Red like Roses

Summary: It had to have been some kind of joke. After all, why would Ruby Rose wear something as white as her cloak? An unoriginal title, but with meaning.

It was a nice normal Saturday at Beacon Academy. The day was sitting at the perfect range where it was neither too hot nor too cold, which was part of the reason most of the students were outside. Well, that and it was the weekend.

But there were two teams who had decided to put off such a wonderful day. Teams RWBY and JNPR had decided to hold weekly study sessions with each other, officially to 'facilitate better relationships and teamwork, as well assist each other in academic lessons'. Unofficially, the study rooms where big, soundproofed, and were a great place to party. As long as Weiss agreed it was time for some unwinding anyway. And today was that day.

As soon as Weiss had finally (broken) given consent, Yang and Nora had partnered up to plan a day of fun for the two teams and were currently off somewhere 'getting the goods' as Nora said. So in the meantime, the remaining six had hunkered down to pass the time. Weiss had decided to get some last-minute studying in, Blake and Ren were talking quietly, Phyrra was polishing her spear, and Jaune was pondering the mysteries of the universe.

"So, Ruby. What's the punch line?"

Ruby looked up from her book, 'The Brothers Grimm: A Look into the Lives of the First Hunters' as she addressed Jaune's question. "Punchline? What's the joke?"

He just shrugged as Weiss shot an annoyed glare at him for interrupting the silence. "You know. Ruby, Rose. Both those are red. So why do you were a white cloak?"

Everyone in the room paused as they waited for the girl's response. Truth be told, everyone had wondered why the Headmaster himself had allowed her to wear it at any time. But as the seconds ticked down, the only thing that came out of Ruby was a confused grunt. "What do you mean? My cloak's as red as roses." She shot Jaune a knowing grin then went back to her book.

The rest of the group could only stare at her in silence. Weiss in particular looked at Blake, then Ren and Phyraa, Jaune, and finally back at Ruby. Yup, her cloak was still white. Surely she wasn't that stupid, or colorblind. After all, Beacon did have some standards.

With a huff, she decided to take charge. "Ruby, we can all see plain as day that your cloak is white. It's as white as snow, as white as my jacket, and as white as my hair. You can't possibly try to convince us it's not, and as such, I demand you tell us what's so funny!"

She glared at Ruby who had burst out into laughter. Then, slowly her laugh turned from loud and slightly obnoxious, to a light giggle. A light and very creepy giggle.

"You guys! Hehe! My cloak's not white. It's as red as my mama's blood."

Everyone froze as they watched Ruby go back to her book, none of them daring to move.

"HELLO EVERYONE! WE"RE BAAAACK!"

Yang kicked in the door as she and Nora entered the study room spinning, each with an armful of treats and snacks. "Man, you guys wouldn't believe the stuff we…Hey, why do all you guys looked so spooked?"

"OH! OH! I know! I bet they saw a ghost! Oh, I've always wanted to meet a ghost or maybe even lots of ghosts, and we could laugh and reminisce and I could have them spy on people and peep on them while they're in the showers…"

Yang promptly tuned Nora out as she walked up to Weiss and Blake. "Hello? Vale to Weiss? Blake?"

Her gaze went over to Team Juniper as Nora, now concerned for her friends' lack of acknowledging her, was quietly trying to talk to them, and finally on to Ruby, who was simply lying on the floor, feet up in the air, reading a book.

"Ruby, what happened?"

Her head shot up. "What? Oh hey Yang. We were just talking about my cloak. Ha! They thought it was white, just like you did when we first met."

And just like that, Yang too froze on the spot. But to her credit she recovered quicker than anyone else. "Ruby," In a bit too-loud voice, "I think Nora and I forgot something from the cafeteria, why don't you go get it."

"But Yang! We made sure to grab at least one of everything. We even got some of those really sweet pastries that only Weiss… ouff!" And just like that Nora was floored by a subtle kick to the back of her knee.

"Aw! Nora! Ruby, she's hurt, bad. I think you better go get the nurse, or better yet Ozpin, or even better, everyone! But take your time!"

Ruby stared at her sister, one eyebrow raised, as her sister's face twitched slightly. "Oookay. You know, you're kind of weirding me out here Yang. I'll go get a nurse." And more quietly, "And maybe a psychologist." And with that, she closed her book, put it in her book bag and, with one final knowing look towards her sister, left.

