"You guys... Are you even okay?" Pyrrha asked, not failing to display concern in her tone.

A mild shake of head from Blake was the thing closest to an answer they got.

Seeing this, the members of team JNPR picked glances at each other, before looking back at the broken members of WBY.

Just two hours ago, after seeing them get brutally pummeled up by their team leader, Ruby Rose, they couldn't help but worry about the condition they were in.

Team JNPR were allowed to visit them only before 10 minutes ago. Thankfully, they didn't have to see their friends in a condition too terrible... At least not as bad as they feared.

With a sigh spilling out of her mouth, Pyrrha eyed WBY's injuries.

Yang had little bruises and burns all over her body, thanks to coming in close contact with a fire dust explosion. If it weren't were for her semblance being active at that time, the scars would've been more... Fatal.

Maybe Ruby already knew that.

For some reason, that thought gave Pyrrha a little shudder.

Weiss had a little bandage over her nose, which had obviously been fractured. Remembering the punch from Ruby, that broke through Weiss's aura like an egg shell, Pyrrha shivered a bit.

Even from the audience seat, Pyrrha remembered feeling surprised when she felt the intensity of the punch. It surprised her even more that it came from Ruby.

And as for Blake... Pyrrha felt the most sorry for her.

She had a black eye, and a side of her face was swollen a bit. She also had cuts on her lips, which prevented her from speaking much. She wasn't talkative to begin with, so she was currently as good as mute.

Although the wounds weren't that fatal. They'd probably be gone without a trace within next few hours.

But still, it wasn't an excuse to ignore this brutality.

The amount of brutality in that fight was surprising even for her, especially considering it was totally one sided. In fact, the fight itself felt unbelievably one sided too. Weiss, Yang and Blake, they seemed all armed and ready at first, but as soon as the fight started, her assumptions were immediately contradicted.

From the very beginning, to the very end, Ruby was in perfect control of the entire sparring. Hell, it actually felt like she was controlling her opponent's movements too. It was like WBY did exactly what Ruby had expected them to, and fell right under Ruby's strings.

'To think Ruby was planning so much ahead...' saying it was unexpected would be an understatement.

Pyrrha couldn't place a finger on it, but she felt like something was wrong with Ruby.

Not different, just... Wrong.

Like, her old bubbly and shy self was being consumed away by something she couldn't see...

Then again, that was just a gut feeling. There was no absolute evidence to support her claim. Sure, there was her new punk and goth makeover. But then again, changing one's look wasn't something to be bothered about.

Maybe I'm over thinking... Then again, ignorance wasn't a good option.

"Guys..." Pyrrha called out, causing all of her friend's heads to turn towards her.

"Don't you think something is wrong with Ruby?"

As soon as she said that, she could almost feel Yang's attention on her. Of course, considering Yang is her sister and all, she expected it.

"Yeah! Since when did she become soooo coool!?" Nora yelled while pumping her fist up.

Jaune visibly cringed over Nora's actions and shook his head. Ren just kept his poker face and answered...

"Hmm. Well, she seemed like she was enjoying herself" he answered. Emotion weren't really his part of the playground, but he could understand it pretty well.

"Yeah, but a bit too much, don't you think?" Pyrrha questioned.

Yang and Weiss just silently sat there, listening to what their friends had to say about Ruby's new change.

Yang was worried if anyone had been a bad influence to Ruby. 'cause if someone was truly behind it, then she'd have to go and turn them into mince meat.

Meanwhile, Weiss was feeling more than just worry. A huge part of her was angry over her partner.

'who does she think she is!?' First, she made all of her team worry about her with her childish antics, and then she showed up out of nowhere, and humiliated her in the name of sparring!

With her pride clouding over logic, she couldn't consider the fact that Ruby beat them fair and square.

"I... Agree..." Blake spoke, for the first time since they came for visit.

Now it was her turn to be the centre of attention, with all of her friend's having their eyes focused on her.

"I saw the look on her face..." She swallowed a lump on her throat, as she remembered the look on her team leader's face.

Blood stained hands, and looking down at her with a devilish grin. Blake could still feel the shivers when she thought about it.

"She... She was loving every moment of it. She looked so... So..." So much like Adam...

"Yang" Blake called out to her partner, her face looking serious despite the swells.

"Yes, Blake?" Yang asked, now sitting up straight on the corner of the bed.

"I..." Blake began, seemingly hesitating on her words.

I can't say it... Ruby is nothing like Adam!

She didn't wanted to believe it. She wanted to believe that Ruby was just going through a phase, and nothing else.

Or maybe this was all just due to a certain someone's influence on her...

If that was the case, then...

"lets..." she slightly hissed due to stinging on her lips, before continuing to speak.

"Lets... Keep an eye... On her... For now" She finally spoke out, while struggling to not put any strain on her lips.

