Ruby Rose was a normal girl, with normal interests. She liked to play games and tinker with weapons. Her weapon of choice was completely normal, gigantic folding scythe with anti-material sniper rifle, gravity-wind-coriolis compensating scope and a high-capacity, triple row magazine. She had painted the entire thing red with some moving parts left black, and placed her signature 'Burning Rose' crest upon one of the more prominent flat surfaces on the scythe. The folding capability made it possible to place her weapon into her holster, located at the back of her hip and covered by her red cape made from soft, flowy fabric.

Ruby's dad, alongside quite few other people she knew, had told her that her choice of red-and-black apparel, corset and knee-length skirt combined with her cape made her look like a Red Riding Hood from the similarly named story. Ruby really didn't like the comparison as she had seen the story in question and Red Riding Hood didn't have a giant folding scythe-gun, instead opting for lunch case full of healthy food and making Ruby immediately dislike the comparison. Instead she had opted to take the opinion that Red Riding Hood was copying her, but forgetting all the important parts.

Like her Scythe, which she had affectionately named as Crescent Rose.

Ruby also loved to browse catalogues on new Dust crystals and weapons (something she was sure Red Riding Hood wouldn't like to do).

In fact, she was currently in a shop called "From Dust till Dawn" reading one of said catalogues. It was quite interesting read in her opinion, detailing new elemental combinations that could be inflicted on target by layering Dust inside thin-walled factory-hollowed bullets ('42 lien for 10 bullets, get yours today').

Dust crystals were the core component on all modern weapons, engines and technology on Remnant, it being elementally attuned crystal-like substance mined from deep underground or found above ground in wilderness beyond the kingdom's frontier that could, after being refined and processed, perform as extremely efficient selectable-result power source...

A tap on Ruby's shoulder broke her off from her daydreams. She looked over to see a man in red-and-black suit as he reached to tap on her shoulder again and pointed at his ears, apparently unable to speak over the headphones Ruby had over her ears.

The man looked like he really wanted to say something to her.

"Yes?" Ruby asked as she took the headphones off, turning fully to face the man.

"Hands up girl, do you have a death wish?" the man said, brandishing a red falchion at her.

"Umm, are you robbing me?" Ruby asked, both confused and unimpressed over the man's choice of weapon.

"Yes" the robber said.

"Oooh, okay" Ruby responded with curious and excited voice before placing the catalogue she had been reading back to shelf, turning around to face the man, and slamming the red carrying case of her folded-up weapon to his crotch. The pained wail that the man made was something no 15-year old girl should ever be forced to hear.

'Well, time to be a hero' Ruby thought, unfolding her Scythe from its carrying form and chambering a round of .50 caliber Red Type 4 explosive Dust into the integrated sniper rifle's chamber. She saw the robber's friends starting to advance towards her with their weapons drawn inside the small, somewhat cramped Dust shop.

Ruby swung her Scythe around, took aim and fired at the concentration of charging robbers, trying to spit the group apart and fight the robbers one by one.

She was slightly curious as to why the robbers were using falchions in this day and age though, firearms were quite readily available and the robbers were not going against Grimm so it's not like they needed the cutting power.

Then again- high-explosive weapons were probably bad choice inside highly volatile Dust shop, a thought that occurred to her far too late as she saw the round she had fired not only scatter the robbers, but also crack the dust container on nearby a shelf and setting up a chain of sparks.

The chain of sparks was followed by massive multi-colored firestorm as more and more exposed Dust containers broke to fuel the chain reaction, until resounding Booom shook the store and Ruby felt the shockwave of an explosion roaring towards her.

'Ooops'

A lonely figure was sitting at the edge of darkened building, facing down upon the sluggish nightly traffic in Vale. The figure was clad in worn grey and white clothes with hood covering its face. The figure was cradling its head, two long canvas bags lying discarded behind him as nightmare racked the figure's body.

̢Ţ̴̛͢à̴͢͝͠ļ̨́̕͏ơ̶n̵͢ş͘͢͞.̴̧ ̶̸E̢̛͜͞ĺ̴̨̀͡ǫ̶̧̕͡ṋ̨̛́́g̴͜a͝ṭ͞͝ẹ҉̵ḑ̸̛̣̕.̀҉̡̡ ͢͏̴B̧͠ĺ̛͢ơ̕ǫ̶̢̛̣d̸͡ ̷̛͘͟͟f̛̀͘͢ŗ̵́͞e͏̨̛͠͡s͟͠h̴̷̴͜͠ ̧̀͠i̸͘҉҉ǹ̵̨ ͢͏͜͢ţ̴h̸͝͝͏e̴̢͢ ̸̶͘à̸̸͢͢i͏̧r̢̡

͏̴̴̧̨̨̡̛͡S̸̢̨͠ć̴̶̸̨ŗ̧҉̧e͏͡͡a̧̡̨̛̕ḿ͟ ̶͝o̷̢͘͘̕f̴̀͜ ͏̧p̷a̵͘i̶̡n̡̡̛͟͜.̵̸̡͠ ҉̵͟͡͞

The hood fell off to reveal blonde hair and male features, blood flowing from the man's nostrils as the nightmare kept up its assault upon the man's mind.

He… He was…. Who?

