doing their own things while Cinder was fiddling with her scroll. Only Cinder looked up to acknowledge that Weiss was even there while wearing a sly smile. “Did something happen, Weiss?” Cinder asked in a sing-song tone, almost playing with Weiss.

“What did you Do!? What happened!?” Weiss asked exasperated, panic dripping from her words that seemed to make Cinder’s grin widen.

“I blew up a Schnee Dust wear house,” Cinder said bluntly as she leaned back with pride and watched Weiss in her panicked state. “I also just happened to have all the Dust Roman has been collecting this whole time. Basically, all the Dust in Vale that was owned by the Schnee company was in there.” Cinder stated bluntly as she looked at her scroll. “It was a beautiful fireball, quite the spectacle.”

Weiss was absolutely speechless. Months upon months of shipments, multiple shops worth of dust, all just thrown away like nothing. She just stared at Cinder and that’s when she realized Cinder was looking at the news reports on the explosion on her scroll. Weiss tried to say something but was quickly cut off by Cinder somehow making things so much worse.

“It also just so happened that someone else made an anonymous report about the location of the stolen dust. The moment Ironwood heard that he sent some Atlas soldiers where the dust was being held. They arrived just in time to be on the scene of the explosion,” Cinder said with a fiery glint in her eyes as she looked a her nails in the light from her scroll. Cinder started to smile a wicked grin as she explained the whole team was caught in the explosion with many somehow surviving, but not all of them did. “Out of the whole team, an Asop was one of the few that died. I think her name was Tortuga or something, I can’t remember”

“How- how did you point this- all of this on Ruby?” Weiss asked still confused but now also in shock.

“Simple, we had someone in a red cape pretend to be Ruby for those that survived the explosion to report her in the case. And if that wasn’t enough our personal tech wiz faked video evidence. It was surprisingly hard to make realistic but Winter ate it up. She was more than happy to drag ‘the Red Brat’ away.” Cinder said with a casualness one would use when explaining how they completed an essay or explain their homework. “We also got plenty of Ruby’s DNA all over the place for physical evidence. It was sloppier than I had hoped but no one seemed to care. All Atlas wanted was someone to blame and they just happened to choose Ruby. I think her main charges are treason, arson, and multiple accounts of second-degree murder so far.”

Weiss felt dread eating her alive as she looked in utter shock at what Cinder had done. But what scarred her was how casually Cinder was talking about all she had done. There was no shame, no fear as if she was untouchable. Weiss was outmatched, and Cinder had power over seemingly all of Atlas’ military. If Cinder could get total control of the most powerful army in the world, Weiss was completely fucked. But, another terrifying thought entered Weiss’ mind. “Does Winter work for you?” Weiss asked hesitantly and was met with laughter.

“No, but Winter wants to see Ruby suffer just as much as you do so she is doing most of the framing herself. Once she noticed some of my weaklings' mistakes she just started fixing them for us! She has even deleted so much evidence for Ruby’s innocence, that I can’t even keep track.” Cinder says as she looks back to her scroll.

Well, now Weiss at least knew how fucked she was and she was officially super fucked! This was all very illegal and they could all be killed for this. That was if they even got the death sentence, if this got out they would all be killed by the rest of Ruby's team. “We are so fucked,” Weiss says to herself still in shock, and immediately heard laughing from all around the room. Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder were all laughing at Weiss.

“What do you mean WE?” Cinder asked between laughing fits, “YOUR the one who came to ME! You have done a lot of bad things to Ruby. Hell! You started a whole ass WAR to get the leader position, why would you draw the line HERE of all places when your first act against Ruby was to nearly KILL her sister?!” “Besides,” Cinder says no longer laughing but rather looking down at Weiss asks, “why wouldn’t I set up some blackmail to make sure I come out of this perfectly fine?”

Weiss looked wide-eyed at Cinder as she opened up her scroll and showed her multiple videos of her doing things she never did. Video evidence of Weiss buying a red cape with her credit card along with a picture of the receipt, and multiple videos that lead up to the explosion of Weiss wearing the cape and practicing how to dash just like Ruby and even shed petals while moving. Weiss was left completely caught off guard. She didn’t even know what to do.

Weiss then was pulled away from her horror by Cinder snapping her scroll shut and saying one last thing before making her way to the door. She didn’t even realize that it was only her and Cinder there now. “Now, we packed all your things and they are next to the door since you need to move into the dorm of your victim's sister and friends. Good luck,” Cinder said before flipping Weiss off and closing the door behind her.

