So… This is it…

Ruby rose laid alone, bleeding out in some random back alley.

What kind of hero did she think she was, anyway? Taking on Roman Torchwick alone like that?

I guess I got what I deserved…

Things had been going so well too. She had dealt with those thugs easily enough. Then Roman had run off and she had followed, then he got on that Bullhead and threw that Dust crystal at her, and then…

I'm sorry Yang… Dad…

Ruby Rose shed a single tear. At least they would know what happened with her, not like with mom. They hadn't even found a body to bury when she disappeared.

I guess there's not much left of me either…

That explosion hadn't just shattered her Aura. It had obliterated it, and her body paid the price. Summoning up what little energy she had left, Ruby tilted her neck to look at what remained of her broken body. It wasn't pretty. One arm hung on by barely a tendon, the bone and muscle sheared clean through. Her leg was bent at an angle that made her stomach churn. If she had the energy, she would have retched. As it was, she just shifted her head, trying to look anywhere but the mangled remains of her own body. Distantly, she noticed the Bullhead that held Roman engaged in combat, some huntsman or huntress sending a torrent of hail at the craft, even as it spat fire back at the same roof she had been launched from.

At least… At least someone will catch him…

Ruby Rose smiled a wan, regretful smile. As her vision faded, she noticed something that hadn't been there a moment ago. It was… A blob. Pure black, like some sort of three-dimensional void in space, pulsing and oozing as it followed the trail of blood that her body had left as she was flung off the roof. Finally, as it reached her foot, it stopped, shifting imperceptibly, as if regarding her.

What… What is that…?

After a moment, it moved forward again, swallowing her foot and working its way up her leg.

No… NO! NONONO STOP! STOP IT!

As it crawled forward, oozing and spreading up her leg, Ruby kicked feebly, trying to swat at it with her less injured arm, the blob only rippling slightly where she struck it. It felt… wrong. It was soft and squishy like skin, but at the same time it felt unnaturally smooth, like a frog or a salamander.

No! Please… I don't… I don't want… to die…

As her vision faded, the last thing Ruby Rose saw was the darkness spreading, covering her entire body like some sort of sick, twisted bodysuit. She felt it climbing up her neck, across her face…

And then, nothing.

Ruby awoke in a void.

That was the only way to describe it. Nothing but pure, blinding, white nothingness all around. The surface she sat on felt solid enough, but she had no idea what it was. As far as she could tell, there were no shadows, no reflections, nothing to indicate what she was sitting on, or where she was; whether she was upside down or right side up, looking up or down or left or right. If she focused, she could make out something that vaguely sounded like voices, if she was hearing them from under fifteen layers of pillows.

Pulling herself to her feet, Ruby was hit by an overwhelming sense of vertigo, and she fell back to her knees, heaving. However, nothing came, and after a few moments she stumbled back to her feet. Taking a single step, Ruby felt another wave of nausea coming on, though less intense than before. As it faded, she took another step, and another, the nausea growing less and less powerful with each one, but still very much present.

Eventually, as Ruby got accustomed to the feeling of walking once more, her vision cleared up enough that she could properly investigate her surroundings. As she did, she noticed a shape in the distance, far enough away that she hadn't seen it in the haze that had surrounded her since waking up. Making a slow stumble in the direction of the figure, Ruby did the only thing she could.

"Hey!"

Her voice came out as a rasp, like she hadn't had anything to drink in a week. Still, it was enough to get the figure's attention, and it began making its way over to the limping girl. As it did, she was able to make out its shape better; It was shaped like a person, but there were no identifiable features, just a silhouette. There were no eyes, no mouth, nothing. The only thing that stood out was the cloak, fluttering slightly as the figure moved, just as pitch black as the rest of… whoever it was. Ruby stumbled again, falling at it's feet and panting hard from the exertion. Every step burned, and it felt like she had just run a marathon. Maybe she had. It wasn't like she had anyway to measure distance. Catching her breath, she heard a voice that made her heart stop and her blood run cold.

"Ruby…"

The voice sounded like a whisper, and yet it she had no trouble hearing it. It was like the voice came from everywhere at once, and it sounded off in a way that made her head spin. It sounded like… like it was coming from inside her own head. Even more importantly, however, was just who it sounded like.

"...Mom?"

