I am never touching alcohol again for as long as I live! was what went through Weiss's mind as she awoke, coiling back reflexively as she got her first taste of sunlight. Whoever invented doing shots should be drug out into the streets and be hung for terrorism via chemical warfare!

She sat up, groaning as a dull ache pounded in the back of her head, a result of the copious drinking she and her team had done the previous night. The reason for that was because Team RWBY had won the Vytal Tournament! More specifically, Yang had managed to beat all the other competitors in the Singles portion that she was paired against. That evening, after the awards ceremonies, Ruby's Uncle Qrow took them all out to what he referred to as "a good dive" to celebrate their victory. After an hour someone suggested they get drunk- Weiss suspected it was Yang, but her memory started getting fuzzy around that point -and the last thing she remembered was barely making it into their room before collapsing on her bunk.

The ache eventually started to subside, and she got to her feet, still slightly woozy from both sleep and the lingering effects of the booze she drank. The morning light was still blinding, and her hand was only doing so much to help. She groped around for a moment before finding and closing the curtains. With that done, she was able to take stock of her teammates.

Yang was draped haphazardly on the side of Blake's lower bunk, most likely because she was too sloshed to make it up to her own bunk. Her vest was hanging off one shoulder, and she was still wearing her boots, though the zippers were undone. Her massive hair was completely disheveled, most of it falling over and hiding her face. However, it did nothing to muffle her chainsaw-like snoring.

Blake, on the other hand, was fully on her bed, curled up in her covers so only her head poked out. Her hair wasn't nearly as messy as her partner's was, despite the fact that she wasn't wearing her ribbon (Damn alcohol! Weiss thought, cursing the blank spots in her memory.); her Faunus ears were fully on display, and were currently flat against her head. Her face was scrunched up in mild discomfort.

I'll just leave them be for now, she decided, and began taking stock of herself. Her clothes were fine, though a bit ruffled from having apparently slept in them. She wasn't wearing her boots, but a brief search turned them up at the foot of her bed. Her hair was also out of its usual side tail, but that was because the piece that usually held it in place was resting next to her pillow, probably having fallen out during the night.

She heard a whining noise by her feet, and looked down to find Zwei nuzzling her. He looked up at her expectantly, his tongue hanging from his mouth as he panted; there was a can of dog food and a can opener on the floor next to him.

"Of course I'll feed you," she whispered, gingerly kneeling down and scratching the pooch behind the ear before grabbing the can and tool. Despite both Ruby's and Yang's protestations to the contrary Weiss had a hard time believing the dog could operate tools without opposable thumbs, let alone feed himself from a sealed can, so she often took it upon herself to pamper the little dog. Sometimes Ruby or Yang would feed him if she was preoccupied, but mostly it was her that made sure Zwei was cared for. "Here you go," she said, placing the opened can down so he could get at it, "don't make a mess, OK?"

Zwei just dug into the food with aplomb, the sounds of him eating softly permeated the room.

She stood back up and looked over at Ruby's bunk, dreading what state she'd find the young team leader in. She hoped the fifteen year old wouldn't be wearing fishnet stockings, have tacky mascara on her face, and have a bunch of Lien stuck in her waistband, but the numerous, large gaps in her memory kept telling her she should check anyway just to be sure. Her head still throbbed, but she was able to ignore it well enough to peek over the edge of the suspended bed.

Sure enough, Ruby was still in her normal outfit: no fishnets, no mascara, and as far as she could, Ruby wasn't carrying any more Lien than what she started with. She was just snoozing peacefully, both of them.

...wait, she realized, something clicking in her still drowsy and hangover brain, two of them?

"What the...?" she gasped, doing a double take. She rubbed her eyes, and for good measure she pinched herself on the arm to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

...she needed coffee; it was waaay too early for this kind of weirdness.

By this point Yang was beginning to stir. "Man...," she groaned, flipping onto her back, "what a night! ...wish I could remember any of it." She brushed her hair away from her face, "Oh, Weiss, you're up too. ...something up with Rubes?"

"Stop being so loud...," Blake moaned feebly, tugging her cover further up and turning over so she was facing the wall. "Go somewhere else..."

"Sorry!" Yang whispered. As quietly as she could, Yang walked over to the other bunk bed and climbed up next to Weiss, her head throbbing ("Ow...!") from the quick motion. "So what's up, Weiss?" The heiress's face was white- well, more white -with shock, like she'd seen Professor Port doing sexy poses in a pair of swimming trunks. It would have been funny if Yang's big sister instincts weren't telling her that Weiss got this way after she saw Ruby, so she ignored Weiss for the moment and turned to her sister.

