"Damn it! We're surrounded!"

"Damn it! We're surrounded!" The twin voices rang out as the girl began to regain her consciousness. Ruby opened her eyes to see the twin worlds – the bandit camp and the forests of Patch – seamlessly coexist. Men and women make their last efforts in panicked defence as the unending horde of Grimm overwhelm them. A woman in a nevermore mask grabs her by the arm, "There's no time for this, we need to hurry."

The voice and the camp faded slowly as Ruby was pulled away. "It seems, we've been slacking, Tai," Qrow's voice laughed as a significantly smaller mob of monsters encircled the two men standing back to back over the waking girl. She slowly rose to her feet as her head still burned with pain. Ruby couldn't think through the pain.

She looked to the one-eyed Qrow as he spoke, "Welcome back, Kiddo, you just sit tight." He had such a warm smile on his face, "Tai and I will take care of this rabble." Ruby looked at him in shock, how could he smile with that metal spike in his chest?

Metal spike, or was it a tail?

Qrow collapsed to the ground as the faunus dragged its mechanically tipped scorpion tail from the huntsman's body. Unhinged laughter erupted from the scorpion, "Oh, Qrow Branwen! How the mighty have fallen," He laughed in an unending torrent as the red-haired girl watched on helplessly. "This time you won't get back up," His voice turned to acid as he spoke finally turning to the girl, "You should have gone with me when you had the chance, but now..." He smiled with insanity beneath his eyes, "The Queen will destroy everything, and you will watch. Oh, how I will enjoy watching you wilt, My little flower."

She felt dizzy again as her vision blurred, but Ruby forced herself forward; she needed to fight. The myriad Grimm began to back off from the attack, and the two men turned as Ruby growled between them. Barely contained molten silver eyes met them as the girl recovered the grey-green sword left at her feet. She beheaded the first beowolf before either of the men had noticed her move. She danced between the Grimm in wordless agony killing several more in quick succession. The fury did not end as the next fell or the one after that.

Eventually, all the Grimm fell, and the girl turned her macabre dance to the largest of the pack. An ancient Ursa stared down at Ruby paralyzed by the sight of her molten silver eyes. She moved. A swipe here; a slash there. None of the attacks cut deep enough to kill the beast as it regained itself. As it swiped at her, its arm fell harmlessly to the ground. Qrow had cleanly severed it from the Ursa's body as he turned towards Ruby. "Now's not the time for games," He shouted hoping to get through to her, "Finish it!"

His words didn't spark the reaction he hoped for as the world vanished in the glare of the brilliant silver energy that previously burned beneath Ruby's eyes. "Well shit," Qrow spat as he covered his face and waited for the light to dissipate. It did not take long for him to blink the remaining spots out of his vision as he surveyed the aftermath of the fight. Ruby had left very little collateral damage in her dance, and the blast of silver had wiped out any trace of the Grimm attackers completely. He nodded to himself. The girl needed a bit of polish, but it was a reasonably good base for him to mould.

"She's out cold, Qrow," Taiyang called the one-eyed man's attention to Ruby who he was looking over for any injuries, "Looks good, not a scratch other than the lumps you gave her." He chuckled, "I wasn't expecting so many Grimm to show up. I thought we did a good job yesterday."

"They were all pretty old," Qrow replied, "Smart to stay sight of a few huntsmen, but stupid to fall for our little fly trap here." He smiled as he looked at the girl sound asleep on the ground, "We should get going, Sum will want to hear about this."

Ruby awoke slowly to the rhythmic sound of a heartbeat and the gentle patting of a hand on her head, "Hmmm?" She groaned as he noticed the dull pain throbbing in her head, "Wha-"

"Well, you've had quite the day haven't you?" Ruby looked up to see the smiling face of Summer staring down at her, "No wonder you've had so many nightmares holding back your power like that." Ruby was slightly embarrassed at being so close to the woman and tried to rise quickly only to realize that her mother had pinned her down in a half hug. "Not so quickly, Mini-me, you'll worsen your headache." Summer frowned slightly as she reminded herself of her own experiences with their shared power.

"I-I-" Ruby started with a stutter, obviously flustered, "What happened? I remember training with Uncle Qrow... but everything is blurry after that."

Summer giggled, "Let's just say we shouldn't have to worry too much about you fighting off Grimm in Beacon," Her face went serious, "But once we start the semester you'll be taking private lessons to make use of your eyes properly. Exploding as you did is very dangerous."

Ruby looked confused, "I exploded?" She asked as her mother nodded before the older woman pointed to Ruby and Yang's room.

"Now quickly pack your things," She ordered, "The airship leaves in two hours, and you will not be late for your first day of school, young lady." The motherly tone in Summer's voice made Ruby happy to obey as the younger Rose vanished in a flurry of rose petals. Summer giggled again, "What a curious child, right Qrow?" Summer asked as she looked at the man standing in the corner. "Why ever would Raven send her to us? It's not like her to throw away a tool like her eyes."

"Beats me," Qrow shrugged. He was slightly shocked that Summer knew his sister had sent Ruby, "She probably doesn't want to deal with that beast trailing your shadow." He rubbed the scar over his dead eye. "It's not exactly a pleasant thing to fight." Qrow watched Summer's eyes sink as he said that, "But that's what we're here for right? Making sure she never has to deal with that thing."

Summer smiled sadly, "Yeah, I only wish you had listened to me when I told you not to get involved in my fights. You'd still have your eye." She jumped as the man let out a loud, hearty laugh.

"Yeah I understand," He smiled behind his sorrowful eye, "Can't change the past. I didn't know Grimm could get so unlucky as to miss an easy kill though." He shrugged again, "Guess I just wasn't in its tastes."

"All done!" Ruby shouted from her room cheerfully before appearing in another burst of petals. She looked around a bit noting the slightly downcast atmosphere, "What's wrong?" She asked worriedly.

"Oh, Qrow and I were just discussing some important details about the issues with your scythe stances," Summer lied easily, "He says you have a major issue with swinging it about like a sword more so than a scythe." She sighed heavily as the younger girl scratched the back of her head with a nervous giggle, "So much work to do, so little time."

Qrow smiled again, "Well, I'd best be out now. You be good in school, Rosa," He emphasized her fake name, "And stay vigilant, Ozpin bound to try and get his fangs into you." He snatched his flask from Summer before letting himself out.

"Wait, Ozpin's a vampire!?" Ruby asked in mock excitement, much to her mother's amusement.

Shortly afterwards, the two of them left the old cabin with Yang. They walked through the paths of the patch woods heading towards the Signal Academy Docks. The short journey was only interrupted by a big black crow diving down and perching itself on Summer's shoulder. The bird allowed the older woman to pet it gently for a moment before taking off again and flying towards the eastern strait of the island.

Everything afterwards on the ride to Beacon happened much as the girl remembered from Glynda's inspirational speech to the arrivals to the blonde boy motion sickness. As the airships doors opened at the Academy's dock, Rosa Vermillion walked onto the platform wondering if she'll be able to change anything.

A/N: My apologies for this taking so long, I had a lot of trouble branching the end of the Patch stuff with the start of the Beacon Arc. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to leave a review if you have any comments or critique.