The Intriguing Case of Ruby and Red

Chapter 1

Semantics and The Duality of Human Nature

I don't own RWBY. This was born of an idea that I hadn't seen done before here and was further developed with the aid of Silent Magi, who kindly pushed me into this fandom headfirst. This mostly came about because I saw the original trailers before watching the series and found myself musing on the differences between the two versions of Ruby. Then, I started toying with the idea of Ruby with two personalities in my head for a bit which led to the chaos that is just barely beginning to start unraveling here. This is the result.

In the world of Remnant, a world of monsters born of shadows and darkness called Grimm and the Huntsmen and Huntresses who fought them with the miraculous material known as dust, a tale was barely beginning to be told.

It started, as things like this often do, with a robbery under the light of a shattered moon. Four men in identical black suits and red ties, led by a white-dressed man in a bowler hat, wielding a cane, entered a shop named 'From Dust Till Dawn.'

The old shopkeeper begged them to simply take his Lien and leave, wishing for the situation to be over and done with, but the obvious leader instead ordered his men to steal the Dust. As they did so, there was a young girl dressed in a red, hooded cloak who was reading comics, oblivious to the robbery in progress due to the music blaring on her headphones.

The entire thing could have gone without a hitch, with the girl having never been the wiser, if not for the one lackey who had decided to take it upon himself to attempt to rob the child, a choice which began the whole affair.

"Are you… robbing me?" the girl asked, seeming almost delighted by the prospect.

"Yes…" the man replied impatiently, only to be thrown across the room, followed by a cohort who tried to stop the child. The latter had promptly found himself flying out the window, shattering the glass before the girl, herself, flew immediately after him, landing in the street as she unsheathed her scythe.

When the leader ordered his hired thugs to get rid of her, what could be expected to happen in a tale such as this occurred. With their weapons at the ready, the henchmen rushed the child all at once, only to be knocked back by the sort of attacks that only someone trained in her improbable scythe-gun hybrid could have been expected to perform, the girl, herself a blur of motion to their eyes, leaving a trail of vanishing rose petals in her wake. Once she had bested them all, the leader looked down upon the fallen and muttered, "You were worth every cent. Truly, you were…" Then, tossing the cigar he had been smoking onto the ground and crushing it beneath the bottom of his distinct cane, he said, "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much…"

"Ruby," the girl interrupted, causing him to pause.

"What?" he asked, his dramatic moment ruined.

"I'm Ruby, not Red," she replied.

"Is that really what you're going to focus on at the moment?" he asked incredulously.

"Red's an entirely different person," she responded, as if that mattered to him at all.

"Yes, and I'm sure that's very important to you, but…" he raised his cane, a small sight popping up from the end as he pointed it at her, revealing it to be the barrel of a weapon, "I'm afraid this is where we part ways."

With that, he fired a shot of what could only be described as a dangerous firework, which could have done serious damage, had she not fired a round from her scythe rifle into the ground, launching her into the air. When she landed, however, she saw that the man was gone. Turning sharply, she quickly found him climbing a ladder to the top of a roof.

Glancing at the shopkeeper as he stumbled out of the store, she asked, "You okay if I go after him?" When he grunted his agreement, she fired a shot from her scythe rifle and launched herself up to the roof, catching the man as he slowly made his way towards the edge of the roof on the other side.

"Hey!" she called out.

"Persistent…" he muttered half-irritably, half-grudgingly-respectfully as an airship arrived to take him away. Turning once he was inside, he held up a Fire Dust crystal and shouted, "End of the line, Red!"

At those words, he tossed the crystal at her feet, and prepared to shoot while laughing maniacally before she shouted, "I'm Ruby, not Red!"

Once again, he paused at the girl's sheer insanity, lowering his weapon slightly as he asked, "Really?! You want those to be the last words you say?! I'm about to kill you, and you decide to focus on a debate on who you are?! I'm using the nickname Red as a reference to your cape, you idiot!"

