She and Weiss were fighting their way closer and closer to Beacon's central tower. Overhead, the enormous Grimm Wyvern slammed into the top, shattering the uppermost chamber, Ozpin's office, sending massive fragments of stone and steel crashing down all around the tower's base. The collapse killed some of the Grimm between them and the tower, and drove others away. Suddenly, there was an opening.

"We've gotta hurry!" Ruby yelled in frustration.

Weiss didn't hesitate, turning to the tower and gesturing with one hand, she created a series of velocity glyphs going up the side of the tower.

Turning back to Ruby, she nodded. "You can do this."

Ruby crouched to lower her center of gravity, then raced directly for the tower. Activating her semblance, she flew up to the first of the glyphs and re-materialized, her feet landing squarely on the spinning white snowflake. The young huntress raced up Beacon's central tower, Weiss's glyphs holding her feet to the wall and boosting her upwards as fast as she could sprint. She had seen flashes of flame from the tower, heard the thunder of metal on metal, now, all she could hear was her own heart pounding, blood rushing, lungs pumping. Even the Grimm Wyvern seemed to have gone silent, hanging from the tower now like some enormous bat.

Ruby leaped from the last glyph, coming down on the ruined floor of Ozpin's office in a crouch, hands and feet hitting the floor together. She looked up, looking for Pyrrha, and found the red haired Amazonian immediately. There was the sound of a bow string, and an arrow sprouted from Pyrrha's chest as if appearing there by magic. Ruby could barely understand what was happening. A woman... Cinder Fall, she thought, was holding a bow, which disappeared even as it fell from the woman's hand. Pyrrha choked feebly, reaching toward the arrow sticking out of the center of her chest, near her throat. A red light came from the wound, and Ruby watched in horror as the woman, Cinder, casually walked over to Pyrrha and put one hand against the side of Pyrrha's face, almost gently. There was a flash of heat, and a burst of flame, and Pyrrha simply... disintegrated, turning into glowing ash, and those ashes blowing away in a moment, leaving nothing behind but Pyrrha's tiara.

It wasn't possible. It couldn't be! On top of everything else that had happened, Pyrrha was dead. They'd promised Jaune that they'd save her, but they'd failed... and Cinder Fall... Cinder Fall had won.

The wave of despair that washed through her brought Ruby to her feet. Grief, loss, and pain filled her, and something else, a force, a power she'd never felt before, surged through her as well. Ruby threw her head back, howling out her anguish, and the world went away, vanishing in a wave of light so bright Ruby was certain she had gone blind. But somehow... she didn't care.

Everything went away, and Ruby knew no more.

Then, something changed, and she was aware of herself again. She lowered her head, blinking away tears, and looked down, but everything was wrong. She was no longer standing in Headmaster Ozpin's ruined office, but on the edge of a cliff, looking down at what was unmistakably her mother's gravesite.

It was cold, snow was on the ground, and, as Ruby looked around in confusion, there was no mistaking where she was. She was on the island of Patch, standing before her mother's grave. The words, 'Summer Rose, Thus Kindly I Scatter', engraved under the stylized rose symbol Ruby herself used as a personal sigil.

Ruby's hood had fallen back at some point, and she pulled it up over her face almost absently to shield herself from the cold. The automatic gesture calmed her just enough that she was able to take a shuddering ragged breath, feeling her heart pounding in her chest as a combination of terror, rage and renewed grief lashed through her body like a blizzard.

She stumbled slightly, then went to her knees once more, her hands falling to the ground. The thin layer of snow was shockingly cold against her hands, and she could feel the chill seeping into her legs from where she was kneeling as well, her black tights insufficient protection when pressed directly into the wet snow.

"What... what is happening?" She muttered to herself. "Am... am I dead?"

She took one ragged breath after another, and shivered, sitting back on her knees and raising her palms, now reddened from cold, to her face. "My hands are cold... do ghosts feel cold?"