"W-why, Blake?" Yang asked, her eyes contorted into a glare, while rest of her face showed nothing but worry.

"Do you think something is wrong with my sister?"

Blake just sighed and shook her head. Knowing the over protectiveness of Yang, she couldn't possibly say anything that'd make her... Disport.

"No... Yang. Lets not... decide on anything... This early..." Blake waved her hand, in an almost pleading tone.

"Lets just ... wait for Ruby to ... come back to our dorm... Then we'll talk ..."

"If... If you say so, kitty" Yang sighed with half relief, also taking a mental note on asking Ruby where she had been for the past weeks.

As the group fell silent, Yang's mind inevitably crossed towards the fight.

She was amazed that her little sis could fight so well, despite being a bit angry that she got her ass kick.

But amazement aside, there was something else bothering her.

Before the match started, she had made a deal with her sister. That if they happened to come out victorious, she would listen to what they had to say.

Now the only chance to redeem herself was gone.

Her mind was still far from admitting their negligence, so she had no idea why Ruby was behaving so... Distant from them... From her.

'Worst team anyone could ask for' she remembered her sister's harsh words. She knew that despite Ruby's childish demeanor, she took being a team leader seriously. Way too seriously, even.

She once remembered Ruby trying to ask Blake out, in order to break the ice between her and the team. Hell, she even got so close towards the ice queen, Weiss. Though it kinda ended up in disaster, it was an admirable effort from Ruby.

But despite all that, words like 'worst team' was too far from anything Ruby would say. Even when her team would mess up, Ruby would often take all the responsibility for it, and never have word of complain about it.

Besides, Yang never expected Ruby to even raise her voice, let alone scold. It was obvious that Ruby was verbally hurting them, but maybe she did it out of anger?

Does Ruby even get angry to begin with?

She even remembered Ruby calling their team a second family before. So it pained her a lot, to know that Ruby was acting so distant from them.

'Just what happened to you, Ruby?' Yang thought, slightly saddened by something she couldn't understand.

It felt like her heart was crying out to something, yet she couldn't place a finger on it.

Would it be too late before she figures it out?

"Ruby!" Neptune exclaimed, as he slid down on his knees in front of Ruby, with flowers in his extended hand. The worst part about it, he did it in the hallway, for every passing by student to see.

The redhead gave a inaudible yelp to herself, as she was suddenly greeted by the blue haired guy. Ruby took a look around her, and surely everyone's eyes in the hallways were on them now. She didn't pay much attention to the stares, she didn't mind them...

Actually, she didn't really care...

At the beginning, she used to sought out acknowledgment by others. She wanted to be accepted by others...

'Why?' She couldn't remember the reason anymore.

She couldn't remember why she wanted everyone to acknowledge her so badly, no matter how much thought she put into it.

'Oh well' Whatever the reason it was, it didn't bother her in the slightest. In fact, she was happy. Happy that she didn't care about what everyone thought.

Everyone except Natalie.

Shaking her head and snapping out of her thoughts, she focused back on Neptune, who was still on his knees. He had an annoying glee all over his face, and his eyes were gleaming with... With whatever she couldn't care about.

"Yes, Neptune. What do you want?" she asked, a bit too bold on her words. Her words not only surprised the blue haired man, but also herself.

Usually, she wouldn't start a conversation with someone without giving her chirpy 'hi!'. Or something like that.

Maybe she was annoyed.

Hit with a straight and blunt question, Neptune slightly recoiled. He expected a hearty greeting, so that he could fit his hit line before conversing. However, not wanting to make the situation awkward, he spoke up.

"Hey Ruby" He said as he got off his knees and stood up properly.

Ruby just stared at him, her black lips curved in a faint smile. Taking that as the hint, Neptune continued.

"Um... Cool fight right there" he grinned with a wink, only managing to make himself look stupid. In Ruby's eyes at least.

'What is he trying to do?' Ruby thought to herself, still not giving a proper answer to his flattery. Her curious eyes loomed over his, as she folded her arms and continued to remain silent. The eye contact didn't last long however, as Neptune looked away. For some reason, he found her gaze to be challenging. Like, it was daring him to look at her.

'He won't even look at me in the eyes...' Ruby thought, growing more and more irritated by him by the second. She was never the type of person to be bothered by others behaviour, but now, she couldn't help but notice how it annoyed her.

Neptune swallowed a lump down his throat, and pulled his words up. Not willing to give up yet.

After all, the current Ruby was currently the coolest in the entire school. Who wouldn't want a chance with her?

"You..." he began again, straightening himself

"You had a make over, damn you look awesome!" he exclaimed, giving her another wink.

Well, at least his compliments were honest, rather than plain flattery. And even now, as she stood there wearing skin tight black jeans which hugged her curve, with a jet black one shoulder T-shirt that embraced her gentle bust, and black boots, his words were nowhere wrong.