C̶r͏̢͞͠͡o̡̢͘w̴̢͜n̷̷̛͟ ̵̕o̶̷̸҉f̢͟ ̷͜B͏͞ò̵̀ņ̶ẹ̶҉̵̛.͢҉͢

͏F̶̛̀͟o̷̡̡͠u̴̢͘҉r̵̶҉̸͝ ̧͘a̡҉̷̧́r̸̕͢͝m̸͝ś̸̢͝҉ ̵̴c̴̴á́͢͡ŗ̛͠r҉͟y̶̛i̕͏҉n̷̡͠g̨͝ ̧̡͘͟F̛͠ó̶̧͢͠ư҉͘͡ŕ͜͏̨͝ ̴̢͟͢B̨̛ḷ͏̧̕͟͡a̡͏̀d̴҉̀͠e̴̵͜͏ş̶̨́

̡̀͝M̷͘à̶͘͜͟t̶̢̛͢͠ ̵̧͘ǫ̴̀͟͜f̧ ̶̸̶͠c͢͟͡h̴͟͝͞i̡̛͞t̢͢͏̵̕i̸̶͟n̷̵̸͜͡.̸̡͢ ̶̵̛͜͠Ş̨̢͠͞e̡̛ḁ͟͏̴ ̵̨̧͞o͜͡f̶̨͘͢ ̧҉C҉̶̀l̨͘a͟͠w͠͏͝͏s̵͢,̸͜ ̧́T͏̷̢a̵͜l̴͜͝ọ̷͘n̶͠s̶͢ ̵͝͏̶ṣ̢̨͝t̡r͏̡e͏͞a͘͏̡k͏̧

N̴͙̯̙̔̆͐O!̸ͯ͌̐͐̋̈͂̇̉͟

No!

Jaune. He was Jaune. Arc. Family. He remembered female voices, blond hair and blue eyes. Man with blonde hair and blue eyes carrying sword and shield. Hope.

B͝ļa͜cḱ ̵ḩair̛ ͡a͘n͜d̀ ͡blo̴o͞d͟ ̶r̀ed̢ e̶y͞e͟s ̸b͞e̛hin̡d ̸m̨as͞k o̧f҉ ͘b͝one.

NO!

He woke up to the familiar stench of smoke and sounds of fighting coming from a burning building nearby.

"Stop, drop and roll you idiots!" a man in white, or rather what had once been a white, suit yelled at his cronies as he calmly walked out of the flaming dust shop with his hat on fire. The gangsters, some of which were still on fire, attempted to follow the man's orders with various results.

"Seriously you all were worth every cent, truly you were. At least you all had aura so i don't have to pay extra for getting bloodstains off the suit." the man added, tapping the ground with his walking cane for good measure before turning to face Ruby, who had fared better than the thugs when the Dust shop had exploded.

Ruby had been thrown out of the dust shop through the display window but she had managed to catch a nearby light pole with her Scythe and bring herself to stop, bleeding extra energy off by firing her Scythe's high impact sniper rifle to the air and using its recoil to regain her footing.

The gangsters had not been as lucky, most of them having been thrown off the shop and were now littered around the street and shopfront. Few of the robbers had also caught fire from the volatile crystals they had been carrying.

"Who are you? Why were you trying to rob the shop? And... is your hat on fire?" Ruby asked in quick succession before twirling her beloved Scythe around in her hand. She slammed the scythe to the ground and took aim at the leader of the gang, using the scythe's blade as a monopod for the weapon.

The man in now-grey suit began to answer, but halted when Ruby's last question sank in, causing the man's expression to switch from cocky to full-blown panic in a blink of an eye. The man tore the flaming hat off his head with blinding speed and started to slap the burning fabric furiously to put the fire down, his orange hair coming off it's elaborate swept-back look and flowing freely in front of his face. After a brief but desperate battle, the fire was put out- revealing a lump of burnt fabric and ash.

The man fell to his knees, cradling the burnt hat against his chest like it was the dead body of his beloved comrade.

Ruby felt kinda bad for the man who now bore striking resemblance to a scarred and shell-shocked war-veteran as he stared at his ruined hat.

"Red girl. I am Roman Torchwick, Master criminal of Vale... However for tonight I'll make a special exception to be your executioner as well" the man now identified as Roman Torchwick said, still not taking his eyes off his ruined hat.

Ruby looked at the man with a slightly nervous gaze, before a screech of brakes forced her attention elsewhere. Turning around, she saw a black van coming towards her from the nearby alleyway, forcing her to pull her scythe's blade off the asphalt and dodge the car trying to run her over. The van pulled over near Roman, it's doors opening to disgorge a new set of gangsters whom pulled out various pistols and steel blades, all of them aimed at Ruby.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get her" Roman commanded before standing up to aim his walking cane at Ruby, popping the cane's end-cap up to reveal rifled barrel and a crude crosshair.

'Not good' Ruby thought before having to dodge a whistling high-explosive shell and a hail of gunfire that accompanied it.

Grey and white clothes ruffled in the air as cold wind blew against Jaune's body.

He was watching the fight unfolding below him from nearby roof, taking the high ground to investigate situation before diving in head-first. He had learned young what the consequences of hasty and unprepared actions were. Yet, he could not just ignore the burning and the gunshots, not if he still wanted to become a Huntsman.

If he still want to be one?

He kept looking down to the fight, choosing not to answer the nagging voice at the back of his head.

Red-skirted figure was fighting against group of men in red and black suits as the Dust store behind them burned. Grey-clad figure with orange hair was watching the fight and intervening whenever red figure was about to take down one of the men. The scene seemed... familliar.

Blonde hair. Screams and shouts.

Gleaming blade of silver, knocked away.

Burning pain. Familiar voice.

Blood.

Jaune shook his head. 'Now is not the time to be having second thoughts or flashbacks from the past' he admonished himself as he continued to watch the fight unfolding below.

Jaune knew neither side so he opted to watch and try to find out what the objectives of each side were.

Below Jaune the orange-haired man with cane man cackled as he managed to land a solid hit on the red-clad girl, launching the figure across the street and into a lamp post. The girl crumbled to ground from the hit.

Jaune leaned forwards- something was... unnatural. He looked at the girl, feeling the signature heat of his semblance pool in his face as it molded his eyesight to see better in the dark.

The girl had silver eyes.