Immediately the room was a flurry of movement as Weiss and Jaune jumped on Yang trying to tell her what had happened, Phyrra simply sat down in shock, Ren quietly telling Nora what had happened and apologizing for scaring her and asking her to please put him down, and Blake beginning to pace worriedly.

"Enough!"

Everyone stopped and looked at Yang in fear as her aura exploded out. The silence held even as Yangs's 'Fiery Passion' disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Yang slumped and, muttering to herself, made her way to one of the comfy chairs in the room and sat.

After a few minutes, as everyone calmed down, the silence turned from enforced to anxious, ready to burst at any moment. Slowly, Yang brought her head up and looked everyone in their eyes, silently daring, and maybe secretly hoping, that someone would ask the question that would drag the truth out.

"Yang…" Everyone turned towards Weiss as she, unusually hesitant, began. "What…what's wro…" She tried to get the word out for a moment, almost like a child trying to sound a word out, but couldn't.

Yang sighed. "You want to ask what's wrong with her, don't you." A second of hesitation, then a quick nod. Yang sighed again.

"No matter that I say there's not something wrong with her almost on a daily basis, to others, to you, to myself… as much as I hate to say it, there is. It's… I was about to say serious, and in some ways it is. Ruby has…well, it gets a bit complicated."

Yang shook her head then lowered it, allowing her face to be hidden by her jungle of hair. Weiss, Blake and JNPR looked at each other. Nora, with an unusually serious glint in her eye, motioned towards Weiss. In the time they had all spent at Beacon, the red cloaked girl had made her way into so many people's hearts, but everyone knew her team was closest to her. And outside of her sister, Weiss held the next biggest part of Ruby's heart and they all knew it.

And so, with a silent unanimous vote, Weiss was voted to lead their effort to learn more. And for once, deep down, Weiss wished she hadn't been chosen. Still…

"Let's start with… what exactly is wrong with her?"

Yang looked back up. "The doctors say she has mild hallucinations and delusions. She sees her cloak red, not white. But beyond that, nothing ever came up that struck them as too dangerous so they'd leave. Then Ruby would have episodes. About…look, most psychological problems come from past trauma, right? Stuff like near-death, death, rape, team-wipes…"

As Yang counted off her examples her avid troupe of listeners became more and more fidgety. It wasn't easy to be reminded of those kinds of things. Especially frightening for them was the idea of team-wipes. Although the time they had all spent together wasn't all that long considering, the camaraderie and bonds between the teams, and especially the partners, was strong enough that the idea of even one of their teammates dying was met with horrified looks.

Yang paused for a moment to let her words sink in, but also to figure out how she was going to explain everything to her friends. But someone had other plans.

"Yang, was Ruby raped?" Blake asked, with a mixture of worry and certain retribution.

Yang laughed. She couldn't help it. It was just one sharp and loud guffaw. She immediately tried to calm herself and didn't even notice all the shocked faces staring or Weiss as her face grew redder by the second. She managed to control herself just before Weiss was about to retort with some hot-blooded comment or another.

"No. I'm sorry. There's nothing funny about that. But that just came in from left field, I just didn't expect that." She let out one more laugh that was more of a burst of air than a symbol of amusement. She took one last breath, then glared at everyone. "All right, so it starts a long time back, about twelve years ago. So you guys all know Ruby and I aren't related by blood right? Well… here's what happened."

7777777777777

Ruby walked down the halls of Beacon at a cozy pace. She didn't know why Yang all but threw her out of the room, but she wasn't worried, Yang must have had her reasons, and Ruby trusted her.

'I trusted Her too.'

Ruby grimaced.

Her head had been pounding since Her cloak had been brought up. A constant but steady beat against her brain. And try though she might, the beat grow louder and heavier by the minute. And as she walked through the long winding passages of Beacon, she just barely noticed how the walls were beginning to stretch and twist, as red banners and carpets became blood splatters, as windows became lifeless pale eyes staring emptily, as the walls, with all their browns and beiges paled whiter and whiter, until they completely disappeared leaving her in a snow covered plain.

As each detail painted her nightmare, her body slowed, each step meant to throw her into a run being sucked up by mud and slush.

Beat Beat … Beat Beat, it pounded in her head. With a cry she fell to the ground, her blood covered hands grabbed her head, trying in vain to stop the simple sound of her mother's heart beating her last.

"Miss Rose? Is everything ok?"

Her eyes opened as her head shot up towards the voice of the school's headmaster, who stood alone in the now normal hall with his cane in one hand, and for once, no coffee cup.