Looking up, Ruby began to recognize a few prominent features of the figure. The flowing cloak, the hair, even the posture. Without a doubt, Ruby Rose was looking at the silhouette of her own mother. Without sparing a moment, Ruby jumped up, pulling the silhouette into a silent hug, tears running down her face as the figure laid a hand on her head.

"No…"

Pulling her head back, Ruby looked up at the silhouette of her mother.

"What?"

Ruby barely put up a fight as the figure pulled her out of the hug and addressed her.

"I am sorry, Ruby, but I am not Summer Rose."

Ruby fell to her knees again, stricken.

"But… Who are you then? Where am I? What's going on!?"

"Shhh," The voice placated, "I know you are feeling… lost, so please allow me to explain." The figure sat down next to Ruby, still the perfect image of her mother, even down to the way she sat. "This is not how I first appeared to you. You may remember me saving your life in the alley."

Ruby gasped.

"You- You're that blob thing!" She exclaimed. "I thought you were gonna eat me or something!"

The voice chuckled, the silhouette patting Ruby's shoulder.

"Oh no. That was not my goal. Or at least, not my immediate goal."

"W-what? What does that mean?" Ruby tried to pull away from the silhouette fearfully.

"I'm sorry," The voice laughed, "I couldn't help it. But no. I do not need nutrients the same way you do. Rather, I feed on aura."

"Aura? You mean you're eating my soul!?" Ruby shrieked.

"Not at all!" The figure held up its hands non-threateningly, "I don't need much. For most of the time, you should barely notice the difference, beyond perhaps a longer time to fully recover when your aura is depleted. It is better to keep a reliable source of food around rather than gorging myself whenever I get the chance."

"Oh… Alright then, I guess…" Ruby slouched over, tired from the recent rush of revelations and fear. "Wait, does this mean I'm not dead?"

"No." The figure stood up, offering a hand to Ruby. "Thanks to my intervention, you are still alive, though not unharmed. I prevented you from perishing, though there was only so much I could do. I suspect you are at a hospital right now, truthfully."

"Right... " Ruby sighed. "Yang's gonna kill me when she sees me."

"Do not be so hard on yourself," The voice chuckled, "I suspect she will busy being relieved to kill you. She has already lost one family member after all."

"Yeah, I guess." Ruby sighed. "Hey, how do you know about Yang anyway? And if you're supposed to be mom, why are you talking all weird?"

"The answer to both of those questions is your aura. Your soul is the sum total of your experiences: Your thoughts, knowledge, and your memories all combine to form your aura, which is why every living person has a different semblance."

"Right, I knew that." In fact, Ruby recognized the exact words the voice was using. It was the same speech that she had heard years ago when her aura was first unlocked.

"When I consume a person's aura, that knowledge, those memories become my own. As I was rather hungry when I found you, I know quite a lot about you, Ruby Rose, though not anything that you do not know yourself."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." It really kind of didn't. "But why do you look and sound like Mom?"

"That was to help put you at ease with myself. Make no mistake, I may look and sound like Summer Rose, but my words are my own. If you want, I could change to something else…"

As it spoke, the voice cycled through several different voices, each one completely different from the last, but still uncomfortably familiar. There was her friends from school, Uncle Qrow, one of the teachers at Signal-

"No!" Ruby nearly shouted. "No, it-it's alright. At least I don't have to worry about hearing two Moms at once."

"Of course."

"By the way, what's your name? If you're not Mom, then I have to have something to call you besides 'That Voice'."

The voice was silent for a moment.

"I have never had a name, or at least not one in your sense. I never had any need of one."

"Well now you do!" Ruby insisted. "If you're gonna live in my head, then you've gotta have a name. Them's the rules."

"Very well," The voice sounded amused, "How about 'Rose'?"

"Works for me. Welcome to my head, Rose! I bet Yang's gonna flip when she sees you!"

"That… may not be the best idea…"

"What? Why not?"

"There are… people, out in the world, who would do me, and by extension you harm if they were to learn of my existence. I believe it would be best if I remained a secret for the time being."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess that would be bad." Ruby admitted. "So what do we do now, anyway?"

"Now… I believe it is time for you to return to the land of the living. I would suggest you pretend as if you do not remember last night at all. It may be easier in the long run than creating a lie."

