Ruby Rose woke with a stretch and a yawn, her bones cracking in response to their waking from stiffness. Her sleepy eyes wandered around the room until she reached the curtain across her small room. Ruby sleepily swayed over to the curtain throwing it open and hissing when sunlight flooded into her sleeping chambers. She quickly closed the curtains, rapidly blinking her eyes to rid herself of the disorientation caused by the light. Once the disorientation had cleared, Ruby slowly opened the curtains. Small rays of light burst forth causing Ruby to turn her head away. Ruby stopped pulling the curtains ajar to allow her eyes to grow accustomed to the lights glare.

Several blinks later, Ruby's eyes adjusted to the light and she threw open the window to breathe in the fresh morning air.

"What a perfect day!" Ruby clasped her hands together, a smile to match the sun as she spun in place.

Ruby happily skipped over to the scroll on her desk, humming to herself as she went through programs to text her girlfriend, Cinder.

Good morning Cinder! Can we go the park later, please? I want to hear the surprise you said you had planned for me.

Ruby heard a call from below for breakfast. She rushed down the steps, her feet slid across the squeaky floor, causing her to crash into the kitchen island.

"Owww." Ruby rubbed her struck forehead, hoping the heat generated from her hands would somehow cause the injury to fade away faster.

"Ruby." Her father's stern voice resulted in the young rose shyly turning her head and smiling.

"Hey dad, I heard breakfast?" The smile did not deter the scowl on her father's face.

"What did I tell you about running down the stairs?" Ruby hung her head down.

"To not do it." Her father's blue eyes turned away for a moment, only to look back at a now empty plate with a missing Rose.

"I swear if that girl could, she would eat the plate along with the actual food." Tai shook his head, a smile replacing his scowling face.

Another mess of blond hair stumbled into the room. Yang mumbled a good morning, stretching her arms above her head to wake her limbs.

"Morning party girl, have fun last night?" Tai set a plate of breakfast down for his older daughter, Yang. Yang nodded, her eyes sparkling despite her tired appearance.

"Good." Tai set a small cup of coffee down for Yang. Tai noticed a daydreaming expression on his daughter's face. Tai's already present smiled brightened at what his daughter was lost in the clouds over.

"You found someone at the party didn't you, Yang?" Yang stopped her chewing, dropping her fork to clatter against the plate and looked panicked.

"Yang, my little sun dragon, it's alright. Don't be so worried."

Yang softly nodded, picking up her fork once more and continued to chew slowly.

"Yang, do you have a name?" Yang shook her head.

"What does she look like?" Yang shook her head once more. Tai was not going to get information about the mystery girl from Yang. He would have to try another time. He couldn't blame Yang for not talking, after the incident with the last girl. Yang needed time to get to know the girl before deciding anything. Tai sighed, pleading that the same situation that did not happen to Ruby. He'd already lost Raven, almost lost Yang and he couldn't fathom what he would do if it struck Ruby as well. He did not trust the girl Ruby was dating in the slightest, but Ruby was happy with her. If Ruby was happy then, as much as Tai distrusted her, he was happy too. Tai had no way of knowing whether or not Cinder would hurt Ruby. Time would give him his answer, the one he wanted to see he hoped.

The little red reaper happily skipped down the street, her small corgi, Zwei, running circles around the girl.

"I can't wait for what Cinder has to show me Zwei!" The small black and white corgi stepped back, taking care not to get accidentally kicked by the girl with boundless energy. Once Zwei was certain it was safe, he went back to yipping and running around Ruby. Gently, picking up the lap dog, Ruby held him equal to her face, the dog happily panted in response, licking her face once in range. Ruby giggled at what Zwei did, gently scratching his ears in response then set him down.

The young girl never got tired of all the different sights of the city, no matter how many times she saw them. She tended to rant and stare in wonder at buildings, being the engineer nerd that she is. Ruby's mother was just as big of an engineer nerd, so she was told. Ruby loved engineering, but she wanted to try out different things before settling for one field. Her skipping came to a halt, she thought about her mom. Having died in an engineering accident, Ruby was young when it happened. No one told her what accident it was, almost as if it was too painful to remember. Ruby knew her mother would be proud of her, following in her footsteps and how her life was going in general. Ruby was very happy with everything. Cinder appeared to enjoy Ruby's more child-like nature and didn't mind going along on her adventures. Ruby's smile returned upon seeing the girl in question, happily bounding over to her and shouting her name to get her attention. The amber eye's of Cinder sparkled with joy at the sound of her name.

"Hello, my little flower." Cinder smiled down as she patted Ruby's head affectionately. "How are you doing?"

"Great!" Ruby loved the small things Cinder did, like head patting.

"I'm afraid I don't have much time, I know how you are with surprises." Cinder slightly glared at the younger girl causing her to rub her head in embarrassment.

"Sorry." The reaper squeaked out in response.

Cinder shooed Ruby towards Zwei.

"Play with him, once I finish the surprise preparations, I will join you."

Ruby walked off to play with Zwei, throwing a ball she had brought in addition to chasing each other. Soon day turned into evening and evening into dusk.

"Cinder."

"Yes Ruby, I'm finished with everything. Now stop asking." Ruby knew that tone. Talking to Cinder at all would get her heated very quickly.

"I know you're dying to see what the surprise is so let's go. It won't take long so no need to let anyone know."

Ruby was confused, why all of this planning if it wasn't going to take long? Cinder was weird like that, Ruby never asked about it. Cinder marched off, Ruby and Zwei close behind. The company rarely saw a soul. Ruby, however, grew more and more worried the further they went into back alleys behind business shops.

"Wait here." Cinder strolled further into the alleys.

"Wait, Cinder. I don't like it here." Her words echoed off the walls and into the sky, never to reach the ears of the target.

Ruby's fearful eyes moved from shadow to shadow. She silently prayed to herself that Cinder would be back soon. Her prayers did little as she felt something hit the back of her head. Her vision faded to black to the barking of Zwei. She caught a whisper from her attacker.

"The little rose won't be bothering you anymore Cinder."

Then Ruby understood, this is the surprise Cinder had in store for her. Cinder didn't want to face Ruby to break up and instead had people attack her. A final thought crossed Ruby's mind as she hit the floor, how much she hated Cinder.