B̴̧̛ų̷̛͢r҉҉̕͢n̛͢͏ì҉̷͘͢͢n̶̵ģ͠ ̶̧̢f̷̕͠l̴̡͢͏̡e͏̡̢͡s̡͏ẖ̷̸̶̡̕

҉̴͟Į̕͟͝c͘͢͠ę̀ ̡̧́͘͡s̢̕͜ṕ̡̧͝͡͝r̡͞e̴̡̧à̢̕͘͜d̛͏̵i̡͜͜ǹ̢̛͝g̡̛̕͜ ҉ì̧̕̕͞n͠͞͏ ̴̶̢̛͝ẃ̷̸̢͞à̸̢͘͟v͠͏̛e̶̵͜ ̷͝͏͘ó̸̸̢͝͡f́͜ ̴̷̨͢͝f̷͜͜͏͘i̷̴͝͝ŗ͞è̴͘͘͝͞

̵͘͠͠B̸̡̕ļ̶̛͜ó̸̵ó́͘d̶͢ ̴̴̨͟͞s̡̕e̶͏̸͠è̴̷͝͞p̶̀͘͡i̸̵͘n̢͢͡ǵ͡҉͏͘ ̵̸̧̨̛t̴̢̡h̴́͢r̴̴ǫ̴̨̛͢ṳ̶̸̧̀g̛͝h̛́͘͢͟ ̷t̵̨̢̧͞h̡̛̕e̛ ̷̨̛͠҉c̛̀̕͠͝ŕ͘͏͡a͜͟͝c̢͞͝k̵̶̕s͘̕͞

̷̶́F͏͝͠l͏͏̵á͞s̶̢̛͠h̴̡͠͞e͢s͟͟ ̴́̕o̡̡͢͟͡f̧̕͢ ̧͝͡ś͏̨͜į͘ļ̵͟v̨̡͜͜e̡̛ŕ̵҉

He felt the tell-tale of the Shadow pressing in the back of his head. Something It remembered or knew. Something the Grimm in him feared.

Jaune felt something warm in his face, wiping it and finding himself bleeding from both of his nostrils, again. She had something important.

His decision was made.

He pulled away the string that kept the two elongated bags closed.

Two long, serrated bone swords the colour of blood emerged from the bags and into the chilly night.

'Okay, situation has devolved from Not Good to Bad ' Ruby thought as she tried to swing her Crescent Rose at one of the thugs, only to be forced to change her trajectory at last second when Roman fired his cane-cannon at her. She could feel the shell whizzing past her face too close for comfort.

She couldn't keep this up forever. Eventually she would slip, and her Aura was not infinite.

Aura may be the Strength of one's Soul, unlocked to protect their owner from harm and channel their power- but it was unfortunately not as infinite as some poets had claimed soul to be. Ruby could feel her Aura wane with every dash she was forced to make in order to attack and dodge.

Not to mention how she basically started the entire fight with two thirds of her Aura gone because of the totally-not-self-inflicted explosion.

Ruby was pulled off her thoughts as her attempt to gouge one of the gangsters left an opening in her stance- which Roman quickly exploited, hitting her hard in the stomach and launching her into light pole. The hit and the crash were enough to break through her nearly depleted Aura, causing her to collapse heavily on the street.

Her vision was hazy as she lifted her head to look around and assess the situation once more. 'Really Bad' she thought groggily as she saw Roman Torchwick taking aim at her with his cane, cocky smirk on his lips.

"End of the line, Red. Be a dearie and die quietly" Roman said as he fired his cane-cannon at her- however at the last second a pair of barbed, spined darts hit him in the forearm and shoulder, knocking his aim off. Thrown off balance, the shell that would have crippled Ruby flew past her and into the dark alleyway behind her. Roman was unhurt though, his Aura glowing purple as it stopped the darts from penetrating the man's skin

"Who did that!" Roman yelled towards the direction where he assumed the darts came from. "Come out and surrender before you really get to my bad side..."

The self-proclaimed criminal mastermind's threat was interrupted as more darts rained down, the lethal barrage originating from the rooftop of nearby building.

Roman managed to either avoid or parry most of the darts- however the gangsters were not as lucky, darts breaking through their aura and piercing deep into their flesh with twitching fins jutting out of their dress suits. The panicked gangsters to fell over and started to roll on the ground before going still.

'Poison' thought Ruby from where she still laid on the street, her legs not cooperating with her attempts to get up.

Roman fired his cane-cannon at the source of the spine-darts, causing explosion of dust and concrete shrapnel as the shell hit the invisible attacker. The rain of darts stopped and dust started to cloud over the street.

Ruby doubled her efforts to crawl over to her scythe, before pair of soot-covered dress shoes appeared in her field of view, one of the shoes lifting up to kick her over on her back.

"So, that was a thing. A friend of yours, Red?" Roman jeered. "Any more surprises? Perhaps a teacher coming from somewhere with a clipboard and a magical unicorn?" he tapped the pavement with the cane, taking a step to stand next to Ruby and swinging the cane at her head. The golf-like swing connected with a resounding knock, causing Ruby's world to explode in black.

"Sheesh, this is not my day, is it?" Roman said to no-one in particular while looking at the unconscious girl in front of him, thick cloud of dust reducing visibility of his surroundings. 'Well, the heist is a bust, time to leg it' he continued in his head.

Roman took a two-handed grip of his cane and raised it above his shoulder, preparing to end the nuisance that had cost him the dust shop robbery.

He totally wasn't murdering the girl because she had caused the fire that destroyed his favorite hat. Nuh uh.

Roman swung his cane down...

A shuffle from behind Roman caused him to turn to see a red serrated blade slicing through the concrete dust, aiming for his gut.

The bludgeoning swing of Roman's cane turned into a parry as he was forced to stop his killing of the teenage girl in order to barely avoid getting gutted. The singular red blade was soon followed by another one, this time swinging from Roman's right hand side and forcing him to jump away from both the red-clad girl and the sword-carrying form still partially clouded in the dust.

Roman regained his footing only to see sudden streaks of purple and lilac flying towards him from the end of the street- the concrete rubble lifting off the street and turned into projectile weaponry by sources unknownst to him. The furious projectile attack forced Roman to roll away again and clear even more space between the combatants, swinging his cane in front of him to block stray pieces of shrapnel.

Strong wind caused by the salvo of repurposed rubble cleared most of the dust from the air and returned visibility- revealing a mature woman clad in black pencil skirt and long-sleeved white shirt. She was holding a riding crop which she swung down to cause more of the repurposed rubble to launch towards Roman.