"Head… head… Headmaster!" She shot to her feet apologizing profusely, seeking repentance for… what had just happened.

"Please, Miss Rose, call me Ozpin." He gave her a gentle smile that immediately caused her to blush. A quick moment past as Ruby attempted to compose herself, which ended as Ozpin noticed as a set of torn skin on her forehead begin to bleed.

With a small frown he reached into his back pocket and removed a handkerchief and wordlessly handed it to her. Ruby, for her part was surprised at the gesture. "Um… Oz…Ozpin?" For a brief second a mixture of emotions, mostly unease and wrongness, passed over her face before rectifying herself, "Professor, I'm not hurt."

Ruby watched as two emotions ran across the headmaster's face, a shock of surprise, and an instant of sadness. And then they were replaced with a hard glare as he handed the handkerchief to her again. This time Ruby hastily grabbed it and brought it her head.

There the two stood in silence, neither quite knowing what to do. Ruby felt conflicted, on one hand she felt she had a perfectly admirable excuse to leave, but…the concern she felt from Ozpin was…warming. Not the on-the-edge-of-panic like Yang and her parents, or the tough-love from Weiss, but a more natural-feeling worried and compassion, which just felt right. And vaguely familiar. Add in that the terrors, while gone, were still fresh in her mind and Ruby felt leaving would be like leaving the shelter of an island in the middle of a storm.

With a silent gesture, Ozpin lead her to one of the hallway's large windows overlooking the courtyard. Ruby sat herself on the window sill and watched as the Headmaster leaned against the sill-pane opposite her.

And again, the two waited in silence, with only the sound of her occasional grunt as she held the handkerchief to her bleeding head. How long had she been lost to her terror that she had clawed her own head up so badly? Still, the bleeding was already lessoning, but Ruby slowly began to worry. Ozpin obviously had something on his mind, and it looked like he wanted to talk to her about it.

Oh no! He had seen her in the hall bleeding! What if he thought she had gotten in a fight? Or someone had attacked her! What if he was disappointed that she got hurt fighting and ran away and cried! What if…

"Ruby," His voice caused her train of thought to crash.

"Ye..yes, Professor?"

He turned his head, looking her right in the eyes. "You miss her don't you?"

She flinched as the sound of a heart's dying beats rang through her head, as screaming raged in the background of her mind. Her hands were covered in rose petals…no… they were wet with red blood. Her mother's blood. In the corner of her eyes she saw a single body, wrapped in white cloth, slowly being stained red.

Ruby brought her head up, fresh tears beginning to fall. Her throat clenched, trying to stop the words, to stop the hard truth she tried to never face. That she ran away from time after time. That she wanted to forget so badly she had blocked Her out and forgot about Her. Replaced Her! Replaced her with another woman!

"Yes." The word was so soft that Ruby wasn't even sure she had spoken aloud. "I miss her… so much. Even though… even thou…" Her voice faded as the tears choked her. For twelve years her fears and nightmares of Her, the invincible reaper of the Grimm, the strongest person she had ever known, and her terrible bloody death, had haunted her. Driven her mad. The voices, the visions, the blood, and her mother's goddamned white cloak!

She barely felt it when Ozpin wrapped his arms around her and brought her close. And once again, he sat, quiet as he held this young girl crying over her dead mother. He petted her head and rubbed her back, all the while his shirt growing wetter.

And when the young girl finally began to quiet, no longer in continuous tears, though there was still the occasional hiccup and chocked sob, Ozpin spoke.

"Ruby, do you know who I am?"

The red-haired girl just buried her head deeper in his chest.

"Roughly twelve years ago, I held a small girl who had just watched her mother die just like this. Do you remember?"

Ruby's breath hitched as she looked up at Ozpin's face with awed eyes.

"Many more years ago, I met a beautiful woman, and in my pride, I tried to make her mine. She laughed and humiliated me, and the two of us became rivals. I thought she was too uptight, she thought I was a hazard to her health." A soft smile formed on his face. "Sound familiar?"

His answer was a small sound that might have been a hiccup, or a soft giggle.

"The two of us were the best in our class, and we were always paired up, either with or against each other. And somewhere, among the three years at school we spent with each other… the word close doesn't even begin to describe it."

Ozpin grasped Ruby's shoulders and put her at arm's length, "And two months after we graduated she made her first big kill, a fully mature nevermore. The two of us split up, both pursuing careers as professional hunters, but occasionally we would meet up. Those days spent together are some of the best that I have.

