It was a quiet evening, or it was supposed to be a quiet evening but it ended up being anything but. She needed to stock up on dust, but before she did she decided to browse the magazine section to catch up with news in the world of dust and weaponry as she'd been out of touch with it for a while.

That's when she heard them. They entered the shop intent on robbing it of all its dust, for what she didn't know, nor did she care but they were robbing it and she was there.

Striding out of the back she advanced on the men standing there, she recognised the henchmen. They all worked for Junior, someone she knew rather well over the years.

The other man though, she recognised from the wanted posters she'd seen in the Huntsmen lodges, Roman Torchwick. Wanted for armed robbery and a host of other crimes as well.

"You all should know who I am, leave and I will forget all of this." She said coldly, approaching them all.

All they could see was the red cloak wrapped around her body, hood up and covering her head from view but they recognised the cloak and what they would discover underneath.

Underneath would be a beautiful woman, one that most had attempted to chat up at the bar but all failed. Her hair was long and mostly tied back into a ponytail, it was brunette with natural red and white highlights throughout.

She had natural silver eyes that seemed to bore into your soul whenever she looked at you, her face was sharp and screamed of being a warrior and of danger.

Her upper body was covered by a high-neck, white décolletage blouse with a black over the breast corset. She wore a black and red, puffy skirt that reached her mid-thigh and combined this with black tights that reached just below her mid-thigh with black combat boots that reached just below her knee.

On her waist were two belts, one of which contained rather large bullets that were the ammunition for her high-impact sniper rifle scythe. A deadly weapon in her hands as she fought. But this wasn't her only weapon, for the close encounters she had a powerful revolver holstered on her hip and a short sword sheathed on the hip, while her scythe was stored at the small of her back.

Her entire outfit screamed warrior to people, and no one messed with her. Rumours of her exploits spread across the world though no one really knew her name, only identities, the most famous of which was Red. A huntress who took out contracts to help people, and even hunted criminals on occasion.

She was powerful and no one got in her way, at least that's what people say though she had the scars that proved otherwise.

What wasn't as well-known was that she was only twenty years old, fortunately she knew the right people, people who didn't ask her age but let her skill show instead.

"We apologise Miss Red." One of Juniors men said, bowing to her as they quickly left the shop after apologising to the shopkeeper.

"Worth every penny, truly you were." Roman Torchwick stated, looking as all his hired help left the shop, before turning back to Red.

"I suggest you follow their example" She stated, her hand casually resting on her holstered pistol.

"I think not Red, but I'll see you around." Roman saluted with his hat, throwing a broken and volatile red dust crystal at her.

Acting on instinct she batted the crystal away with her arm, which sent it out of the window of the shop as it exploded just outside.

This distraction though allowed Roman to escape out of the shop, avoiding the blast as he managed to head up to a rooftop.

"I'm going after him." She informed the shopkeeper, bursting out of the door using her semblance to chase after Roman.

She was on the roof within seconds, watching as Roman walked to the edge as he was clearly waiting for something to arrive.

"You just don't give up, do you?" Roman called out, raising his cane which opened to fire at her.

Bringing out her scythe she unfolded it just in time to absorb the explosive fired at her, but as the smoke cleared she heard a bullhead aircraft in the air and as she looked up she spotted Roman standing within the cargo area.

"You can run, but you can't hide!" Red shouted out, folding her scythe down into its rifle form and began to fire.

Roman moved away, heading into the cockpit as he said to his companion, "We've got a Huntress." He said, taking the controls while the woman stood up and went into the cargo area.

Red was continuing to fire up but her shots were absorbed by the woman's hand, recognising what was happening she put her scythe away but the ground formed into a rune and she was suddenly pulled backwards.

Putting her hand onto the ground she pushed herself up and into the air to land on her feet as she spotted a huntress stood next to her, advancing towards the bullhead as she began to bring the debris into a usable weapon against the bullhead but it failed and they managed to get away with another explosion of the rooftop.

"You're coming with me." The woman said coldly to Red, and with no choice given to her Red followed the woman.

Red frowned as she found herself deposited inside a police interrogation room, with the door closed and locked.

Walking around the room several times she smiled and sat down, she knew her way out if she wanted to but she'd see how this plays out first.

It took over an hour for the door to open, in that time though Red just relaxed in the chair. She knew it was a tactic to put her off guard but it wouldn't work with her.

When the door opened though she saw Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon academy enter the room alongside Glynda Goodwitch, the huntress from earlier.

"You go by many names, what name shall I call you today?" Ozpin asked as he entered the room, taking a seat opposite the woman.

"I don't care, are you here to let me go?" Red asked, sounding bored.