It was immediately clear what Weiss saw.

"Hey...Blake?" the blond brawler called gently, "You wanna come up here for a sec?"

"Go away!" she moaned, louder this time, digging an arm out of the covers to wave her partner away. "You made me do shots; don't talk to me!"

"Uh, I think you might actually want to see this," Yang insisted.

Blake simply flashed Yang a rude gesture and stuck her head under her pillow.

"How...why...what...I don't...!"

Weiss was still having trouble processing the sight before her.

Seeing that her teammates weren't going to be much help, Yang decided to get to the bottom of this by asking the source directly.

"Ruuuuuuby!~" she called, shaking Ruby by her shoulders, "Time to get up, Rubes, up and at 'em!"

"Five more minutes...," she protested, weakly swatting her sisters arm away.

"...they're serving cookies for breakfast," Yang said, trying a differently tactic.

This got the desired result.

"Really!" she squealed, shooting up with sparkles in her eyes.

She grabbed her head in pain a second later when her hangover kicked in.

"Owwwwwowowowowowow!" she moaned, "Ohhhhh...I don't get why people like alcohol... Oh, hey Yang! Um...what wrong with Weiss?"

Yang waved the question off, "Never mind that, think you could try explaining why there's two of you?"

"Two of...wuh?" Ruby rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, trying to figure out what her sister meant by "two of her". Yang helpfully pointed behind her, directing her gaze to were the issue lay.

And apparently the "lay" in this case was literal, since Ruby was now looking at an identical copy of herself sleeping on the other side of her bed, facing the wall. The copy's hood was pulled up so it was impossible to see her face, and she appeared to be hugging a copy of Crescent Rose tightly to her chest; by all outward appearances, she fully appeared to be a second Ruby Rose, similar in every way.

"...Oh, there's another me," she noted, stretching. "...wait a minute!" she realized, finally seeing the weight of the discovery. She grabbed Yang's shoulders, shaking her, "Why is there another me sleeping in my-! Oooowwww, not again...!"

Once again, the hangover reared its ugly head.

"Well, that sucks," Yang sighed as Ruby let her go to deal with the throbbing in her skull, "I was hoping you'd know why you suddenly have you own clone."

"I don't even remember what happened last night!" she exclaimed, "I mean, I remember you winning the tournament, and Uncle Qrow taking us out to celebrate, and then..." She wracked her brain, but was unable to recall any other memories. She looked aghast at Yang, "Is this always what happens when you get drunk?"

Yang shrugged. "Ask Uncle Qrow, I usually stop at two Strawberry Sunrises."

"Why are you guys still here?" Blake asked, finally getting out of bed; she, like the rest, was still in her clothes from the previous day, and was also retying her bow up, "My head is killing me, and you all sound like you're talking through a megaphone; what's so important that you have to yell about-"

"Why are there two Ruby's?!" Weiss shrieked, finally managing to find her words again.

This got Blake's attention (as well as sending pain shooting through her skull). She climbed up to Ruby's bunk, joining Weiss and Yang on the edge.

"...how do we know it's actually a second Ruby?" she asked, spotting Ruby's cloak wrapped around something relatively humanoid shaped. "I'm guessing none of us can remember what happened last night, right?"

"Pretty much," Yang said, while Ruby and Weiss nodded once.

"So how do any of you know that it's an actual person?"

They all thought about that for a second.

"How about we check that before jumping to any more conclusion?" she suggested.

Yang nodded, "Yeah, good idea."

Ruby and Weiss nodded as well.

Then they all stared at Ruby.

"...what?" she wondered hesitantly.

"You're closest," Weiss pointed out curtly, nodding to the figure. "Unless you want one of us to climb up and do it, but I don't think the bed will hold if it gets any heavier."

Blake and Yang nodded in agreement.

Ruby gulped, more because she was suddenly the center of attention than not being wanting or even willing to do it.

"S-sure!" she said, reaching out for the hood. She hesitated for a moment before pinching it and gently drawing it back.

Without warning, the figure bolted upright and jumped off the bed (nearly causing the girls to fall in the process) and headed for the door, trying to yank it open. When that proved unsuccessful, they dashed over to the window and threw it open, pausing on the sill.

"Well, we know she's alive," Yang noted, hopping to the floor. She called out "You might want to get down from there, it's a long drop."