Chapter Text

Ilia and Blake couldn’t always agree on much, especially after Blake left the White Fang. But they could both agree that they had to help Ruby. So when Yang finally fell asleep after a whole day of breaking everything in the training room, the two planned to talk. Ilia wasn’t looking forward to this but she couldn’t let whoever did this live.

She didn’t notice how close Blake had decided to sit next to her until she turned her head and found herself staring into Blake’s golden eyes. Moving back, Ilia found herself wanting distance between her old crush. A sense of awkwardness started to fill the room, and they both looked away from each other. Ilia gripped her arm and found a soft cloth around her arm. Looking down she realized that she still had Ruby’s scarf wrapped around her arm from yesterday morning. It was cold and Ruby gave it to her so she could use it if the AC in the classrooms were too much. She didn’t even get to give it back. Ilia felt an overwhelming feeling washing over her as she gently rubbed the fabric that she couldn’t place.

“Look,” Blake said focusing Ilia back to the point of the meeting. “We need to talk about what happened and who is to blame.” “Who do you suspect?” Blake asked watching Ilia’s expressions closely.

“Weiss and Cinder,” Ilia said bluntly as she tightened her grip on Ruby’s scarf. Blake paused in confusion at this claim but kept herself silent. “An Atlasien would never risk their own neck for revenge, they always send someone else. The Fall Flame is just the kind of person that would do a job like the dust explosion,” Ilia said noticing Blake’s confusion. “Ah, right.” Ilia said under her breath as the reason for Blake’s confusion settled in and then Ilia clarified, “You have seen the dust shop robberies right? Well, they have been organized by a woman only known to most of the White Fang as ‘The Fall Flame.’ I have only met her once but I recognized her the moment I saw her. Cinder Fall is the Fall Flame. Along with her habit of throwing those she works with to the dogs and the fact that a known ally of the Fall Flame has just been arrested and also framed, there is a high chance that Cinder Fall has some connection to all of this.”

“Okay,” Blake said looking over at Ilia, “But why is Weiss also a suspect?”

“Because who else would want to frame Ruby like this?” Ilia asked bluntly and with a hit of confusion in her voice, “Why wouldn’t she be a suspect?”

“Because it’s too obvious,” Blake says simply, “Weiss is a lot of things, and while stupid is one of them, even she isn’t that stupid.”

As Blake spoke Ilia noticed how Blake’s ear twitched, she was lying, but Ilia couldn’t tell what exactly Blake was lying about. Maybe Blake does believe that Weiss is the culprit but doesn’t want to admit it since that could restart the chaos of the mini war. Or maybe Blake did think Weiss was that stupid the make everyone her enemy.

“But why else would Atlas have been acting so desperate to throw someone to the gallows?” Ilia asked pulling out her scroll and showing several documents that are all less than a few days old, “Ever since Ruby got arrested Atlas has been keeping the news on a tight leash to make sure no one talks about what happened. So-”

“We need to get her out of there,” Blake said finishing Ilia’s thought before her eyes began to drift over to Ruby’s bed. It was still set for her for her return. The sight was honestly a bit hunting to Ilia. She didn’t want to remember how many times she had set all of her friend's beds before they left for a mission when she was younger only for so many to just never return.

“Ilia?” Blake asked breaking Ilia from her focus on the empty bed to look over at Blake. While Ilia looked over at Blake, Blake looked at the empty bed and asked, “Why do you want to save Ruby?”

“What do you mean?” Ilia asked but she quickly realized what Blake was talking about.

“Well,” Blake said softly, “Since you joined the team you seem to have been treating Ruby differently than most humans.” “I know you respect Ruby for putting Weiss in her place but well,” Blake said looking down at Ruby's scarf in Ilia’s hands. Ilia looked away and didn’t answer. But as the night went on and on, Ilia found herself looking back at everything that had led her here.

Ilia only joined Beacon at a request from the owner of ‘The Mountain’ to keep Ruby safe. Miss Mauna Vulcan was oddly protective of Ruby and Ilia had to admit she was interested in seeing Ruby beat the pride out of a Schnee. It was only after getting to talk with Ruby after the victory she found herself liking Ruby, and not just as a new ally. She even took up the bed under Ruby to make sure she was safe. Ilia was sitting on her bed as she looked at one of the scarfs that Ruby gave her when she said she was cold. She promised Ruby she would give it back to Ruby after dinner but she did get the chance. And now Atlas was going to hurt something she cared about again. But this time she could do something about it.