Ruby was suddenly conscious of the weight of Crescent Rose against her back. She pulled it in front of her, examining the weapon closely. It seemed solid, reassuring... the first reassuring thing she'd encountered since the white light that had apparently brought her here, but that didn't mean she wasn't dead.

"Ghosts can have weapons, right?" she started to stand, and pressed the hidden button that caused Crescent Rose to unfold into it's scythe form. "Maybe I'm supposed to be a vengeful spirit?"

She tried to take that idea seriously long enough that she had to chuckle. "No... that's silly." She put a hand into a pocket in the back of her skirt and pulled out her scroll. "And I'm pretty sure Ghosts don't have scrolls."

Ruby slid Crescent Rose back into its holster on her back and opened her scroll. "I've got a signal. So unless Ghosts can make scroll calls, I'm probably not dead." She scrolled through her contacts, and blinked. "Yang, Dad, Uncle Qrow... my friends from Signal... where's Blake and Weiss? And Jaune, and..." She gulped. "None of my friends from Beacon are here? Why?" Ruby staggered to her feet, really starting to feel the cold against her legs now, and hugged herself. "What's going on? This can't be a dream, it feels so real!" She took a deep breath, then pinched her cheek hard, then yelped. "Ouch... not a dream. So... was all that just now a dream? Did I somehow dream about going to Beacon?"

Ruby shook her head. "NO." Her eyes grew hard. "No. No. It can't have been a dream. Weiss, Blake, team RWBY, it has to have been real..." Ruby's face paled. "But Pyrrha died... and Yang... her arm! And the Grimm, and Torchwick, and Beacon being overrun?!" She shook her head. "This doesn't make any sense!"

Ruby forced herself to calm down, taking deep breaths until her breathing slowed. "OK, OK, figure this out." She opened her scroll again, and checked the time and date. Somehow, the date didn't surprise her as much as it should. Her scroll claimed it was the anniversary of her mother's death, nearly ten months before the day she'd had woken up in the morning before.

"I'm in the past?" Ruby heard herself say the words, and the sound of her own voice saying it seemed to make the possibility more real. "I'm in the past?!" she said again, more incredulously. "Before Beacon, before any of it happened. How?"

Suddenly, hope blossomed in her chest. It was muted still by grief, by disbelief and fear, but it was there, and it steadily started to grow stronger. Then, another emotion started to take over. Resolve.

"It doesn't matter how it happened. I'm in the past. Somehow... and that means I can fix it. I can save Pyrrha, and Yang, and Penny!" Her hands flew to her mouth. "Oh gods, I almost forgot Penny! I can save her too!"

She shivered again, feeling the cold even more now. Her stockings were wet, and she'd been standing in the wind for several minutes now, and she felt enervated somehow, as if she'd been fighting for hours. She turned away from her mother's grave, looking at the woods that were between her and her family home, and shivered.

"The Beowolves..." she muttered. "I know what day this is. As soon as I get into the first big clearing in those woods, Beowolves are going to come. Lots of Beowolves." Taking a deep breath, she turned back to her mother's grave. "Mom... I don't know how, but somehow, I've gotten a second chance. I'm not going to waste it. I'll make you proud, mom." Turning her back on her mother's grave, she started to walk into the forest, fierce determination filling her as she moved.

As she entered the clearing, a strong feeling of familiarity filled her. She knew before she looked what was coming. Red eyes approached through the darkness under the trees, and then Beowolves started to come into view in large numbers. Ruby walked calmly out into the clearing, making sure to give herself plenty of room to maneuver as the horde of Grimm started to surround her.

She was tired. She didn't remember being this tired before. She was cold as well, and her hands stung slightly as she swung Crescent Rose out and got ready to fire. But she was Ruby Rose, and she was a huntress. Beowolves? Bring them on.

