AN: Hey everyone, I have something special restarting. A few years ago, I had a story called Color Theory about a crossover idea between RWBY and the Nine Lantern Rings of the DC universe. It was a 'what if' to the events during the middle of the V3 with the idea of the cast getting the rings, solving a mystery, and fighting with Lantern powers. I liked it, but I got writer's block near the end of the story and moved onto other projects. I deleted it from the sight, as well as some other unfinished stories, but always wanted to return to this one. Now that I have finished Fates Collide, I thought I would come back to Color Theory. What I have done is reedit the chapters, condensing a few into longer chunks, and fixing the grammar, (This was before I used Grammarly to find a lot of mistakes, so now the story is more readable). The story is now planned for ten chapter in length, with the first nine being daily uploads, since they are going to mostly unchanged from original story. The last chapter should be out within a couple of weeks after chapter nine's release. I do plan on finishing this story, as I reread it and feel it deserves that justice. Hope you enjoy this chapter, leave a review with your comments and questions, and have a nice day.

Color Theory

Chapter 1 – Red Light of Rage

On the fairgrounds of Vale, The Vytal Festival flourished with many people exploring the vendors. They searched for the perfect memorable to commemorate the event and bind time for the next round of the tournament.

Among the crowds of people, Yang Xiao Long walked down the middle of the lanes with a smile on her face. Her lilac eyes scanned the vendors for something to catch her attention. "I wonder who I'll fight in the solo matches." The blond brawler said to herself. She then looked at her right hand, clenching it to form a fist, "Sorry Weiss, but I'm the one who'll win this tournament for the team." She then continued to look to her left and right at the vendors, "Running out of time and I haven't bought a souvenir yet."

Suddenly, she noticed a single table at the end of the lane. A person in a dark grey cloak covering their whole body sat at the other end of the table. Nobody was walking around The Vendor, nobody making eye contact. Perplexed at the sight, Yang shrugged and walked over.

"Hey," Yang addressed the person as she got near. The Vendor looked up towards the blond girl, but the face was still indistinguishable, "You know, you might have more customers if you lose the whole, 'Back alley dealer' getup." The blond brawler then looked at the table, noticing a small black box, "This all you're selling?"

"One item." The Vender said in an ominous male voice, "Only one."

"You only brought one?" Yang questioned, "Must be pretty rare." The blond girl then picked up the black box and examined it in her left hand, "What is it? Jewelry?" She then noticed a reddish aura radiating from the box.

The Vendor looked up at Yang, seeing her open the box. Inside was a red ring with a symbol the blond brawler had never seen before. The ring was the source of the red aura, emitting it at a rapid rate. Yang's irises changed to red as she looked at the ring. "The ring has chosen."

"What?" Yang said as she turned back to The Vendor. She rubbed her eyes with her right hand, changing the color back to lilac, "Sorry, I lost myself there for a second." She then looked back to the ring, "This is pretty cool looking. Though, it's not exactly my color." The blond brawler than shrugged again, "Alright, I'll buy it. How much?"

"The ring is already yours." The Vendor replied.

"Really?" Yang said as she took the ring out of the box. She slipped the ring on her left middle finger, brandishing her hand with a smile on her face, "Thanks!" The blond girl waved as she walked away. The Vender's eyes remained fixed on the girl until she remained out of sight.

Moments later.

In the tournament arena, Yang rushed towards Mercury with her eyes burning red. She delivered punch after punch to the grey-haired fighter's head. Right before his aura completely vanished, she punched him a few feet away from her. "That's it, Yang Xiao Long has won!" Oobleck announced as the crowd roared and cheered.

Mercury had a look of annoyance as he tried to get up. Yang looked down on him with a smirk, "Better luck next time." She said as she turned away from her defeated opponent. The blond brawler looked at the back of her left hand, gazing at the red ring. "I guess this is my new lucky charm." She thought to herself.

Abruptly, she felt an ominous presence behind her. "There's not going to be a next time, Blondie!" Mercury declared as Yang turned around. The grey-haired fighter rushed toward her with a jump kick. Yang gritted her teeth as she reeled back her left arm. As her counterattack was inches from Mercury's right leg, the ring glowed a bright red. Upon contact, a blast of red energy erupted from her arm. The attack obliterated Mercury's leg, revealing it was actorly a cybernetic prostatic. Bits of metal flew across the arena as the rest of his him landed on his back.