And with that, he once again pointed his weapon at the Dust crystal and fired, though he did not laugh maniacally, as the moment had been completely ruined. As the explosion went off, however, a blond-haired woman in a black cape arrived, forming a sigil with a riding crop, which seemed to stop the blast from causing any damage. When the smoke cleared, the man was shocked to see the Huntress, but even more shocked by the change in the child. Her hood had been raised once more, but now there was a mask that looked like a cross between a Beowolf and a mask that Torchwick knew belonged to one of the most dangerous bandits in Remnant, but that was not all that was different.

Gone was the cocky girl who had planned on taking on a criminal. The shape was technically the same, yet the girl was wrong, in all the other senses of the word. Death was the only word to describe her. Looking at her, Roman Torchwick thought of decay, of coffins and unfinished business. His throat was dry, and not from the cigar he'd been smoking. It was as if he was dying of thirst, yet, at the same time, he felt like he was drowning. He was burning, yet he was cold. Every instinct in his body told him to get as far away from the thing before him as possible, because before him was Death, itself, incarnate in the shape of a girl.

Then, the Huntress decided to capitalize on his shock and horror, sending purple blasts at the ship, batting it about. He quickly rushed to the cockpit and told the woman in the red dress that was steering the vessel "We've got a Huntress!"

The woman promptly rose from her seat while Roman tried to keep the ship flying amidst the barrage.

And at that moment, the Huntress summoned forth a storm with a concentrated effort, striking at the ship with hail like spears.

The woman in red's eyes glowed like fire as she began casting fire spells, attempting to keep the Huntress off the offensive, only to flicker at the sight of the girl who did not seem like a girl.

She maintained her attacks, but she couldn't help but feel fear at the un-child before her, who converted her scythe to a more practical rifle to shoot at her. The girl was wrong, to the woman's eyes. That much was the only solid thing she could say about her. Looking at her, however, Cinder saw a demon of sorts. Silver eyes glinted through the face of a Beowolf, converting the moonlight into an unnatural gleam as the creature collapsed the rifle and put it away. It looked like a thing of blood and rot that oozed up and took the shape of a girl, a creature that existed solely to destroy all she worked hard to steal for her own. Even worse, it felt like it would leave her alive after such an utter defeat.

And then a shot rang out and one of her heels was snapped by a bullet she didn't see, knocking her off-balance before she quickly shifted her weight and used Dust to reform the heel before making the ground burst beneath the two, allowing them to make good their escape.

When the Huntress turned to look at the girl, however, the mask and the horrifying sensations that the girl behind it had caused were gone, and in their place once again stood the cocky young girl, wielding a simple handgun, which she promptly placed inside of her cloak.

"You're a Huntress…" the girl noted in awe, before excitably asking, "Can I have your autograph?!"

Sitting sullenly in the interrogation room, Ruby listened to the Huntress lecture her.

"I hope you realize that your actions won't be taken lightly, young lady," she stated flatly as she paced, watching the security footage intently, "You put yourself and others in grave danger."

"They started it," she protested, feeling Red wanting to come to the forefront.

Ignoring her, the Huntress pressed on, "If it were up to me, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back…" Ruby perked up and Red eased up on her requests before the Huntress continued. "…And a slap on the wrist." She said firmly, slapping her crop down where Ruby's hand was before she pulled it away, forcing Red to stay back. "But, there's someone here who would like to meet you."

"Ruby Rose…" a voice called out from the dark doorway, before a grey-haired man dressed in green stepped into the light, holding a plate of cookies in one hand and a steaming mug in the other. Leaning in to get a good look at her, he continued. "You have… silver eyes…"

"Um…" she mumbled, thinking of mentioning how Red had silver eyes as well. Before she could, the man pressed on.

"So, where did you learn to do this?" he interrogated.

"Signal Academy…" she mumbled, feeling Red pushing harder to come to the front.

"They taught you to use the most dangerous weapon ever designed?" he pressed.