He brought one of his hands to cover his eyes as visions of their time together. Of all the laughter and fun times, their inevitable prank war, designing and forging her 'Full Bloom', and their first date in the Forever Fall which they both thought had gone nowhere. Well, beyond the sex. All the hot, passionate sex.

He couldn't help it.

"Yikes, the rose has thorns." He muttered as he rolled his shoulders, phantom scratches suddenly itching.

"Professor?"

"It's nothing Ruby." With just a touch of a smirk, he let the good times pass on, as the true reason he had brought up his past love was about to be revealed.

"Then one day, she disappears. No trace of her that anyone can find. She's gone for a full week before she shows up on my doorstep. Gone were the hard and sharp lines of a professional huntress, the slight tension of total paranoia befitting a true predator, and instead, she was full of life. She didn't say why she was there. But we talked for hours, about everything else. Then eleven o'clock strikes and we realize we spent the whole day together.

"And she tells me, 'I'm going away for a few months. For health. There's a nice village in the mountains. Beautiful weather there, spring, summer and fall, and a gorgeous winter, and everyday has sunsets that are supposed to be ruby red'. And she takes my hand just for second, then she's gone."

"The next time I see her is on a routine patrol in those mountains, about nine months later. We had reports of increased Grimm activity, a need to wipe out a few lairs, from a certain reputable source, you know how it goes. We met up at that village and spent the day together, we even wound up watching one of those red sunsets she loved so much."

"The final time I met her, I was leading a relief team to protect that same village from a horde of Grimm. She's already dead, covered head to toe in her favorite red. It's even in her cloak. She always had a passion for that cloak. Kept it meticulously clean. 'Shows how good I am,' she'd say. She could fight a horde of beowolfs, wrestle with an ursa, and run cross-country and that damn thing wouldn't even have a trace of dirt on it."

The emotion comes back. Ruby's crying softly, she already knows what comes next. But she's a fighter, and she proves it as she looks up at Ozpin, looks past his flushed cheeks and the two trails of tears falling, and into his eyes. She nods, and he echoes. They both need to hear it.

"And as my team fights to take back the town, all I can see is a young girl, barely four years old, clutching onto her like a lifeline. And I know. So the only thing I can do is just pick her up and hug her."

He doesn't say it, and Ruby doesn't ask. Neither has to. They just sit, and watch as the sun sets, and the sky turns a magnificent shade of red.

7777777777777

With the setting sun came the tired but enthused students, back from their day of freedom. The two, reluctant to separate quite yet, retreated to Ozpin's office. There, the two had sat and simply enjoyed each other's company, neither quite knowing what to say, and neither quite caring enough for any words that would open up their dammed emotions once again.

It was only once Glynda had burst into Ozpin's office, shouting how Ruby was missing and that her friends were tearing Beacon apart to find her, that the two made any discernable noise.

"Please inform the members of teams RWBY and JNPR that Miss Rose is safe and in good health. The two of us have simply lost track of the time." The seriousness of Ozpin's order was slightly undermined by the obvious mirth in his eyes and Ruby's unconstrained laughter at the state of Glynda's hair and her impromptu makeup. Mustard and breadcrumbs a successful appearance does not make.

With both embarrassment and rage, Glynda stalked off to deliver retribution. And after that, maybe she would pass off Ozpin's message. Or maybe she would claim that Ozpin had kidnapped Ruby and the two teams had to go rescue her. That would teach the two of them to laugh at her.

With laughter hanging in the air, the two of them shared a smile. Had Glynda remained, she might of noticed just how similar their smiles were, and from there, reconsider (demanded to know) why Ozpin and a student were sitting together in his office in silence.

Instead, the two simply hugged.

"Will I…?" Ruby started, then stopped. Would she what? See him again? Be with him again? Sit with? Converse about her dead mother?"

"You will find, Ruby, that my door is always open to my students, my faculty, my friends, and my family. If you ever want to talk, simply come by. About anything." There was a touch of sadness that left little room to doubt about what he actually meant by that.

Ruby pulled herself just a bit closer to him. It had always been something to have a pair of parents who had raised her as their own. It was another thing to have Qrow, her mother's brother. But to have a father, who had loved her mother, and loved her, it was something completely else.

"Goodnight dad."

"Goodnight, my daughter."

With tears in their eyes, smiles on their faces, and the warmth of love blaring in their chests, the two separated.