/-/

Her aura had broken during the fight. Her cloak was torn, and she had a nasty set of bruises across her back where she'd slammed into a tree. The fight had been harder than she remembered, but she'd honed her skills during the last year at Beacon, and she'd still won the fight. She was SO tired though. It was like the fatigue from the fight at Beacon had followed her back in time. Her head hurt as well, and there was an ache behind her eyes. She staggered slightly as she left the clearing, pushing herself upright off a nearby tree, she forced herself to walk straight.

As she walked, she forced herself to think. "What should I do? What can I do? Do I tell someone? Who's going to believe me?" She considered telling her father. "No... Dad would think I'm crazy, and even if I could prove that I'm telling the truth, he'd never let me go to Beacon if he knew what was going to happen there." She considered her older sister. "Yang would help... if I could convince her I'm not crazy, anyway. I'm not really sure I'm not crazy myself. But at the least, I can't tell dad."

Ruby kept moving, even though her body just wanted to shut down, and saw a familiar sight as she came in sight of her home. Taiyang, her father, was waiting by the door, his face smoothing from anxious to relieved as she came into sight. As she staggered slightly again as she approached the house, his face shot immediately back to concern, and he ran towards her.

"Ruby! Are you alright?" Taiyang reached her in moments, looking like he was prepared to scoop her off her feet.

"I'm OK, just a bit tired," she told him immediately, deciding to go for as much of the truth as she could. "Big pack of Beowolves. Maybe fifty. I got them all though."

Taiyang frowned. "Are you sure you're OK? I know you can handle some Beowolves, but fifty is a lot. Did you get hit?"

Ruby shrugged, trying not to wince as her back twinged. "My aura took the damage. I'll be fine with some rest. I'm not a baby anymore dad."

Taiyang raised an eyebrow. "Maybe, but I still want to have a look at you, just in case." He took a long look back into the woods behind her. "I knew I should have come with you. I can't believe that there were that many Grimm though!"

Ruby sighed. "Well... they probably were drawn to me. I was... feeling pretty sad."

Taiyang sucked in a breath and nodded. "Yeah." He stepped up and put a hand around her back, then pulled her right arm over his shoulder. "Come on, I'll help you inside."

Ruby accepted the aid without complaint, causing Taiyang to look at her in concern. Ruby realized her mistake immediately. She'd have never let him help her walk like this normally, not unless she was really hurt, and he knew it.

"So you're fine, are you?" Taiyang's voice was light, but she knew she was busted.

"Got thrown into a tree. But I'm FINE." She stressed. "My aura will fix it in no time."

"Sure, sure..." Taiyang said lightly, humoring her, but she knew he wouldn't be satisfied till he'd seen the damage for himself.

A few minutes later, after he'd whistled appreciatively at her bruises and given her some painkillers, Tai admitted that she was right, she'd be fine in a day or two, and he was glad she wasn't hurt worse.

"Still..." he said matter-of-factually. "You should probably wait to head into Vale till you're healed up a bit."

"Into Vale?" Ruby wracked her brain, trying to remember. "I was going into Vale?"

"To see your sister off? She's starting at Beacon in a few days, remember?"

Ruby's face froze in shock. "That was today?" She tried to think. "She went yesterday to shop for school supplies, and she's staying in town... and I was supposed to go see her on the day before school started!"

Ruby was trying hard not to panic. I need to get into Beacon... and the only reason I GOT into Beacon is because I stopped Roman Torchwick's gang from robbing that Dust store... what was it called?!

"Dust till Dawn!" She shouted suddenly, her face lighting up as she remembered the name of the store.

"What?" Her father looked strangely at her. "That's a... dust store in Vale, isn't it?"

Ruby flushed, then tried to cover. "Er... yeah! I wanted to look at their weapon magazines while I was in Vale! There's a new issue out, and they don't get that magazine here in Patch..."

Taiyang laughed. "Of course that'd be what got your attention. Still, I don't know about you going all the way into Vale in your condition..."

