I've been needing to do some more Ladybug recently! I hope to take this one at least a few chapters in. I call this Library AU!

A/N: Normal life AU, there are Faunus, but no Grimm/huntsmen/huntresses. It starts off as a bit of a flashback, then gets to present time.

A patron request for Aust Sakura Kyzor. (You can support me on as Kiria Alice to make requests!)

And I'd also like to say Happy Birthday to Dani (booksandweapons) with a little bit of Ladybug here!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

The Girl At The Library

Chapter 1. A Rocky Start

Of all the places in the town of Vale, there were many bustling, high-energy areas.

Locations like the park, the school buildings, and gyms were always rather loud places where the air was filled with sounds of laughter, chatting, and shouting.

As you can imagine, none of these places were very ideal for a Faunus like Blake to read her books.

She would've done so at home and kept to her own room, but there was always some kind of distraction. If her parents didn't have loud-speaking friends over, then her father would be watching television with the volume up so high that Blake couldn't help but hear it from her own room.

She'd asked him many times to turn it down, but unlike most other Faunus, her father seemed to have poor hearing, so everything needed to be louder for him.

Her mother would smile kindly and suggest she read outside instead, but there were even more distractions there. Squealing children were always running down the street or riding bikes, or there would be a pair of tussling squirrels racing about the yard.

It had taken Blake many weeks to finally find a place of solace.

But she'd found it eventually, thanks to an announcement flier that had been stapled to the street post outside her house.

The town had decided to build a public library for its aspiring students, one with its own building and not connected to any specific school.

To see something like that was nothing short of a miracle for Blake.

She was there on the library's opening day to admire the modernized, two-story building. It was made of zig-zagging red-brown bricks and strong white window panes. The cement steps leading up to the front entrance were smooth and easy to travel.

On the little glass window of the doors was a small plaque with golden letters:

Welcome to the Vale Public Library.

Beneath that was a decorative sign that hung on the inside to face its customers.

It read: Please be quiet. Readers inside.

For Blake, it had been love at first sight.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the doors and slipped inside.

Quiet.

It was wonderfully quiet inside.

She almost jumped for joy.

The plush carpets were a homely reddish shade that spread to a large interior. The walls gave off an old-fashioned kind of vibe, gray and white stone almost like in an old cabin. There was an enclosed fireplace in the center of the room, though it wasn't in use right now.

Near the doors if you veered off to one side, there was a very small cafe area where three baristas served drinks - one a dog Faunus, one a rabbit, and one human. Patrons were allowed to sit and drink there or in the library itself.

Off to Blake's right was an information desk where a Faunus woman with deer-like ears gave her a kind smile.

And to the left was paradise.

Rows upon rows of books - aisles of them - alphabetized and organized by the dates they were written. There was every kind of book imaginable: magazines, encyclopedias, thesauruses, atlases, dictionaries, geographical tomes. And of course the classic novels, more modern bestsellers, children's books, poetry collections...

Just about everything necessary to win the young Blake's heart.

And since the first day she'd walked into that library, she hasn't missed a day.

It had been three years since the library had been constructed.

Blake had been there for every anniversary, every close-knit celebration where the townspeople had donated little homemade treats to give out for free at the entrance.

It was a second home to her, her place of escape whenever her real home got a bit too loud.

Every day after school, this was her prioritized stop. If she needed to skip her daily trip to the convenience store to pick up a snack just to sit in the library a moment longer to finish her current book, then so be it.

But even now in the summer months, she still came here every day.

While most eighteen-year-olds found it pointless to get out of bed in July unless they had some kind of vacation or compelling event to attend, Blake's daily motivation to get up was getting to the library.

Either she would take a book from home and read it there, or she'd check one out and then sit in one of the cushioned chairs or couches to indulge herself.

Her favorite reading spot was a small love seat located beneath the staircase that led up to the second floor. The stairs were carpeted, so there was hardly any noise at all whenever someone went up or down. Blake's keen ears could still pick up on the soft thudding of the footsteps, but over the years she'd learned to ignore it.

The muffled sounds were a small price to pay for this little slice of heaven.

It was separate from the rest of the tables and couches were most patrons did their work and reading. And it wasn't anywhere near the computer section, which was upstairs.

Thankfully, she didn't have to listen to the sounds of much-too-loud dub-stepped music blasting through headphones or the insistent clicking of the printer. Her little spot was shielded by the staircase to give it a secluded – though not isolated – feeling.

There was a window behind her a few feet to her left to provide some light for whatever she was reading, and for cloudy days, there was a lamp to her right. A small table sat on her right side where she would often put her next-in-line books, or a warm cup of tea from the cafe.

In the colder months, she was close enough to the fireplace to feel the benefits of the flames, and in warmer months, she was right beside one of the air conditioning vents.

It truly was a little slice of heaven.

Today, she had her nose buried in a collection of classic fairytales. It contained several different versions of the same stories, all told by different authors, and she was intrigued at how each one was drastically different from the next.

Blake's favorite thing to do at present was to read all the variations of one tale and decide on her favorite.

She was just starting one she'd never heard about before called "Beauty And the Beast" when a rather startling ruckus interrupted her.

Off to her left were a few study tables.

Well, they were supposed to be for studying, anyway.

But a girl with long blonde hair seemed to be convincing her group of half a dozen friends that it was a party table.

They were all chatting loudly, more loudly than everyone else in both levels of the library combined. They were playing some simple game that would have been harmless if it hadn't consisted of saying a specific word louder and louder each time it came around the table.

Blake did her best to ignore them, flattening her ears so she wouldn't hear the rambunctious group as sharply, like she would do whenever her father's television would get too loud.

She tried to concentrate on the story in her lap, biting the inside of her cheek in an effort to help herself focus.