Not to mention, she had a bang of her hairs covering half of her right eye. Along with thin black eyeliner around her eyes, and glossy black lipstick.

Her outlook was a simple blend of Goth and Punk, yet it easily made her more eye catching than anyone else. The guys and girls with admiring looks on their faces were the evidence of it.

Anyway

"Neptune" Ruby called out, her smile seeming a lot fainter than before. Like it was threatening to fade away.

"Do you have anything to say?" she asked, being purposefully blunt this time. For some reason, she was feeling very irritated by the guy in front of her. So irritated that she wanted to punch him in the face.

So irritated that she wanted to paint a rose on the wall with his-

"Alright!" Neptune exclaimed, taking in a deep breath."I like you, Ruby! Lets date!"

"Yeah no"

Ruby's reply came without a pause after his confession. She seemingly have decided to reject him the very moment she saw him. But what surprised Neptune more than the rejection, was that Ruby denied him without a second thought.

After all, Ruby was usually submissive...

"Is that all?" Ruby asked while rubbing her fingers over her velvet choker, making her impatience known.

By now, every student who were walking by had stopped to see the conversation. The conversation wasn't a loud one to begin with, but it was the tension radiating from it that seemed to attract the attention.

'I clearly asked him if that was all, yet why is he not answering?' Ruby thought, getting more and more disgusted at Neptune, who just seemed to be standing in front of her, looking nervous and fidgeting, not knowing what to say.

"Well... Umm... You see" Neptune tried to say something, but couldn't bring out his words.

The tension in the air seemed like it was heavily weighing down his chest, as he felt very defenseless in front of Ruby's gaze. It seemed like she was noticing every minor movement he made.

At an uncomfortable time like this, he couldn't decide on weather to fight or flea, so his body choose to freeze.

"... Whatever" Ruby muttered with a sigh, before walking past him.

Neptune was just left to stand there, feeling defeated and for some reason , relived. Once Ruby walked away, It seemed like he was finally freed off metal restraints.

All she did was stay silent, yet it made him so unconformable. Like he was in a swimming pool.

He regretted coming to approach her.

"Haa..." Ruby sighed, resting her hands behind her head, as she continued walking down the hallway.

'Is it just me, or is today getting more and more boring?' she wondered. Sure, her day had an interesting start, with her getting to ... Discipline her team. But after that, her interest started dropping steadily.

After the fight, she spoke to Glynda. Oblivious to herself, she had somehow charmed Glynda to go on date with her.

Though, Ruby wouldn't really call that a date. After all, it was just a trip to one of Vale's weapon shop. Glynda was just accompanying her as a combat teacher.

After coaxing Glynda for the date, all she did was go to library, and spent some time reading a book on dark humour. If there was one thing constant, then it would be guys and girls alike hitting on her. Of course, she politely declined them.

But for some reason, she felt nothing but hate towards the people who tried hitting on her.

Back when she was still the shy red riding hood, everybody left her in the shadows. But now that there was a new flavour to her, everybody's eager to get a taste of her.

And she hated it.

She wasn't interested in keeping anyone particularly close to her. Not anymore.

Well, Natalie was an exception though, as she was already the closest person in Ruby's heart. Even without being poisoned by aura, the redhead couldn't imagine a time where Natalie left her like how everyone else did.

Not that Ruby realized it.

'Was Beacon always so boring?' She thought, continuing to walk towards the main hallway entrance.

Certainly, at one point, she used to have lots of fun with her friends and Yang. But those were in the past, and such times would never come back. That happiness once rejected her, and she didn't want to crawl back towards it either.

Now she had Natalie with her, so maybe this time, she could find a happiness that she could hold on to. Forever.

Anyway, removing 'fun with friends' out of her once regular life in Beacon, what did she have left?

'A plain, boring school life...' Oh well, at least she had plans to keep herself engaged. Or else, she'd have probably ran back to Natalie already.

Speaking of Natalie, Ruby couldn't believe how much she was missing her 'friend' in just few hours.

Obviously, these past weeks, she's been the happiest she could ever remember, all thanks to Natalie. Just this morning, she was all cuddling and close to her, yet within just a few hours, she was already craving her cold embrace.

'I'll go visit her this Saturday, and spend the night with her' Ruby concluded, oblivious to the blush blooming on her cheek. To her, Natalie was still just a friend.

Lucky for her, Saturday was just tomorrow.

Having decided on her plan, Ruby continued walking down the hallway. After another minute of walking, Ruby reached the main entrance.

But what surprised her, was that her 'date' was already waiting for her. Glynda Goodwitch, a.k.a the professor wicked witch. She was wearing her regular cloths, with her purple cloak very present. Ruby didn't really expect her to agree to go on a date to begin with, but didn't complain when Glynda actually submitted to her will.