"OH COME ON! When I was talking about the whole 'teacher with a clipboard' part I was joking!" Roman yelled while attempting to parry or block most of the projectiles. Few of the projectiles got through his guard, slicing wounds on his hands and tearing away at his already-tormented clothing and his Aura started to deplete quickly under the barrage.

The woman responsible for the shrapnel assault adjusted her glasses. She was not amused by Roman's antics as she looked at him, her green eyes flashing as she once again lifted her riding crop-looking Dust-Caster to resume her charge.

On the other side of the street the red-clad girl was being protected by a blonde man in worn grey and white clothes while holding a pair of red swords. In Roman's mind there was no doubt that the man was the one responsible for the earlier salvo of darts. He memorized the man's features as the dart-thrower was finally visible, the dust covering him finally gone.

'Really now. Two crazy combat brats, and a Huntress all at the same time. I'm not getting paid enough to deal with this' Roman thought as he slipped his hand inside the soot-covered jacket to press a switch, activating his back-up plan to escape.

The van that had contained his reinforcements exploded in a resounding boom and sent a wave of shrapnel around the clearing. The barrage of sharp metal forced the woman in skirt to concentrate her attention and power into blocking the shrapnel while the man with red blades merely continued to stand in front of the still unconscious red-clad girl, parrying shrapnel flying at the pair with his swords.

Thick cloud of black smoke engulfed the street and shop-front alongside all fighters as the smoke canisters inside the crippled vehicle caught fire, completely obstructing the view of the street. The woman in skirt dismissed the smokescreen with wave of her riding crop after recovering from the criminal mastermind's sudden counter-attack.

When the smoke cleared Roman was nowhere to be seen.

Ruby woke up with a startled gasp, filling her lungs with concrete dust and smoke and instantly caused her to start coughing.

The hacking cough didn't help her headache that originated from the bruise where Roman had struck her, and neither did it help the feeling of soreness that had spread through her entire body after her Aura had broken.

She looked around and tried to take in her new surroundings as she coughed- The street was littered with rubble and the unmoving forms of the gangsters, and there as a burning van next to the destroyed storefront. The conflagration that had engulfed the store was slowly dying down to sizzling cinders as the internal sprinkler systems continued to perform their automated tasks. 'The fight is over? I'm alive? Who...'

Sound of leather striking flesh snapped her out of her daze, causing her eyes to focus on the more immediate scene in front of her.

A gorgeous woman with green eyes was slapping her riding crop against her open hand, sending an evil eye at her and the man that was standing behind to Ruby, mere two feet away from where she was lying on the ground. Naturally spooked by the fact the man had been just standing there without uttering a word, Ruby half-jumped half-crawled away from him, before she remembered that he had appeared just in time to keep Torchwick and his goons from killing Ruby.

The man had blonde hair and blue eyes and he was carrying a pair of very odd swords, bearing appearance of deep-veined bone like as if they had been carved from ones of some great animal, yet her weapons-crazy side reminded her that something didn't add up.

'Does Remnant even have animals whose bones could be carved like that? Wait, what are those tubes in the pommel of the blade? Did he use the blade to shoot the darts? Is that a vein going up in the side of the blade?' Ruby thought through the haze of headache and sore pain before deciding that she wanted to introduce herself to her saviours.

"Whooh aff uu? Iffh ihhhss Ruhsy. Hiis?" She mumbled, her voice sounding weak and tired not to mention the dust in her throat probably wasn't helping. 'Nailed it.'

The woman in black skirt on the other side of the street pointed her riding crop at the pair. 'Okay maybe I didn't nail it. Screw it and get out? Yeah that sounds good... if my legs worked anyway...'

"I am Glynda Goodwitch, Huntress and a professor at The Beacon Academy, and you two are in big trouble."

Glynda Goodwitch sighed as she brushed a fleck of ash from her black pencil skirt and adjusted her glasses. She could tell that the confrontation tonight would cause her both paperwork and grey hairs as she saw a young, likely a huntress candidate girl clutching a extremely over-engineered gun-scythe while trying to lift herself up from the ground.

The fact the girl was staring at Glynda with her wide silver eyes didn't help, as Glynda knew the meaning of the eyes, and that there was only one person in Remnant who still had those. 'Taiyang... Just what are you doing, letting her just wander alone and attack group of robbers? Doesn't he realize what's at stake?'

Beside the red-clad girl, the strange young man in worn clothes carried a pair of bizarre bone-like swords with stance of someone who had been using them for long time, yet at the same time his posture didn't quite tell the same- conveying both age-honed expertise and bizzare cluelessness that made her confused as to what he truly was doing in the square. As she narrowed her eyes towards the young man he lowered his swords and stood back into more relaxed stance, or if she was being truly honest, he relaxed into somewhat awkward stance that clearly conveyed he didn't really know what he was doing in there.

A sizzling boom pulled her mind into the more material part of the scene as a small dust crystal exploded inside the nearly extinguished shop, reminding her once more of the whole 'burning shop, exploding cars and dozens of robbers including one ex-huntsman' thing that needed clearing up.

It was going to be a long night.

The Interrigation room was dark, and the seat Ruby was told to sit on was small, uncomfortable and placed in such a way that he had very little moving room between the table in front of her and the chair, making her feel discomfort in a way that would be impossible to pull off accidentially. The only light source in the room was pointed at her, causing her already pale complexion to flush out even further and making her face appear almost snow white.

The Vale's police station was not a friendly place.

Truth to be told, Ruby had not liked the look of the Vale Police Station from the outside, and she liked it even less from the inside where she had been taken after the fight against the robbers- once she had undergone a brief but comprehensive medical examination to ensure that she would not suffer long-lasting consequences from the roughing up she had received.

However that hadn't calmed her as she was worried sick over her dear friend from whom she had been separated for almost a full hour, and no-one was answering her questions about her sweetheart's health!

What if someone had scratched her Crescent Rose!