Ruby shot to her feet, pulling down her shirt to cover the bruises on her back. "What condition? I'm fine!" she lied brazenly. "I'll BE fine. You know I always heal really quick." she gave him her best puppy dog stare. "Daaaddd." she whined. "I CAN'T miss Yang before she goes into Beacon. It'll be forever till I get to see her again."

Internally, she was trying to remember the airship schedule from Patch to Vale. "I can rest up tonight, and catch the morning flight... it'll be fine!" I met up with Yang tomorrow night originally, didn't I? Or was it tonight? Darn it! I can't miss that robbery!

Taiyang frowned, then sighed. "Fine, if you're feeling better tomorrow, you can go. But I'm walking you to the terminal!"

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief even as bits of memory returned. She had taken the morning flight the previous time as well. It'd taken her most of the day to track Yang down, and they'd spent the night in a hotel in Vale. She'd been shopping by herself the next evening... or was it the evening after that? No, they'd only been at the hotel for two days, certainly? Ruby grimaced. I can't miss that robbery, no matter what!

/-/

The next morning, Ruby woke feeling stiff, but nowhere near as tired as she'd been the night before. Her aura seemed mostly back to normal, and she could feel the bruises on her back were already healing. She dressed quickly, packed, and headed downstairs.

Taiyang was waiting for her. "So, feeling better this morning?" He asked lightly.

"Yup! All better!" Ruby announced cheerfully. "I feel great!" she lied glibly.

"Good to hear!" Taiyang said with a grin, slapping Ruby on the back heartily.

Ruby steeled herself and took the slap without a wince, only the slight twitching of one eye marring the grin she had plastered on her face. "Yup! All healed. So... time to get to the ferry to Vale, right?"

"Breakfast first young lady." Taiyang said cheerfully. "There is plenty of time before your flight."

/-/

Taiyang had walked her to the terminal, and Ruby had difficulty concealing her impatience to leave. Taiyang put up with her anxiety with easy humor, however, and Ruby was in a cheerful mood by the time they had reached their destination. When the airship to Patch started to board passengers, however, she felt a pang of homesickness. Taiyang didn't know it, but she wouldn't be back in Patch for a lot longer than the few days he expected. If she had her way, she'd get into Beacon, and she wouldn't be home for months, if not longer. Despite her anxiety to return to Beacon and her friends, she found herself saddened by the thought. She'd already spent nearly a year away from home, even if it'd happened in another timeline, and for her, she'd only had a few hours to spend with her father in all that time. Still, she had been sent back for a reason, and she steeled herself to hide her feelings behind a smile.

Taiyang noticed, of course. "What's wrong, kiddo?" He asked her as she was about to turn to go.

Ruby hesitated. "Just... I'm going to miss Yang while she's at Beacon, I guess." she lied.

Taiyang nodded, accepting the lie easily. "Me too, kiddo. Me too." He wrapped her up in a strong hug. "Give her my love, OK? And have fun in Vale."

Ruby hugged him back, hiding her face in his shoulder. "Fun. Yup! Going to have a blast." Pulling away, she started running toward the back of the line going into the Airship. "Got to go. Love you Dad!"

/-/

The Airship arrived in Vale just before noon, and Ruby was loose in the city. She opened her scroll, and turned on the feature that allowed her to track her sister's scroll, a program that Taiyang had insisted that they both install. It certainly came in handy in times like these. Unfortunately, Ruby remembered how difficult Yang had been to track down that day. She'd been moving from place to place faster than Ruby could follow. But knowing what she knew, Ruby remembered where she'd last spotted her. It was hard to forget seeing a full grown man get thrown out of a window, after all.

/-/

Hours later, Ruby waited patiently as her sister tore up the inside of a dance club. She knew Yang would be alright, but she didn't know what would happen if she tried to come in earlier. Instead, she waited outside the window she remembered the large man flying through that night, and sure enough, after all the explosions and gunfire were through, he flew through the window over her head, just as she remembered. Yang hopped out of the window following the man, incidentally going right over Ruby's head.

