Snow, illuminated by the full moon, softly fluttered in the air, endlessly. Among the delicate snowflakes were rose petals of the deepest red.

A steep cliff marked the start of a dark chasm, and near the edge was a stone.

The sharp, straight, edges and flat surfaces announced it as a gravestone.

Two pairs of black boots stood in front of it, one pair pure black, the other with blood-red laces.

Black hair and a bright red cloak billowed in the wind. A black ribbon and a red ribbon. Yellow eyes and silver eyes.

Sympathy and sorrow.

"Summer Rose

Thus Kindly I Scatter"

"Ruby...we need to go." Blake said softly. While her friend wanted to come to talk with her mother, with the excuse of "I don't think I'll get another chance for a while," they needed to prepare.

"Okay." Ruby replied. She tore her eyes away from the stone, turning to Blake.

The shrill howling of a Beowolf echoed in the forest.

Ruby flinched at the sound, her wolf ears flattening.

"I don't really...want to fight right now… Is it okay if I go back to the city without you?" Ruby mumbled.

"Of course. I can handle a few Beowolves myself." Blake knew this trip had mentally drained Ruby. They both knew, from experience, how hard it was to fight with something weighing in your mind.

Ruby walked over the edge of the clearing with Blake by her side. She disappeared into a cloud of rose petals once she crossed into the trees.

Blake sighed, and prepared Gambol Shroud.

The first Beowolf was armorless. Near a populated place like Patch, it was rare for Grimm to stay alive for too long, so most of the Grimm would be armorless.

Blake swiftly sliced the head off, a sickening slitch reached her sensitive ears, as did panting and claws scraping against the snow and ice.

She whirled around, slashing the opposing Beowolf. It's arm was thrown into the air, separated from the body.

Echoing howls came in response to the Beowolf's grunt. Six of the wolf Grimm came from the frosted forest, not one could touch Blake.

She jumped up, flipping over them, and slashed one in half. Two recovered quickly, charging at her.

Being young, the Beowolves were controlled by instinct. As such, they were unable to work together, only able to not attack each other.

That was the cause of their demise.

They fell to the ground in pieces.

The remaining three snarled at her, baring red fangs.

Blake glared at them silently, but she could feel a threatening hiss building in her throat.

She dashed forward, slicing one Beowolf in half, ducking under the claw swipe of another. The last Beowolf lunged at her, jaws wide, but a boot met its chin. It's head snapped up from the force of Blake's kick, and it stumbled back.

Not wasting a moment, Blake quickly decapitated both.

The corpses started dissipating, joined the countless other Grimm Blake had slain.

Blake sighed, 'I'm such a hypocrite… I tell Ruby not to fight with a burdened mind, and yet I ignore my own advice. I need to learn how to practice what I preach.'

"Alright, kid, put your hands where I can see them."

Ruby's human ears were being blasted with This Will Be The Day, but beneath the red bow binding them, her wolf ears perked up.

Ruby had mastered the art of 'acting human', under the tutelage of Blake, as such, she pretended that she hadn't heard the man behind her. After all, humans aren't supposed to possess a pair of wolf ears are they?

While her wolf ears had muffled hearing due to the bow covering them, they could still hear the world easily. Beyond the deafening music coming from her headphones, the-man-behind-her's threats, and the idle, one-sided, chatting coming from the direction of the counter, Ruby could hear the ruffle of clothes as the man behind her moved.

A hand clasped itself on her shoulder and pulled her to face him. Her hood fell off as she stared at him, feigning surprise.

She was far too good at deceiving people, and she hated it. When it was necessary, however, it was a useful skill.

The man had sunglasses of a ridiculous shade of orange. His eyebrows were styled, and he was wearing a suit. Vaguely, Ruby remembered seeing similar people before.

'Aren't they from that weird club Yang went to that one time?' Ruby thought to herself.

The man pointed a gloved hand to his ear, signaling her to remove the cause of her temporary 'deafness'; her headphones. She did as 'instructed', the music was now freely sounding out. Mentally, she made a note to not put the volume so high…ever. It hurt her sensitive pair of ears.

"Is there something you need?" She asked innocently. She was genuinely curious, but she suspected that he wasn't going to politely ask her questions of some sort.

"Put your hands in the air! Now!" He demanded.

Ruby stared at him, curiously. Blinked once. Blinked twice. Then her eyes narrowed.

He was kicked away, and he stumbled back from the force. Ruby turned her music off, as to let her ears, both pairs, time to recover their hearing ability.

Three of the man's comrades came from her right, pointing guns at her.

She smiled cheekily, and faded away. A trail of rose petals was all that was left.

The men scratched their heads in confusion. They took a glance around before going back to their duties and collecting Dust. None of them noticed the absence of their boss.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Red, or should I call you Thorn?" Roman said in his usually laid-back voice.

They were in the alley behind the Dust store after Ruby dragged him out. Roman didn't show any intent to harm her, he probably didn't think it was worth the trouble. Ruby glared at him, annoyed, but true hostility was absent from her glare.

"I guess it's not any sort of surprise that you're here stealing Dust." Ruby mumbled.

"You got that right. So, Red, how about we make a deal? You let me do my work, I won't bother you!" Roman bargained.

"As nice as that sounds," Ruby said, reaching behind her. "That can't happen." Crescent Rose unfolded, the tip of the blade poised beneath Roman's chin. His hands went in the air, but his face showed no hint of panic.

"Okay… Do it that way."

Ruby reached for her scroll to call the police, only to immediately dodge away when Roman's cane went out.

"Guh…" Ruby found herself bouncing out of Roman's reach, as he hand tried to slap her with his cane. His bodyguards ran to meet her once they found that their boss was gone, charging to attack.