"Alright then Miss S…" Ozpin began to say but he didn't get past the first syllable before Red interrupted.

The glare that Red shot at Ozpin was cold and held deadly intent as Red's eyes, normally silver seemed to glow as silver and fire seemed to mix around her iris'.

"Anything but that!" Red shot out, angry at Ozpin.

"Fine then, Miss Rose…Ruby. You've gone through many names over the last few years, and many contracts as well. Though last time I saw you, you weren't wielding a high-powered scythe." Ozpin stated.

"My uncle taught me a few things, are you going to allow me to leave?" Ruby asked coldly once more, wanting nothing more than to leave as it seemed Ozpin had nothing worthwhile to say to her.

"Ah Qrow, that would make sense and how you were able to get contracts at first…I wonder though, why did you leave Atlas Academy? You were one of the top students of the school, despite being several years younger than the rest of your classmates." Ozpin asked, curiosity ripe in his voice.

"I'm sure you're well aware of why I left Ozpin, but you clearly have nothing worthwhile to actually talk to me about so I'll just take my leave." Ruby said, pushing herself away from the desk and heading to the door.

Just as she got to the door though Glynda moved into her way to stop her. "Ruby, I know you've been busy these last few years, but I'm also aware that you never officially completed your schooling nor are you officially recognised as a huntress…I could help you with that." Ozpin offered, though without stating the offer.

Ruby burst out laughing, for the last three years she had been taking contracts out happily, no one stopped her and she got on just fine with other hunters and huntresses. "And why, pray tell do you think I care about that? I've been getting on just fine." Ruby answered, knowing where Ozpin was going with his offer.

"But if I spread the word around that you're not a full huntress, do you still think you'll get around as easy?" Ozpin challenged her.

"Blackmail Ozpin, I know Ironwood would stoop that low, but would you?" Ruby challenged right back, "And your influence isn't as large as it once was, I can get by. And it'll beat returning to a school as a first year, all of which I'm two years senior to them and several years more experienced." Ruby said, she wouldn't be put into that situation.

"Unfortunately, the first years is the only year with room, but I can promise you that you won't be treated as such and can attend the third-year lessons if you so wish." Ozpin offered in place.

Ruby stood there, thinking on the offer. There were several things she needed to do in Vale, and if Ozpin were to make her life difficult here then it could prove to be a problem. But at the same time, she had a freedom being on her own as well.

She knew though that she would be restricted in what she could do while at the school but perhaps she could find a workaround. "I'd like to be able to have some freedom to take contracts while within the school, I would run them past you first but I'd like to take them out." Ruby countered.

"You're not even a full huntress…" Glynda started to exclaim but was stopped by Ozpin.

"I find this agreeable, as long as they're run past me first and I give you permission to take them. Anything else?" Ozpin asked.

"Unrestricted access to the libraries of Beacon, and not just the student ones but all of them." Ruby stated.

"How do you know about them?" Ozpin asked, though he didn't sound angry that she knew about the secret libraries hidden in Beacon.

"I know my history Ozpin, and I know especially about the history of my linage. Both sides." Ruby replied, "Do you accept my terms?" Ruby asked, it wasn't everything she wanted but she knew she shouldn't push for too much, though she was unsure why Ozpin wanted her at his school.

"I do. Initiation is in three days, I trust you can work out where. New students should arrive the day before." Ozpin said to her, signalling for Glynda to step aside to allow her to leave.

"I'll be there for initiation." Ruby said, leaving the room as she made her way to somewhere that wasn't there.

The two older adults watched her leave, and as the door closed Glynda turned to Ozpin and said, "She's not what I was expecting from a Schnee." She said, she'd met Winter Schnee and her parents before and they were nothing like Ruby, at all.

"She was the black sheep of her family for many years, it wasn't until she broke out on her own that she forged her own path. I'm just afraid that we may be too late with this." Ozpin said rather cryptically.

"It's not too late. We have her at Beacon now, she's in the perfect position for what you expect to come. But do you truly believe it is her? That she is possibly the key to all of this?" Glynda asked.

"For all our sakes, I truly hope so. And now maybe Ironwood will tell us the truth." Ozpin said, standing up to leave with Glynda following him.

A/N

So, this is what I've been working on, it's an AU where Ruby wasn't born to Summer and Tai but rather to Summer and Mizu Schnee. She takes after Summer more then Mizu clearly, and there's several different things changed which will be made clearer in later chapters.

At the moment I've written up to the battle of Beacon, but I wanted to get this out there and see what people think.

As a side note as well Ruby is twenty years old and she uses a sword and revolver combo alongside her regular scythe as well.

I can't really think of much more to say at the minute, so I guess until next time. Thanks for reading.