Ozpin watched as Ruby, 'my daughter with the love of my life', ran out the door. And as soon as the door closed, he collapsed, both in his chair, and emotionally.

He had pictured any reunion with her a thousand times. Sometimes it was cruel, feelings of abandonment tearing away something he would never get back. Sometimes it was full of exposition, why he had done what he had, and indeed there had been some of that.

But even after he had met her. Even after he knew what kind of person she was…he had never imagined that her smile would make him feel so complete.

7777777777777

It was almost half an hour later when Ruby finally stopped in front of the door to her team's room, still glowing ever so slightly. After all, she needed to make sure Professor Goodwitch had enough time to deliver her message. Last thing she wanted was her team barging in on her.

At least, not until she was ready to face them. Which begged the question, was she?

She hesitated. The tears had long since dried, and the red flush on her face faded back to her natural coloring. Outwardly she looked fine.

But she could feel it. Just the slightest tingle in her bones. The twitch. The urge to just run. With the just the slightest pull on her aura, would be consumed by a storm of rose petals, and be far away from here. Anywhere but here.

That was the reason for her semblance. To run away. To never be surrounded by…

The door handle clicked, and flying faster than she had right to, Weiss Schnee, agreed upon by everyone to be frosty and cool and not the touchy feely type, attached to Ruby in one of the most tightest, most painful bear hugs she had every received. And her adopted father was built like a bear!

"Oh thank Oum! You're alright! You're safe! Oh you dunce! I thought you hurt or dead or wooorrrsse!"

Ruby could only watch as her normally composed teammate broke down into sobs, still clinging to her.

"Wha…?"

"Ruby!"

"Yang! No!"

Too late. Over 200 hundred pounds of muscle and blonde hair crashed into Ruby. And consequently Weiss.

"Gah! Watch it you big oa…! Too…tight!"

"OhmygodRubyIwassoworriedandthoughtyouwerekidnappedordeadorworse!"

"Ack! What could be worse than…Ow! This. This is worse than death." Ruby managed to grind out. "Blake! Help, please!"

The fourth member of RWBY and the only one not engaged in what appeared to be an extremely odd way to kill someone wasn't even trying to hold back her grin.

"Sorry Ruby. This is your fault for dropping that bomb on us then walking away."

Both Weiss and Yang could feel Ruby tense up. Yang quickly released her sister and turned on Blake, immediately putting her in a headlock and whispering furiously in her ears.

"Um… is there anything we can do to help?"

All four heads turned to see Jaune's head poking out behind his shield. Apparently the last time he tried to break up a fight between Team RWBY was the last time he going to do unprotected.

Yang, Blake, and Weiss each shared a look, before turning to Ruby, who stood staring at Jaune with only the barest quiver.

Weiss, still the closest to her, reached out to comfort her team leader, missing out of Jaune's face rising up just a hair, one eyebrow cocked.

"Ruby I," she began,

"AHAHA! Jaune! What are you wearing?"

Three sets of eyes immediately shot Jaune's now uncovered body as they got a load of his sleep wear. There was no stopping the tide of laughter.

"Hey! Come on now. These are respectable PJs I'll have you know!"

"Jaune," His fellow blonde began, "You're wearing a pink bunny costume!"

An indignant look rose up on his face, before plummeting. "Alright. So I might have lost a bet with Nora." He admitted. "Now, is there anything I can do to help?"

A chorus of raucous laughter was all the answer he needed. With a huff he turned and began the all too long five foot march into his room.

"Pfah! It has a tail!"

"Forget the tail! It has a butt flap!"

With renewed laughter and humiliation, somehow Jaune managed to make his way back to his room, slamming the door. Unseen by RWBY, he pitched a fierce glare at the laughing Nora, who froze in the spotlight.

"Um… I told you it would cheer Ruby up?"

"Nora…just for this, I'm banning you from pancakes tomorrow."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

7777777777777

And on that note, I have officially finished this story. Now, just so you guys know, I started this not too long after I finished season 1 of RWBY, right back after it finished. It has taken me almost two years, forgetting and remembering this thing almost three time, and over a dozen rereading's and revisions. But I swore I would get it done before I finished this semester (Spring 2015 for the record) and I did.

If you liked it, great! Remember to leave a review and maybe favorite it too.

If you liked it and want more, even better, as I plan on at least one more follow up story, Fills My Dreams. I hope you look forward to it.