Ruby was not sure if she could forgive anyone for mishandling her dearest friend.

The signature click-clack of high heels on the hard floor rang in Ruby's ears as the woman responsible for the noise walked around her in circles, drawing her off her mindscape and back into the present.

Glynda was looking at a large Scroll she held in her hands, apparently going through the footage of the fight that had been caught on the city camera surveilance network with the wide screen of the handheld data and communication device flashing as the fight against robbers was recreated in full high definition.

"I hope you realize your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady" the female Huntress from before, Glynda Goodwitch, said as she continued her walk around the table where Ruby was sitting with her hands on her lap.

"Uh... I can accept a medal, if that's what you..."

"You put yourself and others in great danger…" Glynda continued, ignoring Ruby's words which was likely for the best.

"They started it!" Ruby tried speaking over the Huntresses monologue, but her luck had ran out as this time Glynda didn't ignore her.

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home with pat on the back…" the Huntress continued despite the younger girl's outburst while stopping beside her in a way that caused Ruby to freeze up in fear.

As the meaning of the woman's words sunk in, Ruby's eyes lit up momentarily. 'Pat? I mean, I'm pretty awesome, right?'

"...And a slap on the wrist." the Huntress finished, drawing out her riding crop to slap it in front of Ruby and causing the teen to jump back in fear.

'Okay right, maybe not so awesome on closer inspection...'

"But, there is someone here who would like to meet you." Glynda continued, folding her crop back to its carrying form and standing aside to reveal gray-haired man in comfortable-looking black suit with green undershirt, appearing to be in his late thirties. Ruby however knew that looks could be misleading when it came to Hunters-

After all, having one's Aura unlocked from its dormant stage would cause skin imperfections, wrinkles and minor scars to heal to the point where things like acne scars, wrinkles or saggy skin were extremely rare- and when combined with the naturally healthy bodies that resulted from the athletic lifestyle, nearly all Hunters and Huntresses were beautiful and fit. On the downside, the minor regeneration would also make any age estimations based off looks almost impossible. Or perhaps it was another upside, she wasn't sure yet. Either way, Hunters were nothing short of idols in the eyes of public both for their looks and for their abilities.

The man brought forwards a tray of chocolate cookies, causing Ruby's thoughts to tangent off her previous line of thinking with brutal efficiency 'yes yes yes cookies cookies squeeeee', and the man placed it on the table in front of Ruby, causing her arm to twitch towards the tray as she restrained herself from indulging in her favorite treat. The man's other arm held mug full of some steaming liquid, however the way the man held to it made it clear that Ruby would suffer the same fate that she would inflict on anyone getting between her and her cookies if she went between the man and his mug.

"Ruby Rose. You… have silver eyes." the man spoke as he was looking at her with his deep green eyes. He took a sip from his mug.

"Uhm, uhhh... okay? I mean, thank you, me... nevermind." Ruby was speechless and slightly creeped out, her hand still slowly inching towards the plate of cookies. 'Why does everyone keep talking about my eyes? They are just regular eyes. It's not like grey eyes are super uncommon either...' she thought as she tried to figure out what the man was after.

"So, where did you learn to do this-" the man nodded towards Glynda who had her Scroll open towards Ruby with a video of her fight against the robbers playing in full-screen.

"S-Signal academy and before that, dad and uncle taught me." Ruby answered, however the pair of adults looked slightly sceptical. 'What, it's true!'

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapon combinations ever designed?" the man in green and black asked.

"Well, one teacher in particular." Ruby answered, thinking of a certain lean man with black, wind-swept hair and light red eyes, carrying silver scythe and standing on top of pile of dead beowolves, irritating, cocky smirk on his face. "Plus its not like Crescent Rose is the most dangerous weapon in Remnant, there's the Atlesian Batalyst Fusion Gun mark 9000 combined anti-everything weapon system..."

"I believe he meant most dangerous to the user" Glynda interjected, causing Ruby to blush a bit and hide her hands under the table.

"Well, I guess... anyway, Uncle Qrow, or 'old crow' as he liked to call himself helped me learn to use Crescent Rose without accidentially hurting myself. I don't know why he calls himself that though, uncle Qrow is really cool." she continued, grabbing one of the cookies absentmindedly from the tray in front of her and eating the chocolate chipped treat in one bite.

The single cookie was the rock that broke the dam of her self-control, and she began to stuff herself full of the treats at frightening speed.

She just now realized that she had not eaten anything for almost eight hours.

"I see. It seems that our common associate, Qrow, has trained you well. It's very unusual that a young girl like you could stand her ground alone against trained ex-huntsman and dozen other armed criminals." the man took another sip from his cup."Say, has Qrow mentioned who I am or do you perhaps remember me?"

"You'ffe the heafmafter Ofpin of Beafon afafemy... urgh, sorry... the largest school of hunters and huntresses in Vale. I mean, you've visited dad couple of times in the past, right?" Ruby answered, swallowing a mouthful of cookies mid-speech and grasping for more... only to be struck with soul-crushing terror as she found the tray empty. Small indignant whine escaped her, causing Ozpin's lips to quirk upwards.

"Say, what are your plans for the future?" Ozpin asked Ruby as Glynda folded her Scroll and returned it to her hip-pouch.

"Well, I'm planning on becoming a Huntress like my mother, to help and to save people. I've trained to become one ever since she… well, didn't come back home." Ruby answered. "I'm pretty sure you know that already though. I mean, okay, we haven't met before really but since you and dad are friends I guess and dad can't really stop talking about how great Yang and I are to just about anyone willing to listen, I'm pretty sure you know more about me than I know about myself. No offense, I mean, uh... c-can we forget that last part?"

Ozpin looked over to Glynda, who sighed and nodded slightly.

The Headmaster of Beacon looked back at Ruby, tilting his head to the side.

"Well, okay. I'll forget the last part of your speech, and let's also sweeten the deal- You're in." he said, causing Ruby's eyes widened comically to resemble silver saucers.