In a whirlwind, the guards faces met concrete, while Ruby went after Roman who had taken off.

She chased him up a building, and tackled him to the ground, ready to knock him out, until fire met her and she was sent stumbling away.

She growled in frustration, realizing who had come to retrieve Roman. She unfurled her sniper rifle, shooting a few bullets for good measure, only slightly surprised that they were all blocked without effort.

Ruby decided it wasn't worth the effort, firing a bet and jumping in the air, allowing herself to be flown off the building, right as someone interfered to try and stop the fight.

"Bye bye, Thorn!" Roman yelled, happy that he escaped without harm.

Ruby landed in a roll, looking up to where the person was.

'Wasn't that..?' Her mental question was answered, when Glynda Goodwitch dropped from the roof.

"Ah, yes, please come with me." She requested, but it was more of an order. She walked off, not even sparing a glance to Ruby.

Knowing who she was, Ruby followed her.

They arrived in a very small building, looking to contain maybe one or two rooms. They walked in, and the layout of the room, which was very similar to the White Fang's interrogation rooms, sent Ruby on edge.

"Please sit." Glynda said, motioning to the chair. Ruby gulped, and nervously sat down, fidgeting with her cloak, since she wasn't sure what to do.

"Do you have any idea how much damage you could've caused?" Glynda asked, staring her down.

"I tried my best to prevent damage to the store, I didn't even break anything! I think…" Ruby mumbled almost inaudibly

"What you did was reckless, and unbefitting of a Huntress."

"I'm sorry, I just...didn't want to be robbed…" Ruby whimpered, unintentionally staring at the professor with her 'infamous' puppy dog eyes, perfected no thanks to Blake.

"I understand that, but next time, evaluate the situation before attacking. Now, there is someone her to see you." Glynda said, lightening her tone slightly after seeing Ruby's begging eyes.

She stepped aside, revealing a door, and a man walking out of it. Carrying a platter of chocolate chip cookies in one hand, and a mug of steaming coffee in the other.

"Ruby Rose, is it?" He asked.

"Yeah..?"

"You...have silver eyes." He stated, getting uncomfortably close to her.

"Umm, yeah..?" Ruby said nervously, edging backwards because he was too close.

"Hmm…" Was all he said in reply, setting the cookies down in front of her.

Ruby blinked, looking at them, "Umm… Are those chocolate chip?"

"Yes, is there something wrong with that?" Ozpin's answered.

"Well, umm, it don't really like chocolate…" She mumbled.

"Very well." Ozpin's said, taking the cookies and disappearing back into the door. He came back immediately after with a bowl of strawberries.

Ruby perked up, both excited and unnerved.

"How did you know I liked strawberries?"

"That piece of information will be shared later. Do you know who I am?" He asked, placing the bowl in front of her.

"Yeah…" She said sniffing a strawberry before biting it, barely chewing before swallowing, "Your professor Ozpin's, the headmaster at Beacon."

"You want to come to my school?"

"Well I did apply for a reason…" Ruby said, almost incoherent with another strawberry in her mouth.

"Very well."

"Huh?" Ruby said, confused.

"So then, he was all like 'you can come to my school' and 'be at the docks in time' and yeah… Automatic approval!" Ruby ranted.

"There wasn't a large chance that he'd deny us." Blake said in response, looking at her dear friend rather than one of the many books she possessed.

"Well, yeah, but...still!" Ruby said, unable to think of a protest.

Blake grinned smugly, despite how she rarely lost an argument with Ruby.

"Ruby? Is that you?" A voice was heard.

Ruby perked up, excited, finding the owner to be a blonde with a rather...large...chest.

"Yang!"She sprang up and hugged the 'Yang'.

Blake blinked in confusion, she'd heard the name Yang before, yes, but where?

"Blake! Look! This is Yang! My sister!"

Oh. Blake arose from her seat, staring at the blonde in slight, hidden, annoyance.

"Hi." Was all the blonde offered, looking back to Ruby, "What's with the bow? If people pick on you I'll chuck them off a roof." She said, not even the slightest doubt or emphasis in her voice, it was like she was confused at Ruby's decision.

"It's what Blake said was best." Ruby said, giving no further.

Yang raised an eyebrow, looking at Blake, and a sudden realization came across her face when she saw the bow.

"Oh. Well, either way, how are you here? You're too young aren't you? Plus you didn't go to Signal like you wanted to…" Yang asked, trailing off because Ruby never told her about where she often disappeared to.

"I showed off, and it worked!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly.

"Nice!" Yang commented, squeezing Ruby in a hug.

"Yang… can't… breath…" Ruby wheezed. Blake turned a death glare on Yang, and said blonde immediately dropped Ruby.

"Whoops, sorry…" Yang apologized, "You got quite the glare there, kitty cat." Yang said, winking.

Blake narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"Don't worry, Ruby didn't tell, I just figured it out actually." Yang assured in an almost mocking manner.

"Hmph." Blake said, turning away and going back to her seat.

Ruby followed her, not sure of what to say to her sister, so she just glanced behind her as she walked away. Yang waved her off, as if saying it was okay. Ruby smiled and oh fed after Blake, practically throwing herself next to her friend.

"Are you okay? A lot has happened lately." Blake said, not looking at Ruby.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm here at Beacon of all places, with my best friend and sister." She said.

"That's good."

"Are you okay?" Ruby countered.

"You were so sad a few hours ago, it still amazes me that you can right yourself so quickly." Blake said truthfully, not willing to lie to her only remaining friend.

"I can't be gloomy, cuz then nothing would happen! We'd just sit in a corner pretending we don't exist or something." Ruby said.

"True…"

"So, are you ready for Beacon?" She chirped.

"I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be…" Blake sighed.

Boop.