"Well, one teacher in particular…"

"I see…" he said, placing the cookies on the table in front of her. At the apparent gesture of good will, Red once again backed away, waiting for when she would be needed next. "It's just that I've only ever seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow…"

"That's our Uncle Qrow," she said cheerfully through a mouthful of cookies, before swallowing the crumbs and repeating herself. "He's a teacher at Signal. We were complete garbage before he took me under his wing…"

"We…?" Glynda interrupted as they both blinked in surprise, "He had another student?"

"Me and Red," she explained, "You met her earlier, ma'am. She's where I got this." At those words, she pulled the handgun out of her cloak, inspected it carefully, then dismantled it.

"And would you be so kind as to introduce her to us?" he asked in interest.

"Are you sure you want to…?" she asked cautiously.

"It would likely be for the best," he responded simply.

"Alright…" she replied, "If you say so…"

The transition was practically imperceptible, physically speaking, for the most part. It was, after all, not a physical transformation, but rather a transformation of essence, for lack of a better description. The nervous young girl was gone, and in her place now saw an entity, which had the exact same face, but it was wrong, somehow. She, herself, gave off the feeling of something that shouldn't be, yet there she was, sitting before them, and neither sensed the same foreboding doom at her presence.

Glynda felt a sense of unease, as if the girl before her was somehow proving that no matter what happened, the enemy would win, and nothing could stop them. It was as if the girl, herself, was Death, come to collect them all, because they were already defeated, and humanity was destroyed.

Ozpin, in contrast, felt something like time, itself, the ticking of a clock that wouldn't stop, and the sensation of a small bird sharpening its beak on a diamond mountain every hundred years.

As the two regained their bearings, and the unnatural feeling became more of a lingering sensation in the back of their minds, the not-quite-natural girl before them pieced the handgun back together easily and placed it within her cloak, where it promptly vanished.

"Bazooka better choice," she muttered, her voice slightly deeper, "Red here."

That second part sounded like a cross between a greeting and a threat.

"Your other self tells us that you helped attempt to subdue Roman Torchwick and his cohort."

"Tried to stop," she replied, "Torchwick attempted escape. Hunted. Failed."

"And would you care to explain why that was?" he pressed gently.

"Had Bullhead. Did not use bazooka when chance provided."

"And you feel that would have made much of a difference, given the situation?"

"Fire witch missed shot. Could have capitalized," she replied, "My fault."

"So, why exactly did you and the other Ms. Rose pursue Torchwick?"

"Wanted to help," she shrugged, "Both dream of being Huntress. Both wish to help. Putting Ruby on."

It was a simple change in posture to an outside observer, but the fear that they felt was gone, as if it hadn't even been there in the first place.

"Sorry about that," Ruby apologized, "She's… An acquired taste. And not much of a talker."

"And what was that sensation she caused?" Ozpin asked, "That fear…"

"I don't know," she replied honestly, "She just kinda causes it. It's not her Semblance, though. I know that much…"

"Then what is?" Glynda pressed.

"You know how she said she should've used a bazooka instead of the handgun?" Ruby asked, "You see how I don't have one at all? She could pull one out of thin air, if she wanted to. She can pull any weapon she wants out. Using our cape just makes it easier on her. And, no. I have no idea how she does it. She just does."

"So, you're aware of what she's doing when she's in control of your body," Ozpin mused, "Would it be safe to assume that the reverse is true as well?"

"Well, yeah," she acknowledged, "We're still in the same body. She just tries to take over when things get a little too intense. I can push her back pretty easily, though, so I keep her back there, instead of turning her loose on the world."

Ozpin seemed almost confused by that, so Ruby said, "She's just a part of me that's sometimes arguing for me to let her out to keep me safe. I'm the whole thing. She's not." That did little to placate his confusion, and indeed managed to terrify him to an extent, but he decided to press on, rather than contemplate all of the terrifying possibilities.

"So, what made two adorable children in one body decide to go to an Academy to train warriors?" he asked. The fact that 'Red' was terrifying would not make him change his statement too much more than he needed to.