"You are hereby granted the right to attend Beacon Academy in the starting semester as first-year student and until your graduation as Huntress. I'll file the necessary transfer papers for Signal Academy. However, you can refuse the transfer if you don't feel ready for the…" Ozpin continued only to be interrupted as Ruby launched herself at Ozpin, shaking the professor's free hand vigorously.

"Thank you thankyouthankyou thankyou I'll accept! Yay! I mean yes!" Ruby spoke at thousand words per minute while attempting to yank Ozpin's arm off his shoulder.

"Yes, quite. Thank you. May I have my arm back?" Ozpin asked, slightly shaken, causing Ruby to instantly let go of his hand and speed back to her seat, few stray rose petals flowing in her wake.

Glynda cleared her throat loudly in the background, clearly indicating her opinion towards such familiar actions.

"Now as we have that out of the way, I believe we have one more item to address." she begun, looking meaningfully at Ozpin who sipped from his mug and adjusted his glasses.

"Miss Rose, what do you know about the man who stood to assist you after your Aura broke and you lost consciousness?" Ozpin asked, looking at Ruby with serious expression.

"Eh- erm, I only saw him by brief glance, I doubt I have met him before though. I think he shot the gangsters with something but I didn't know with what…. Ohmygod you have to let me look at his weapons! I have never seen anything like that! Why did he make them look like bone and did they have dust injectors looking like veins, I don't know how to hemanagedtoforgethemetaltoincludeinjectorsfordust…" Ruby's recounting quickly became a fast-paced mess of words as she became increasingly excited, feeling her second great passion to surface.

Weapons.

Glynda sighed as Ozpin's eyes glassed over.

"Right... did you find anything from the police databanks or our own records regarding our next guest?" Ozpin asked and Glynda nodded as she and Ozpin gazed into the now-empty interrogation room through the observation mirror after seeing slightly calmed-down Ruby off the station and turned her over to her dad, Taiyang Xiao-Long who had been called to fetch Ruby.

"About him... To be frank, it is complicated." Glynda adjusted her classes and brought up her Scroll. "The city traffic records reveal nothing about him, however blood test shows… complicated and impossible results. The genetic code is ninety-seven percent match to a certain deceased Jaune Arc, who was lost during a bandit raid at village of Shion two years ago. The merchants that discovered the village had been looted reported no survivors, making his presence here highly unlikely."

"Perhaps he escaped." Ozpin mused. "I imagine there's more to it however. What about the remaining three percent?"

"The remaining three percent make absolutely no sense." Glynda answered with wary tone. "The excess genetic code changes like virus, absorbing the remaining code and morphs itself to create new segments, fusing into whatever matter we try to contain it with and using it to start regrowing itself until reaching a equilibrium where it returns to its ninety-seven and three percent split."

"I see. So he must have found his own way of escaping Shion, and that shifting likely related to it." Ozpin theorized. "After the tragedy that befell Shion village, quite few members of the Arc family were declared missing alongside rest of the villagers. That doesn't, however, mean certain death no matter how likely it may have been."

"That was two years ago. There is no way he would have survived alone in the wilderness for that long, not when he would have been so young during the events" Glynda interjected. "Even if his body somehow adapted to his surroundings, the forests of Mistral are teeming with Grimm and if he's here without any travel records to indicate him using transports, then he must have come to Vale on foot, crossing the border by swimming or boat- both unlikely scenarios for someone who was fifteen by the time of their disappearance."

"Yet it seems that he has done so regardless. Or at least most of him has." Ozpin said, taking deep swig from his now-refilled mug.

The door opening on the other side of the one-way mirror interrupted the pair, and the headmaster of Beacon and the assisting headmistress of Beacon saw the young man in question being escorted to the interrogation room with two heavily armed VPD police officers, before he man was sat on the chair Ruby Rose had vacated mere minutes ago, and the officers left the room.

"I'm honestly quite surprised that he allowed himself to be taken in over trying to escape or attack" Glynda sighed as she observed the blond-haired teen take in his new surroundings. His hands were resting on his lap, and he wore a somewhat baggy set of prison clothes as he had been given a change of wear since his own clothes were essentially unsalvageable- not to mention that the clothes bore White Fang insignia on closer inspection. "I thought for moment i would have to fight him as well when Torchwick fled and he raised his weapons at me, yet he calmed down instantly after I introduced myself as a professor of Beacon academy" she added.

'Curious. There is something he wants from Beacon if the name alone is enough to change his behaviour so radically' Ozpin thought. Putting his mug down, Ozpin turned fully towards Glynda.

"Is the analysis of his weaponry complete?" he asked, pulling his Scroll from inside his jacket and unfolding it. "You mentioned something about his weapons being somewhat uncommon."

"Yes. I've sent you the results- the weapons, if they can be called by that name, are something the specialists have never seen before. Ozpin, the darts were alive" Glynda exclaimed with small shudder. "The same could be said for his swords, since the specialists found entire nerve- and circulatory system within the blades, although both of the weapons had died by the time the research team got their hands on them."

A picture of spined, barbed dart took majority of the screen as Ozpin opened the folder sent to him by Glynda, showing the projectile weapons that had been dug out from the criminals after their delivery to the hospital. The segmented, spine-like dart appeared to twitch occasionally, attempting to weakly burrow itself into the metal sheet it was placed upon.

"The surgeons have managed to extract the darts from the surviving robbers, where the darts had somehow managed to pierce extremely deep into the flesh and even managed to somehow… burrow into their victims." The stern woman recounted. "To make matters worse, the darts were covered in poisonous substance that we have not been able to identify yet, and as a result all those who were hit by the darts through their Aura are either dead or in deep coma. The apothecaries are synthesizing a neutralizer for the poison but there is no guarantee that they will succeed or that the victims will actually manage a full recovery, although the substance bears similiarities to snake venom."

"What about his swords?" Ozpin asked, bringing out another picture. "It is clear to observer that the blades have a blood red colour likely due to the circulatory system you mentioned with serrated and partially barbed, organic-looking edge. However this…" he said, pointing out at the picture of now bone-white and crumbling weapon.