Chapter Text

Ruby didn’t know how long she had been in Atlas’ custody. She had been knocked out, woken up, and knocked out again so many times she couldn't remember the last time she actually slept. The room had changed a few times from what Ruby could remember but every room had one thing in common, no windows and no clocks. Sometimes the walls were a different shade of gray white or more clearly metal but that was about it. The interrogation room was always the same no matter where she had been before, however, the sores and scars she would get from the interrogation room were always different. The first time it was getting hit and shocked with a cattle prod but eventually things got worse, whatever they did was always able to be fully healed by the time of the next interrogation session. She had given up on trying to prove her innocence, which only made them crueler.

Ruby didn’t even know why they were doing it anymore. She never gave them Ilia and Mauna but she had told them basically everything else. They knew that Roman and whoever Roman worked off was the ones to blame but Ruby wasn’t allowed to die. Ironwood kept asking her about some ‘glass woman’ but she didn’t have any idea what Ironwood was talking about. But the truth didn’t satisfy him nor did any lie she came up with so she had to take whatever Ironwood felt like doing this time.

But this time something was different. They had been joined by another person. It wasn’t a huntsman or huntress like the ASOPS but rather a woman who looked oddly familiar. She was in another chair like the one Ruby was in and had the same aura-dampening collar. Her hair and eyes were brown and pink and didn’t say a word as Ironwood stood between the two of them. It took a few moments for Ruby to recognize her without her umbrella but Neo wasn’t the most dangerous thing here. Patiently Ruby and Neo watched as Ironwood methodically looked over his ‘tools.’ There were always the old-fashioned crowbar and bead-covered belt, fire dust-infused blades, pliers, cattle prods, hammers, and brass knuckles from what Ruby would remember of what Ironwood used. He looked over everything until he finally took a small blade with a nob at the handle.

Everything stopped as Ironwood started to walk around the room with the blade in hand and started to talk. “Ruby Rose, I thank you for your complacence for so much,” Ironwood stated as he slithered through the room spiting his attention between Ruby and his new victim, “And for so long.” Ruby followed his every movement as he stocked around the room with every calculated step. Neo and Ruby glanced at each other as Ironwood continued his curling. The panic in Neo’s eyes as they both realized that Ironwood was starting to approach her sent a wave of dread throughout her whole soul. “But,” Ironwood said as he stopped at Neo’s side, “I need the Fall Maiden's name.” “Don’t make me take drastic measures,” Ironwood said as he placed his hand on Neo’s shoulder and looked back at Ruby.

The two entered a stare-down as Ruby felt herself starting to panic as her eyes grew wide. Ruby didn’t know who the woman was but she had to say something. Neo might have been an enemy but she didn’t want her to suffer too. Ruby could see Neo grow pale as Ironwood hovered the blade above her shoulder. Neo’s hands were shaking and she struggled against the bindings. But that wasn’t it. Neo’s hand movements were calculated and repeated. Neo was signing something. It was panicked but they could tell it was either ‘dust’ or ‘cinder.’ Ruby only knew one Cinder and she didn’t know if it was true but she had to try something.

“Wait!” Ruby yelled as Ironwood drew the blade closer to Neo and turned his attention to Ruby, “If I tell you will you let her go? She doesn’t know anything!”

A silence loomed over the room as Ironwood looked at Ruby. There was a cold predatory grim-like nature in his gaze that was always unnerving. He was keeping the blade away from Neo at least. But his attention was solely on Ruby. “I will consider it,” was Ironwood’s only response.

Ruby didn’t remember what else happened in the interrogation room after that. But the burn scars on her arms told her everything she needed to remember. There were no signs that Neo was still here or if Ironwood had let her go. Ruby couldn’t even remember if Ironwood hurt Neo. But at least she tried to help.

Chapter Text

Ruby wakes up in another cell her body still aching as it lays slack against the wall. Her arms especially hurt with the burn marks still on her arms. But this time there was something different about this cell. It had a clear light barrier that crackled and gave a soft consent hum. On the other side of the light door, Ruby could see rows upon rows of different cells. There were only two cells that weren’t empty, and the ones inside those cells were Roman and Neo. Ruby grimaced at the realization that Neo was still here and at the sight of a back eye on the right side of Neo’s face. It must have been from their shared interrogation, at least that’s what Ruby hoped. If it wasn’t then that would mean Neo is also suffering interrogations.