But she only ended up reading the same line over a dozen times and never comprehending it.

With a groan, she slumped her back against the chair and glared up at the ceiling. Usually the rowdier teenagers would go upstairs where there were more tables and computers to use. That was why Blake herself rarely went up there.

But it seemed this group had migrated, at least for today, and they didn't plan on leaving or quieting down anytime soon.

She flashed an annoyed look over to them where the blonde girl was raising her voice as she said the magic word of the game.

"Pickles!" she laughed.

As the boy on her left repeated the word, the blonde girl lightly punched his shoulder.

"Nuh-uh, do it again! You gotta say it louder than me, dude!"

Louder than you? Blake thought bitterly. Is that even possible?

Apparently it was.

To Blake's dismay, no one in that group was quieting down, and none of the other patrons were bothering to tell them to lower their voices. The librarians and secretaries behind the desks were all busy helping people, though Blake did notice how they kept sending irritated looks in the teenagers' direction.

Blake was starting to consider going up to them herself and asking them to stop. But she'd never been particularly good with talking to strangers, especially rowdy teenagers, and especially when the situation could potentially become confrontational. Her heart started to pound just at the thought of it, and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Maybe I'll just head home for today...

She still had about an hour left of free time, but she supposed cutting that short and doing something productive was better than squandering time here attempting to make sense of a book she couldn't focus on.

Heaving a sigh, she marked her page in the fairytale book and closed it.

The word "pickle" was being said so loudly by now that it was as good as shouting.

Blake briefly stretched her legs, preparing to stand up and regrettably head for the doors.

However, before she could get up, something peculiar happened.

The raucous, repetitive cry of "pickles!" had almost drowned out the flurry of footsteps that now came from the staircase above Blake's head.

She blinked as a flash of red shot down the last few steps and rushed toward the table where the group of teens were laughing. Blake needed to blink a few times before she realized that blur of red was another girl.

She looked to be a few years younger than Blake and a bit shorter as well. The Faunus girl groaned softly again at the thought of another addition to this loud group.

She stood up, ready to leave before things could get any louder.

They did.

Things got so loud that Blake actually jumped and let out a small gasp.

"PICKLES!"

The shout was almost furious and it echoed around the entire library for sure. Nearly every head shot up to look at the source, sending disapproving glares at the table of troublesome teens.

Blake looked over as well, ears still flat for fear of a fight.

The one who had shouted had been the smaller girl, dressed in a red blouse, black skirt, and similarly colored leggings. Her shoulder-length brown hair was frazzled a bit, and her hands were balled into fists at her sides.

Blake couldn't see what kind of expression she was making, but she assumed the girl's face was angry and disapproving.

However, she could clearly see the shocked expressions on everyone else's faces.

The blonde girl and all of her friends looked up at the brunette, startled. With such a loud shout, the game had clearly been unofficially declared over with the red-clad girl as the undisputed victor.

Blake watched as the shorter girl stomped over to the blonde, who was sitting down, but Blake could easily tell that the latter was bigger than the former. She became scared for the brunette, fearing that a fight might break out.

Blake looked around frantically, wondering if she should slip away now or try to get one of the workers to help. But before she could act, the brunette spoke again.

"Yang!" she hissed at the blonde girl. "You guys are being so loud! This is a library, you dummy! This floor doesn't have a tables section where you can be loud without disturbing people like the one upstairs does! Just because some other group took your table today doesn't mean you can bug other people down here!"

Blake's ears twitched a bit as she listened. It was clear these two girls knew each other, and judging by the blonde – Yang's – reaction, she wasn't mad, but guilty of her crimes.

"Aw, sorry, Rubes..." she sighed. "We didn't know we were being that loud, right guys?"

Her table of friends all nodded quickly.

The brunette glared at them all sternly.

"Well, it was loud. And if you don't keep it down, I'll kick you out!" she threatened.

Yang seemed aghast.

"Aww c'mon, Ruby! You wouldn't kick out your own sister, would ya?"

"I will if I have to!" Ruby warned. "It's part of my job."

The blonde girl sighed and bowed her head, promising to be quiet from then on.

Ruby nodded in satisfaction as she turned away from them.

The group seemed to take her warning seriously and settled down to whispers after that, and a tranquil air soon returned to the library.

Blake was still standing in the middle of the room, unsure of where she should go. She was debating going back to her spot where she'd left her book, but her mind suddenly went blank when a voice caught her attention.

"Hello," said the girl in red.

The name tag on her shirt suggested two things to Blake: that her name was Ruby and that she was a staff member here.

Blake fumbled for words as she looked down at the girl, whose shining silver eyes had temporarily captivated her.

"Oh, h-hello," she stammered back. "Um..." She was finding it hard to speak suddenly and she took a small step back.

Ruby kept a comfortable space between them and offered a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry about my sister and her friends. Usually they can be kinda loud upstairs because that's where people talk most and down here is where people read and do work. I hope she didn't bother you so much that you feel you've gotta leave."

Her kind smile turned into a frown, and for some reason, Blake felt her heart sink upon seeing that.

"Ah, no, it wasn't that," she said quickly. "I actually, uh... needed to get going anyway." She was starting to feel a little odd. Her stomach was fluttering and her eyes couldn't meet Ruby's anymore. "Sorry. Bye."

She didn't know why she was apologizing.

She didn't know why she was saying anything right now, because none of it seemed to be what she wanted to say.

Before Ruby could speak again, Blake turned and briskly headed for the door.

The brunette didn't follow her.

But as she pushed open the doors and gasped in a breath of fresh air, Blake needed to wonder if she'd wanted her to.

A/N: I'll do my best to update every now and again, though it won't be as consistent as my others.

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