"We want to help people," Ruby said cheerfully, "Well, I do, and I think Red does, too. Red's a bit on the whole 'Great Good' end of the spectrum, though… Anyway, we're hoping to go to Beacon in two years, since our sister Yang is there and it's the best Academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses in the world. I mean, we probably could've become a police officer, or doctor, but being a huntress is so much more romantic and they're just so amazing and…" she let out a squeal of delight. "That, and Red seems to kinda like hunting, maybe a little more than I do…" she muttered, barely able to be heard as Glynda blinked slowly, somewhat skeptically at that speech.

"Do you know who I am?" he pressed.

"Professor Ozpin, headmaster at Beacon," Ruby answered.

He chuckled slightly, before simply saying, "Hello."

"Nice to meet you," she replied.

"So, you both want to join my school…"

"More than anything…"

He gave Glynda a quick glance, to which she gave a bemused sigh. "Well, okay…"

Ruby began to grin, when Glynda spoke up.

"You need to be careful with your other self," she said, "Not everyone will likely take her presence very well, and we would rather not have people constantly fleeing the classrooms in terror."

"Yes, ma'am," Ruby replied, before the horrifying shift occurred once again.

"Will behave when possible," Red stated plainly

"I suppose that you don't need the notification form, as your sister has already received it," Ozpin mused, "Just take care in being packed for tomorrow."

It was while on the airship the next day that Ruby found the air being crushed out of her lungs by her older sister's bearhug. Yang, for her part, was still too busy basking in her own sheer joy to be too concerned by that.

"I can't believe both my baby sisters are going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"

At that moment, she felt a slight chill going down her spine, which could only mean one thing. Pulling back to confirm her suspicions, she was unsurprised to see Red staring at her with the stoic expression that she usually bore when not hunting or trying to hunt.

"Ruby couldn't breathe. Red panicked," she explained.

"Well, it's awesome that you're both going to be going to Beacon with me!" Yang said.

"Please stop." Red requested.

"But I'm so proud of you both!" Yang pressed.

"Torchwick escaped. Failure to stop enemy. Nothing special," Red responded

"What are you talking about? It was incredible!" Yang countered, "Everyone at Beacon's going to think you two are the bee's knees!"

Red tilted her head in that way that showed she did not understand the expression. Or that she was stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the expression because she loathed it. There were many such expressions, including one based on the expression 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink' or, strangely enough the phrase 'dead as a doornail,' though both Red and Ruby said that there was a perfectly good reason for her stance on that particular topic.

"They'll think you're really awesome," Yang offered.

"Ruby's awesome," Red agreed.

"Everyone will love you both!" Yang cheered.

"Please stop, you two," Ruby said, taking over briefly, "I just want to be a normal girl."

"Apologies," Red said softly once Ruby let her back to the surface.

"You know that's not what I meant," Ruby said, "We've been moved up two years. Everyone is older than us."

"Don't worry," Yang said gently, "They'll love you both."

"Will love Ruby," Red said, before returning to the back of Ruby's mind. When the volume seemed to increase on the large screen onboard, the two sisters turned to the sound of the news playing on the television screen, speaking about Torchwick and the Dust store robberies he'd been committing as of late, followed by a brief comment on the White Fang organization having recently turned more violent after a peaceful demonstration gone awry. Immediately, they were welcomed to Beacon by Glynda Goodwitch on the screen before glancing out the window at the marvelous display that was the Hunter's Academy.

"Well, Red's self-esteem still needs work," Yang noted, "But, I'm sure it'll all work out. Anyway, the most important thing to me is that you make friends." She looked Ruby square in the eye "That means you, too, Red. I'm sure you two can find people to hit it off with…"

Several people sneezed at the same time at different places, including a redhead that was calculating the weights of everyone on the ship she was on by appearances and also examining the types of weapons and armor they carried for two completely different reasons, an orange-haired girl who was currently being retrofitted for wireless controls for her swords, a white-haired girl who felt a chill down her spine, a blond-haired boy who was rushing towards the nearest trashcan due to airsickness, and quite a few others.

Needless to say, things were going to take a turn for the interesting at Beacon Academy.