"What the-" Mercury exclaimed in horror as he looked at the missing leg. Suddenly, he looked back up at Yang in terror.

"That's what you get!" Yang declared as she saw Mercury try to back up. His heart racing as he looked at Yang red eyes, matching the glow from her ring. She began to walk towards the grey-haired fighter.

Suddenly, Yang was tackled to the ground. She looked back to see it was a robotic Atlas soldier, quickly constringing her arms. Around her were four other soldiers, all with rifles pointed at her head. "Yang Xiao Long, you are under arrest!" One of the soldiers declared with Yang not replying, a look of dread filling her face. The light started to fade from her red ring.

Moments later.

At Beacon Academy, General Ironwood walked out of the room of Team RWBY. In his right hand were the Ember Celica bracelets. Inside the room, Yang sat on the right-side bottom bunk. Opposite to her sat the other three members of her team. The room was silent as the blond brawler looked down at her hands.

"Yang…" Ruby broke the silence, "What happened?"

"I told you," The blond girl responded, but did not look up at her sister, "He attacked me."

"We all saw the event live, no he did not!" Weiss responded, with slight disdain, "He was defenseless and you attacked him when he didn't have an aura to shield his leg."

"His robotic leg!" Yang corrected.

"You didn't know that!?" Weiss shouted back, "Nobody knew that about him, maybe he was ashamed and tried to hide it." The white heiress stood up from the bed, "You're lucky it was a mechanical leg!"

"If it wasn't, he could have died from the shock or bleed out before medical could arrive," Blake added on in a mournful voice. "Also…it looked like you weren't done yet."

"I wasn't going to hurt him anymore," Yang replied before she placed her right hand over her left, "I was just…angry."

"We all get angry, but we don't lose control like that!" Weiss commented.

"Yang, I've known you longer than anyone." Ruby added on, "Even when you are boiling super mad, you never went that far."

"Thanks, Ruby" Yang replied. While she was still looking down, a smile formed on her face. However, that smile did not last long, "At least one of you believes in me." The blond brawler said scornfully.

"We want to believe you," Blake replied, "I have had people close to me go down the same path you have. Some unintentionally, some willingly." The black cat faunus' voice became serious, "I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me the truth."

Yang took a deep breath an exhaled. She tilted her head up and looked at her team with a straight face, "I told you all, he attacked me." She said with the other members of her team remaining silent. Their mouths hung slightly open as the blond girl had a look of confusion, "What? You still don't believe me!?"

"Yang." Ruby said still in shock, "Why are your eyes red now?" The blond brawler had a look of confusion as she rubbed her eyes with her left hand. When she lowered her hand, she looked to the window to her right. In her reflection, she saw her eyes were still red.

Weiss looked at her teammate's left hand with a sudden realization, "When did you get that ring?" She said as she pointed to the mysterious item, "I don't remember you having that thing during our match."

"And what does that symbol mean?" Blake added.

"This. I was given to me before my solo matches started." Yang said as she looked at her new ring, "I don't know what this symbol means but it looked cool. A vendor on the fairgrounds gave it to me for free. Saying weird things like, 'The ring was already mine.' Or something like that." She then looked back at her friends, all of whom were looking at the ring, "You three don't think…"

"Well…it is red." Ruby commented, "Which is more of my color but-"

"Can you take it off?" Weiss interrupted. Yang nodded as she gripped the red ring with her right index finger and thumb. She tried to pull the ring off, but the item was unmoving. It exerted at reddish aura as Yang breath became heavy. The blond girl gritted her teeth as she pulled again. After a few seconds, she pulled the ring off. Yang smiled in success for a second before that smile faded away fast. Her cheeks filled up with vile. She placed her left hand over her mouth to try and stop what was going to happen next. The rest of her team looked in shock as Yang looked at the floor, vomiting a large amount of blood. Yang fell off the bed as she continued to vomit uncontrollably.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted as a fear start to fill her eyes, "Put the ring back on!" the blond brawler quickly slipped the ring back on as fast as she could. Suddenly, she stopped vomiting and was just wheezing in pain. Her sister ran over to her side, holding her up. Weiss looked in shock at the ring glow with a red aura still. Blake starred at the pool of blood on the ground. The liquid radiated steam. The vomit and blood mixture started to eat through the floorboards, causing all team members to look to it in panic.