"Yes, it seemed that the blades started to decay instantly after being outside of his immediate area. The colour change and the fragility suggests that the weapons are somehow connected to our 'guests' Aura, are dependant on seperate circulatory system to support it with blood in vampiric symbiosis, or the weapons are perhaps part of his Semblance" Glynda clarified. "It is crystal clear, however, that these weapons are not usual mecha-shift weapons Hunters use, or even conventional or Dust-based weapons. The weapons may even be case of an undocumented Grimm form, even to point where the weapons vaporize slowly upon perceived death much like other Grimm forms. That claim is... unsettling." The last declaration left both occupants of the room quiet while the pair digested the information.

"Not to mention how little miss Rose knew about her saviour." Ozpin sighed after the moment had passed, taking hold of his mug once again.

"Well, it's time we introduced ourselves" Ozpin braced himself before walking to open the door leading into the interrogation room.

Jaune Arc was in quite bit of a pinch.

Damn his instinctual behaviour. He just had to go investigate the explosion, to intervene on the fight, and then try to kill the leader of those gangsters.

'On the positive side I think i saved that girl with silver eyes, so it's a plus. On the other hand I most likely got into trouble with Beacon. On the third hand, perhaps just going 'yeah I'm going to kill that guy' wasn't a good idea, all things considered.' Jaune thought. 'Yeah, probably not. Chances are I got a bit too agitated by the scene, but that doesn't change the fact I'm screwḙ̞̙ͅd̶'̘͙͍̹̦̳.̝̬̙͍'.

S̷̀ì͟ĺ̵̴̡̡v̧̛é̕͡͞ȓ̴̴̕͜͝ ̧̕͏é̴̸̡̨ý͠ę̷͢ṡ̴̸̨͜.͞

He groaned, slamming his head down against the hard table. The hit served him well as it snapped his focus back to the present and away from the memories of the Shadow that had once again started to creep over his consciousness, attempting to engulf his rational self in order to revert him into more primal emotions- to destroy, feed, and seek more.

Before he was able to celebrate his temporary moment of clarity further, he felt the signature tingle of his Aura kicking in, numbing the pain from the self-inflicted injury before it started to even register properly. 'Dammit.'

'Well... at least my Aura is fixing my wounds.' Jaune sighed as he rubbed his forehead while wishing that his Aura stopped the rashy feeling which always accompanied the spine-like darts growing inside his forearms, replenishing the 'living' darts he had spent during the fight against Torchwick. As luck were, he was left scratching his arm lightly when a door opened to the interrogation chamber he had been escorted to.

A man in black suit with green undershirt and the familiar stern-looking blonde woman were standing in the doorway

"Good evening, mysterious stranger" said the man, taking a seat in front of Jaune while the woman stood to the man's left, her riding crop in her hand. "Or should I say, Jaune Arc?"

"You know who I am?" asked Jaune, confused. 'Did I introduce myself somehow?'

"Yes. As it turns out, your father was a paranoid man, enough so to provide the medical bank of Vale a blood sample of all his children. I'm guessing it was made in case should something happen to him, his family or his home, the family members would be recognized by the city even without all the necessary identification papers- ones that you failed to provide" The man noted. "But where are my manners. My name is Ozpin, and I serve as the Headmaster of Beacon Academy. My lovely assitant is assisting headmistress of Beacon, Glynda Goodwitch, although I believe she already introduced herself. I trust you have heard of us?"

"Yes, I've heard of Beacon. I…" Jaune began before it hit him. 'Headmaster of Beacon?!'

Glynda must have noticed the sudden stop in Jaune's speech and interjected "You were reported Missing after Shion village dropped from Cross-Continential Communication Tower network. That was two years ago. Why have you not attempted to establish contact with Vale until now?"

"I was… uuh... training." Jaune said, fidgeting slightly.

"Training for what exactly" Ozpin asked, looking at Jaune over his spectacles.

"To... uh, to become a Huntsman like my father. To stop what has happened to Shion from happening to other people as well. For my own sanity..." Jaune answered, mumbling the last part in unintelligible voice.

"We observed you using some… unconventional weapons. Would you like to elaborate?" Ozpin asked, hearing the last part but choosing not to comment.

"It's my Semblance. It allows me to… change… myself. To make myself into weapon. It's quite complicated, honestly." Jaune answered, scratching the back of his head where the signature pressure of hunger was starting to build. He would need to eat something soon as forming new spine-darts was starting to chip away at his Aura reserves and body mass- or risk the Shadow growing stronger to the point he'd be reduced to his baser instincts once again.

Glynda looked slightly distraught while the headmaster was expressionless, which wasn't exactly helping Jaune's confidence.

"So I take it your… darts were part of your Semblance?" Ozpin continued, placing his empty mug on the table. As Jaune nodded the man continued "Your darts were responsible for the deaths of 7 people tonight..."

"They were ganging up to try and kill lone girl! With guns!" Jaune interjected heatedly, choosing not to comment on the real reason why he chosen the girl's side. "I couldn't just not do anything!"

"And what you did was that you took seven lives." Ozpin said, pushing his glasses up his nose. The cold light from the interrogation room's solitary light reflected in the surface of the glass, hiding Ozpin's eyes from the view as the man tied his hands together in front of his face. Ozpin rested his chin on his hands, still looking at Jaune. "Is this… regular occurrence when you choose to intervene?"

"No." Jaune answered. 'Or at least I hope it is not…' he added in his head, feeling a memory of a red blade, held by his hand, slicing apart flesh and bone with frightening ease.