As Rose spoke, Ruby could hear the background hum getting louder, resolving itself into distinct voices. There were several she didn't recognize, and one she did.

Ruby? Ruby! C'mon! I know you'll make it c'mon!

"Ruby! C'mon!" Yang nearly shouted, nearly shaking her younger sister awake.

Finally, Ruby's eyes fluttered open, and for a second, Yang let herself hope.

"Mmh… Yang?" Ruby rasped, her throat dry and sore.

"Oh God, Ruby I was so scared!" Yang pulled her sister into a hug, crying. "I thought you were gonna die!"

"Yang!" Ruby whined, weakly. "I'm alright, I think…"

"Alright?" Yang pulled out of the hug to look Ruby in the eye. Ruby noticed that they were baggy and bloodshot, like she'd been crying for a while. "Ruby, you nearly died!"

"I did?" Ruby remembered Rose, and what she had said about revealing her existence. "What happened? I… don't remember…"

"Well, Miss Rose, allow me to fill in the blanks for you." Another voice cut in. Looking to the door, Ruby saw a group of three people. One was her dad, who seemed to deflate in relief when he saw her. The others were an old man in a suit and a younger blonde woman wearing a cape.

"Ruby, are you alright? Does anything hurt? Do you need me to get you anything?" He nearly babbled, rushing over to her side.

"Yeah, Dad. I'm fine."

"Fine is not the first word I would use to describe your condition," The old man said, "Multiple lacerations, significant blood loss, and heavy trauma across your body. You're lucky to be alive, young lady."

"Heh, well, I guess I inherited Dad's aura reserves after all, huh?" Ruby chuckled, trying to play off her recent near death experience. The old man, Professor Ozpin, Ruby realized, smiled at that.

"Yes, I suppose you did, didn't you?" Ozpin took a seat in one of the chairs to the side of her bed, the Blonde woman following him. She looked… guilty, for some reason. "Anyways, I suppose you will all be wanting some time alone after this recent ordeal, so I will try to make this quick. Ruby Rose, do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Ozpin… Headmaster of Beacon Academy, right? What do you want with me?"

Immediately, Rose's words replayed in her mind.

There are people, out in the world, who would do me, and by extension you harm if they were to learn of my existence…

Was Ozpin one of those people?

The headmaster smiled warmly.

"Miss Rose, your father and I have been talking recently, and we have come to an agreement that given the events of last night, it may be better to ensure that you can handle yourself if, or rather when this happens again, rather than hope that it does not. To that end, I would like to extend to you an invitation to attend Beacon academy for this upcoming semester."

Ruby gasped. She had always wanted to go to Beacon! It was where her parents went, and it was where Yang was going this year!

"I-I'd love to!" Ruby puffed up as much as she could in bed. It still hurt to stretch some of her injuries, and she could swear she felt a phantom pain where her arm had been nearly severed before, but it was all worth it if she could go to Beacon!

"Very well then." Ozpin stood up, smiling. "I will take care of the paperwork side of things. You should focus on making sure you are in top condition in time for initiation."

"Yes sir!" Ruby saluted, watching him walk out of the room. The blonde woman, however, stayed standing in the room, keeping a white knuckle grip on her riding crop.

"Miss Rose," She began, "I would like to… apologize, for what happened. Had I been faster in responding to that call, I might have been able to save you and your family a great deal of pain."

So that's why she looks so guilty… Ruby realized.

"It's alright," Ruby smiled, "Did you at least catch the guy?" The woman averted her eyes.

"Unfortunately… He was able to escape before I could disable his Bullhead. I'm sorry."

"Oh…" Ruby frowned for a moment, before pulling it back into a smile. "Well, at least no one died, right?" Ruby the woman smile ever so slightly at that.

"Yes, I suppose that is true."

And with that, the woman left the room.

So... Here I have another story. And not only is it a conventional fic like my first one, but it's also completely unplanned! Not a single piece of this has been planned out beyond my head. Like, at all.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh well. We're all going to die someday anyway. May as well write whatever the hell I feel like, yeah? As long as I'm writing something, that's better than my recent track record at this point. Maybe allowing myself to write shorter chapters will help too.

Edit: Wasn't happy with the editing I did late last night, so I just hope that this doesn't unintentionally trigger an update for anyone. Just fixing a few mistakes.