"What happened to me?" Yang said sweat dripped from her brow. She held onto Ruby as tight as she could.

Moments later.

The team gathered at the Beacon Library. They gathered with Team JNPR, all of who had books opened at searching for something in the pages. All eight sat at one table, isolated from other students who avoided the group. Yang sighed as she knew the reason they weren't bothered.

"Sooooo…" Nora broke the silence, "Your bloody vomit melted hole in your room?"

"Yep, that happened." Yang responded as she paced back and forth, "Like this already isn't my worst day ever." She looked away from her book to examine her left hand, "All because of this dumb ring. Any of you find anything yet?"

"Nope," Ruby replied.

"Nothing," Jaune said.

"Nada." Nora responded, "You said you bought it from some shady guy?"

"Yes, but he wasn't there anymore." The blond brawler replied as she clenched her left fist, "That's why we are here, trying to find something that tells me what this thing is." She sighed again, "Thanks for helping us out after what happened. News hasn't been too kind about me."

"It all right Yang," Ren replied, "We're your friends, we knew something was off with what happened." The blond Pyrrha smiled as Pyrrha had a look of shock.

"I found it! That symbol!" The red-haired warrior said as the others gathered around her. They looked at the page to see the same symbol as on the ring. However, they found more than just one symbol. The page was full of nine symbols, each of a different color.

"What are these?" Jaune asked, "Where do they come from?"

"There is not much information of where they came from, but basically these are different symbols associated with different rings," Pyrrha said as she was scanning the page for information. "Each ring has powers and the different colors represent different emotions, altering the way the wielder thinks."

"What's red's?" Yang asked.

Pyrrha turned towards the blond girl, "Rage…" The group went silent as Yang gritted her teeth.

Suddenly, another person made their way to the group, "Salutations!" The person said altering her presence to the others. The red hooded girl recognized the call from her hidden robotic friend.

"Penny!" Ruby said as she looked up, "What are you doing here?"

"I came here to see how you were doing after your teammate was disqualified from the tournament for assaulting a student." Penny then looked over to see the blond girl with her red eyes glaring at the robotic girl, "Hello Yang."

"Piss off," Yang replied grimace on her face.

"I see, your upset?" Penny said with Yang's eyes started to glow. The robotic girl then turned back to the red-haired warrior, "Anyway, I also wanted to wish Pyrrha good luck in our future match. It seems we will be fighting in the next round."

"That fight is in an hour, right?" Pyrrha asked, "Good luck to you also."

"Oh, I hope it is a glorious battle." Penny said before looking down at the book on the table, "What are you reading about?"

"That's what we are trying to figure out. Maybe you can help us?" Ruby asked as she pointed to the open book, "Have you seen any of these symbols before?"

Penny examined the page for a second before looking back to the red-hooded girl, "No." The robotic girl replied. However, a slight hiccup followed her answer. "Sorry to be of little use, but I must go now." Penny fanatically concludes before she turned and walked away. Ruby had a look of disbelief as she watched the robotic girl leave the library.

"Hey, I'll be back." Ruby said she started to walk away from the group, "Just call me with where you all are."

"Alright, good luck," Yang said as she saw her sister leave. The blond brawler turned her eyes back to the book page of all the different symbols, "Let's check out this book and see what we can find out about these rings." She said as she looked back to her ring, a reddish aura glowing around it.

Meanwhile

Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury reconvened in a storage room. The grey-haired fighter sat on a wooden crate, looking at a box filled with the pieces of scrap that once was his right leg. He held a screwdriver in his left hand, an enraged look on his face. "How am I supposed to fix this!?" He said as he turned to Emerald.

"Didn't you bring a spare?" The green-haired thief inquired.

"Yeah, but-," Mercury said in a slight whinny voice before he turned to Cinder, "This wasn't part of the plan!"