"Professor!" Ruby lunged forward and tackled the older woman, unintentionally burying her head in between her mature chest.

Glynda was able to keep herself from tripping over, but couldn't help the faint blush spreading over her cheek.

"Ms. Rose, I would like you to stop sticking so close to me. At least while in the school grounds" Glynda informed, clearing her throat and pushing up her glasses, taking on her professional gait.

"Ok ok! I got it!" Ruby chirped, slowly letting go of Glynda.

"Well, lets get going!" Ruby said, managing to get herself excited.

"Ah, Ms. Rose!" Glynda called out, causing Ruby to stop and look at her.

"Before we go, I'd like to ask you one thing... Can I?" Glynda asked, sounding uncharacteristically nervous.

Ruby just blinked a few times, looking genuinely confused. However, she gestured her to 'go on' with nod.

"Why are you, all of a sudden so close to me?" Glynda asked.

For her, being a passionate teacher meant being strict. She was strict, cause she'd rather have her pupils go on the right path, rather than failing to guide them by being friendly.

Well of course, this came with a drawback. The students, sometimes even the teachers themselves would avoid her to their best. Who knows what kind of lecture she would pop out of nowhere?

So it didn't make much sense, when Ruby just boldly started approaching her, let alone going as far to hug her.

If she remembered correctly, Ruby got a harsh lecture from her just few minutes after they met for first time.

So why would she, out of all people try getting close to her?

What did she even have to gain by that?

"'Why'?" Ruby repeated Glynda's question, with a face that said 'Isn't that obvious?'

However, she noticed that Glynda actually meant her question when the Blondie remained silent.

She sighed, as her black lips gave the sweetest smile Glynda's ever seen.

"It's because I like you, Professor"

Hearing those words, Glynda's eyes widened as her entire face took on shade of red. She expected an answer like 'Because I was bored' or something like that, but never something so... Cute.

'This girl... Was she always like this?' Glynda questioned to herself, as she brought her hand up to cover her blushing face.

Ruby just chuckled at her reaction.

Sure, she somewhat meant her words, but thing is that she didn't like anyone like how she liked Natalie.

'But it's okay though...' Seeing Glynda's cute expression was worth lying a bit.

"Lets go then, Professor" Ruby said, softly grabbing Glynda's hand and leading her forward.

Glynda didn't say anything, she just nodded and followed along. Her face was somewhat downcast, but it was only to hide her blushing face.

As they exited Beacon, Ruby started counting the number of things she's planned out for the evening. Since tomorrow was Saturday, she felt it would be fine to enjoy the rest of the evening, and come back late.

'Hmm... Let's see. First, go to the weapon shop. Once done with that, go for a quick shopping, and after that, have dinner in... Some good restaurant, and finally, go to a movie' as she listed out her things to do for the evening, she was satisfied with her plan.

'I can't wait to have fun this evening!' Ruby squealed to herself.

She actually would have preferred to do all this with Natalie, but oh well. This wasn't all that bad... Maybe.

As she and Glynda walked towards the main gate, hand in hand, Ruby stopped. Glynda just looked on curiously, as Ruby turned towards the parked vehicles and pulled out a key.

She pressed a button on her key, and a motor cycle's lights beeped.

As Glynda took a closer look, she noticed that it was coloured in black and yellow. Mainly yellow.

"Isn't that Ms.Xiao Long's...?"

"Bumblebee" Ruby interrupted her.

"But its not Yang's" Ruby informed, as she started walking towards the bike.

"Yang maybe the one that rides this often, but I'm the one that built this little baby" Ruby grinned, as she hopped on.

"You built this yourself?" Glynda questioned in disbelief.

"Yup!" Ruby exclaimed, as she started the bike.

Usually Yang would be upset with her for laying a finger on 'her' bike. But after the little quarrel they had, she doubted that her sister had the audacity to even raise her voice.

Ruby wore neon red and black fingerless gloves, which gave a certain feel when she held the brakes and raised the accelerator few times. The sound of grinding motor filled the surrounding, catching people's attention.

They took a moment to adore the redhead, as her Punk charm fit well with the motorcycle.

She turned to Glynda with a grin, and said:

"Hop in"

Glynda felt like she would regret this, but that didn't stop her from getting in. As she sat on the back, she instinctively wrapped her arms around Ruby.

As Ruby was sure that Glynda was seated properly, she only said:

"Sit sight, Professor" before speeding off towards the main road.

At a distance, Glynda's fearful cries were the last thing to be heard.

Aaaaaand yeah, that's it for this chapter.

Next chapter is gonna focus more on Ruby, Jane and Clockwork , I promise.

So yeah, leave yar opinions and suggestions, as I always take my time to read them.

See y'all in the next update!