Flicker of rè̩̦d̬̘͖̟

.̨͘Ṣ̢͟c̢r̵̴͠è͟a͠҉̢m̵̷̸̛s͘͞ ̶̀͜à̛͢͢ṉ̀̕d̷̀͟ ̢̡̕b̢̕͠ę̸͟͠g͜͢g̴̡͘͞ị͟͠͏̢n̨̛͟͠g̷̶͡.̢͢

̨̧͜͝͠R͜͟͡e̢͘͠ḑ̶̸͢ ̷̨͢͟͠t̷͞͏r̡͘͠a͏̀į͟͡͝l͞ṣ̶̶̢͞͠ ̡́͏ó̴̕͟f̷̢҉͢ ̵͘͢͟͡r̛̕͜͞è̕̕d̕҉̢ ̷̵̸͞b̴̡̨҉l̷̛͞a̴̸̛͘d́̀̀͞è̸̷̛s̀͘͠͝͞ ̡̛͟f̶̸̸͠ļ̡à̀s̷͡h̵̡i҉͏n̶͟͟҉͡ǵ̛͢

H͡ḭ̢s̴ ͡h͏o̢ǫve̶͠s͢͝ ́͟͝ćḻe̴áv͟įng̴ ̀͘b̢lǫ̛o̴͏d̴̷̛y ̶̶ṗ͘a̶͟t̴h̀

͂̀͆ͤͣͤ́̅ͮ̀̂͛́̚͢

Jaune shoved the memory that was only partially his own back to the subconsciousness where it had come from, feeling pressure building on his forehead as he fought back a headache.

Ozpin stared at Jaune for long time.

Jaune started to fidget on his seat.

He felt the hollow sting of thin air-veins opening inside his arms and leading up to his lungs. The small holes in the side of his forearm widened slightly to accommodate a matured spine-dart, its razor sharp black head poking out of his skin slightly yet hidden by the fabric of his long-sleeved shirt. 'Not now!' Jaune thought furiously while trying to calm himself down, and he felt the razor dart pulling itself back inside his arm..

Ozpin glanced at Glynda. Glynda shook her head.

"Mister Arc… Welcome to Beacon Academy"

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

Two equally confused voices broke the silence that had fallen after Ozpin's declaration.

"You can't be serious, Ozpin!" Glynda raged at the headmaster after the blonde young man had been escorted back to his temporary prison cell.

"He is a murderer, a criminal! If you think someone like that should be allowed to interact with the students…" she continued her tirade only to be stopped halfway by Ozpin's gaze. "He's clearly unstable, if he goes on a rampage admidst the students, how many..."

"The court will rule the incident in Vale as self-defence in face of lethal force and in defence of other. I will see to it, even if I have to pull some strings. And you know more than any other that not every student in Beacon with prior combat experience gains it by fighting Grimm." Ozpin stated, cutting Glynda mid-sentence.

"In fact, I believe one of our new faunus students might have such weight on her shoulders as well" he continued, causing Glynda to think back on the entry examination of a certain mysterious black-haired cat faunus. She had overseen the girl's display of prowess mere week ago.

"She was different! Even though she choose to elude the details, she carried the weight of her actions with her! That man, mr. Arc, didn't show even slightest bit of remorse or even react to the recounting of his actions, other than by being embarrassed and perhaps wary of the punishement!" Glynda stated heatedly "No remorse at all! He is not sane, and I will not have him attack and injure any my students!"

"Our students. Regardless, I saw something else within him." Ozpin interrupted her

"Elaborate, please."

"You and Peter Port, our Grimm Studies teacher, regularly deal with students who suffer from traumatic reactions to things they see or do during their missions, whereas I occasionally consult the older hunters who seek my aid." Ozpin continued his speech, seeing Glynda hold her temper for moment. "You see, hunters who have… seen and done things of more unsavory nature tend to grow a resistance to it- It is a defence mechanism, as you are aware. Over time, they can see and commit acts that would break more defenceless mind."

Ozpin paused for dramatic effect. It didn't have any effect on Glynda.

"Anyway, I saw one such defence in mr. Arc. This was not his first time killing someone, and not even the second. It's not that he is amoral, as we could see from his quite obvious desire to attend Beacon for the reasons he listed and saving miss Rose from a certain death" Ozpin finished. "I just belive that he just... doesn't see any value in the lives of those robbers. Logical, since if bandits attacked Shion when he was present then he'd likely have some sort of hatred towards people he equates as the same."

"He could have lied." Glynda interjected, still not convinced by Ozpin's reasons.

"Oh, he certainly could have, yet he choose to save Miss Rose... Plus, should he appear to be a threat, I would rather have him be a threat which I know of, rather than a threat whose whereabouts I am unaware of"

"So you are saying that we don't have a choice? What if he is one of her agents?"

"What I'm saying is that the fate has dealt us our cards, and it's up to us to play our hand."

AN:

Eventual major canon divergence.

Notes about the contents of the story:

-The storyline for this fic was planned with information available up till season 4's end, thus the fic's mechanics (Aura, Grimm, Gods, etc) will be largely separate from official canon.

-Rather than splitting the story into multiple sub-stories with a set theme each, this story switches between multiple themes depending on situation (from serious to adventure to crack to horror to romance to straight-up lemon, etc). I try to keep a situation-constant tone, so the tone matches the situation though. While it may induce whiplashes, I felt it better to experiment with multitude of themes rather than containing the story to one genre and sticking with it. It doesn't exactly fit with traditional storytelling strategem, but what are fanfics if not chances to experiment?

-The fic will be rated M due to violence, suggestive and more-than-suggestive themes and scenes.

-Some of the chapters have Omakes- these are not connected to the story, nor (always) follow the canon

-Do review if you like what you have seen so far. I value outside feedback greatly as it helps me to grow as a fledgeling writer.

Chapter markings:

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..

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Timeglass dot indicates a time skip.

Line indicates a scene swap

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Triple dot Indicates a perspective swap

Timeline:

-The following Chapters (2-5) detail the 'Wandering' era, or 'how we got here'. Do note that these chapters are a bit darker than the next era of the story. This is effectively a 'origin story' (insert batman reference here)

-Chapter 6 begins 'The Beacon' era, continuing directly from where this chapter left off and is slightly less dark than the previous chapters.

Update schedule: Currently adjusting early chapters of the story (1-25) and repairing broken grammar to give the story more unified and professional feel. This may result in few months delay between chapters.