"We're not going to hurt you," Blake added, speaking calmly; she'd seen and heard of similar situations in her younger days, "Let's just talk-"

The figure immediately whirled around and brought their duplicate Crescent Rose to bear in its gun form, pointing it directly at Blake.

"Y-y-you st-stay back!" she stuttered in Ruby's voice, her weapon shaking just as much as her voice was, "I know how t-to use th-this, a-and I'm n-n-not afraid to sh-shoot!" She chambered a round, tightening her grip.

Blake froze, putting her hands in the air. "We don't want to hurt you-"

"Sh-shut up!" the girl demanded shakily, "D-d-don't think you c-can sweet talk me with those p-p-pretty words; th-this is-sn't the first t-time you p-p-people have tried this!"

"Psst, Blake!" Yang whispered, peeking out from under Weiss's covers, "Keep the crazy clone Ruby occupied, I've got a plan!"

"Why are you under here, again?" Weiss asked, peeking out next to Yang.

"Don't judge me," Yang hissed, "Besides, you're under here too!"

"She has a point," added Ruby, poking her head down from the other side of the bunk.

BANG! suddenly sounded through the room, causing all the girls to flinch in surprise; the copy Ruby squeaked and fumbled with her weapon before once again getting a grip on it and training it towards the collective group.

"All of you, sh-shut up!" she shouted. "Th-that was a warning sh-shot," she explained, unconvincingly due to her perpetual stutter, "N-now, y-y-you're gonna answer all my quest-questions, o-or I'll sh-shoot you f-for real!" She aimed copy Crescent Rose at Ruby, "St-starting with th-that c-clone!"

"What!?" she gasped, unable to tear her eyes away from her own weapon being pointed at her.

Yang, however, had a different reaction to someone threatening her sister.

"OK, that tears it!" She leaped out from under the covers, rolled to avoid getting hit by another errant shot, backhanded copy Crescent Rose to the side, grabbed the girl by her throat, and shoved her up against the bookcase, a few books falling out from the impact. "I don't care if you are a clone," she growled, her eyes glowing red, "but nobody, and I mean nobody, threatens my little sister and lives...to..."

The girl's hood fell back during the struggle, finally revealing her face. When Yang saw it, all her rage completely evaporated, her eyes fading back to their natural lilac.

"Oh...!"

"What is it?" Weiss asked, finally crawling out into the open. "Is she taken care of yet?"

"Who is she?" Blake wondered, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Well...," Yang said slowly, shrugging, "she's...she's Ruby. Sort of...?"

Ruby looked confused. "What do mean she's 'sorta me'?" she asked.

Yang held the girl in front of her, "See for yourselves."

The girl did indeed look uncannily identical to the fifteen year old team leader, right down to the way the corner of her mouth tipped upward, a tic of Ruby's whenever she was startled or nervous. Her outfit was also the same, though more ratty and disheveled, like it hadn't been mended in years. Her eyes darted fearfully from girl to girl, never resting on one for more than a second or two. Her face was grimy and her hair was clearly unkempt, and there were two dog like ears on top of her head.

"Whoa," Ruby marveled, "didn't see that coming..."

to be continued...

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

What a tweest!

Hey there, Layman here, and welcome to my newest project! Which makes...*does brief calculations*...yet another story to add to the many I'm juggling already. Eh he he...

Stupid, stupid plot bunnies...!

Anyway, this one came about when I was reading a fic slated to be featured in Weiss Reacts Vol.3- which took an admittedly cool concept and turned it into utter garbage that constantly tries to molest a fifteen year old girl -when I started thinking about Crimson Thorne, my AU Ruby OC. This in turn got me thinking about other AU Ruby concepts, which got turned into this story.

And this is only the beginning; I've still got more AU Ruby's I want to play with, which I plan on slowly revealing in the upcoming chapters. This was the first of those Ocs, who I affectionately refer to as "Faunus Ruby". (For obvious reasons.) I'll delve into her back story a little in the next chapter.

Oh, before you ask: no shipping, because that's not the intention of this fic, and I've already got enough AU Ruby OCs, as I only planned to use a finite number of them for this project from the get go.

Let me repeat that, THERE WON'T BE ANY SHIPPING IN THE ENTIRETY OF THIS FIC. If you want two characters in a romantic relationship or acting completely out of character (the two things are mutually exclusive concepts), go read some other fic; I actually bother to give my stories a narrative.

And with that, I bid you all adue until next time, where Faunus Ruby has some slpainin' to do!