Neo was the first to notice Ruby was awake and signed to her, “You good?”

“I’m alive,” is all Ruby could say without the pain blooming in her arms becoming too overwhelming.

“Damn, you're still alive?”

Ruby turned her head to look at who said that and found Roman looking at her in a mix of horror and admiration. “I thought they brought out your corpse as an example,” Roman said looking Ruby up and down as he seemed to review her scars, “I swore you were dead. You should be dead.”

“Thanks, Roman,” Ruby said but she found her own voice to be much more horse than she remembered. Damn, what the hell happened this time in the interrogation room. “What are you doing here?” Ruby asked as she tried to get herself into a more comfortable position.

“I got framed for the explosion,” Roman said as he winced at watching Ruby struggle to shift her weight, “Why the hell are YOU here?”

“I also got framed,” Ruby hissed as she finally found a comfortable position and slumped in exhaustion.

“What?” Roman asked with increasing confusion and that made Ruby pause. After all the time she had spent in here she was so beaten down and bruised she didn’t even question why she was even here.

A weak, “I don’t know,” was the best answer Ruby could give at that moment as she delved into deep thought. Out of all the people who could have been chosen or suspected of the explosion, she was somehow the only viable culprit. Really? Now that Ruby could really think about it, it made no sense. Of the three of them, Neo and Roman should have been the first ones investigated, but since they don’t seem to have any wounds or scars Ironwood wasn’t giving them nearly as hard of a time as he has been giving her.

“Well-” Roman said, breaking Ruby out of her thoughts. When she turned to him, she saw how he had changed to signing, “How about we get the hell out of here? And If, you help find us figure out who threw us under the bus, and I won’t steal anything for at least a week?”

Ruby smiled at the proposal, she could tell Roman was lying through his teeth, but who else could she turn to?

Chapter Text

Weiss stands in the grand hall of Beacon for her claim of victory. Beside her, the rest of her team stood lined up just like the day the team was announced. Before her, Ozpin looked out to the crowd as he prepared the announcement. An audience had gathered and were looking at her, her victory. She is now the leader of Team SABY. But there was no excitement for the new team. There were no congratulations, no looks of encouragement, no looks of excitement from her teammates. All were silent as they all stared at her.

It didn’t matter that Cinder hadn’t shared any evidence of what Weiss had requested of her. Everyone knew they didn’t know how, but everyone knew Weiss had something to do with what was happening to Ruby. Everyone knew Ruby was innocent. Many had seen Ruby before and after the accident at school and could prove that Ruby was innocent. But Ironwood wouldn’t let them give their statements. “We have all the evidence we need.” He would be the only thing he would say on the subject and hatred for Atlas was at an all high. And the Atlas Princess could now just happen to get what she had been hounding for since teams were assigned.

It didn’t even matter what side of the conflict they were back when Ruby and Weiss were fighting, no one was happy. Those who were with Ruby were obviously mad but not even her old supporters were on her side anymore. Those who were on Weiss’ side in the first place supported her because they believed Ruby didn’t deserve to be there. But Weiss’ underhanded tactics and spitefulness against Ruby had annoyed even her most loyal supporters. The cowardliness to use big sister’s help to get rid of her competition and get her killed was the final straw for the last few. Most of her supporters now saw Weiss as a prime example of the shame to Beacon they originally thought Ruby was. Her audience, her supporters, now only looked at her in disgust and disappointment.

And then there were her teammates. Yang was lit up like a mini inferno with pure red eyes staring Weiss down. She had to be restrained and threatened with expelling if she didn’t do this to even go through with the ceremony. Blake was keeping Yang back by holding her hand. Meanwhile, Ilia looked like she would kill Weiss once they were off the stage.

Even the staff seemed ashamed to be making Weiss a leader. Ozpin wouldn’t even look at her as he gave Weiss her new title. Usually, there was some form of applause, but not for Weiss. All she was given were glares of hatred and hollow words of loyalty from her teammates. Winter wasn’t even there to see what she was like now. Not even Cinder was there to see the fruits of her labor. But she was the leader now, and they weren’t going to let her forget it now.