"Things are not as expected, but we can adjust," Cinder interjected, "Everyone in Remnant is still in a state of outrage after a Beacon student assaulted an already defeated fighter."

"Assaulted is putting it lightly! She destroyed my leg and would have killed me if those soldiers didn't show up" Mercury commented before he turned back to the green haired thief, "What did you show her Emerald!"

"Exactly what Cinder told me to show her. We knew she would react that way, but we did not think she would cause that much damage." Emerald answered.

Mercury looked back to the pile of metal in worry, "My legs should have been able to take any elemental dust without even denting. How did she do that much damage," Mercury replied, "Maybe she got some military rounds?" His mind went back to the event, remembering the red flash before impact.

"Regardless, hiding your robotic legs was not a pivotal part of our plan. Just an inconvenience that won't change enough people's opinion of Yang's action." Cinder said as she placed her right hand on her chin, "However, she could pose a problem for us if we don't take care of her now."

"What are you suggesting?" The grey-haired fighter asked.

Cinder smiled as she crossed her arms, "I say we have our friend finish what she stated." She then looked to her right to see Neo hiding in the shadows, sitting cross-legged on a stack of wooden crates. The mute girl had a smirk on her face as she had her arms also crossed. "The uninvited guest from before should not interrupt you this time. Do it discreetly and out of the view of the public. I'll handle the rest." Cinder said with Neo nodding before walking away.

"Good luck," Mercury called out. "…Psychopathic mute." He whispered to himself out of the range of the Neo's hearing.

"What about us?" Emerald asked her leader, speaking for Mercury.

Cinder turned to her, "You two, go find that robotic girl and dismantle her." the black-haired woman said in a cold voice.

"What!?" Mercury commented, "I thought you wanted to expose her during the match? Let Pyrrha do our job for us."

"As I said, we adjusted our plan. I have a feeling that things would be better if we take certain matters in our own hands." Cinder replied as she walked over to Mercury, "When they find Yang's body, we pin it all on Penny. Then, when they go to find her, she will already be offline," Cinder glared with a smile into the gray-haired fighter's very soul. "The news will tell the story believing Penny was ordered by Altas to kill Yang after this insolent, putting the military in hot water," The black haired woman then smirked as she walked towards him, "In the confusion, Pyrrha Nikos will be alone in the arena, waiting for an opponent. And that's when I step in," Cinder was now a few inches away from Mercury's face" I will murder that model student, live for the whole world to see. Letting every person across all kingdoms know how much a threat I am. Then, the invasion will start, and Vale will fall."

"Wow," Mercury commend with a line of sweat pouring down his face, "Sounds terrifying."

"That is my intention." Cinder responded with a smile before moving away from Mercury.

"What about the Fall Maiden?" Emerald asked, "Don't we need Pyrrha to lead us to her after Ozpin runs out of options?"

"He has already lowered his guard and showed her what's left of Amber," The black-haired woman replied, "We don't need Pyrrha to find the Fall Maiden anymore. When Ozpin can't handle the anarchy of the invasion, I will take what's left of that power." Cinder then started to walk away from the two as she finished her sentence, "No matter what, I will gain more power."

"Okay," Mercury said in an uneasy voice, "Then, where are you going now!?"

Cinder did not stop as she addressed her subordinate, "The festival is still going on. I think I'll see what I can buy before everything is gone."

"Seriously!?" Mercury called out as Cinder was across the room, but his leader did not respond this time. The room fell silent as Emerald and Mercury prepped for the new adjusted plan. However, the grey-haired fighter broke the silence as he whispered to himself again, "I'm surrounded by a crazy woman."

Emerald punched Mercury in the right shoulder blade, "Just shut up and put your other leg on." The green haired thief said as Mercury rubbed his back in slight pain.

AN: There you go, the first chapter to Color Theory. If you noticed, the Cinder section wasn't until chapter two in the original upload. I am merging some events to get out more content each. Chapters will range from around this length or to nearly twice as long at times. Before I go, I am curious about your opinions on the Lantern Rings idea for RWBY. Who do you think should get each ring? Note, if you have already read the original of this story, please do not spoil in the reviews for those new to the story. That is all for now, thanks for reading, and hope to see you in the next chapter.