Ruby stepped forward and tapped her sister on the shoulder, then ducked as Yang came around with a wild punch.

"Whoa! Yang it's me!" She shouted.

"Oops!" Yang grinned and shrugged. "Sorry Ruby. Surprised me there."

Ruby hesitated, wanting to tell her older sister everything. But there was no way she'd believe her, was there? She'd think she was crazy!

Ruby sighed and forced a smile. "So, what were you doing in there, anyway, Yang?"

Yang had blown her off with some story about getting into a bar fight because some guy hit on her. Not that Ruby couldn't believe that a guy would hit on Yang, or that she'd start a bar fight about it, but something about the way she averted her eyes when telling the story told Ruby that Yang was hiding something. In fact, Ruby seemed to remember thinking that Yang had been hiding something from her the first time as well. But whatever it was, Ruby was actually grateful. It meant that Yang was too nervous to question why Ruby herself was distracted and nervous. Yang usually could tell when something was bothering her, but this time, it wasn't something simple that her big sister could fix. It wasn't something her big sister would even BELIEVE. So Ruby was glad Yang was too distracted to question her about it.

/-/

The next day, Ruby and Yang spent some time together in Vale, hanging out, seeing the sights, and window shopping. Yang was already all packed to go to Beacon, and it was, supposedly, the last day they'd have together for awhile. That afternoon, however, the sisters split up. Yang wanted to go to a club to dance with some of her friends from Signal, and Ruby wanted to get to From Dust Till Dawn. Roman Torchwick was coming, and Ruby had no intention of being late.

/-/

She was early. Ruby couldn't remember exactly when she'd gotten there the first time, so she ended up waiting in the store for hours. She'd bought a weapon's magazine to placate the shop owner after the first hour, then some extra dust rounds for Crescent Rose an hour later. After that, the owner seemed content to let her peruse the magazines in the back. Unlike the previous time, Ruby wasn't listening to music. She was too nervous to let her guard down, even if she knew she'd get through this fight with no problems. Except it wasn't certain, was it? Roman had nearly killed her the last time they'd fought, up on the top of that Atlas battleship, and while things PROBABLY would go the same way, what if they didn't?

Before she could drive herself into a panic, however, the chime over the door announced the arrival of Torchwick and his men, a bunch of goons in black suits wearing red ties. It was strange, she'd never seen those particular goons after this one fight. Maybe she'd beaten all of them the first time and Torchwick had to work with the White Fang after that? Ruby's eyes went wide at that thought. Could she have caused Torchwick to join the White Fang? Was everything he helped them do after this her fault?

Ruby was still staring into space, stunned, when one of the black suited goons came around the end of the aisle she was standing in and pointed a pistol at her. "Hey kid!" He said in a threatening tone. "Hands on your head and don't do nuthing stupid."

This broke Ruby out of her stupor, and she couldn't help but grin as she asked. "Are you robbing me?"

The man rolled his eyes and waved the pistol. "Yes!"

Ruby grinned wider. "Good."

The fight with Torchwick's goons was over in under a minute. It had been so long ago for her now that she couldn't remember much about the fight except that it was easy... and it was. Regular humans without Aura or Semblance didn't stand a chance against her speed. Torchwick, on the other hand, was more of a problem.

"Worth every penny, those guys..." Torchwick was muttering in annoyance. Ruby blinked. That explained it, she supposed. They weren't actually his men, but rather men he'd hired. Or did that make a difference?

She was almost too distracted to catch what he said next as she tried to puzzle that out, something about her being too young or something. She certainly didn't miss him pointing his cane at her, however.

Ruby was moving before he'd pushed the button to activate his gun-cane's sight, and rather than firing at her, he was forced to parry her scythe as she used her semblance to flash up to him with a move that would have cut a normal human in half. She'd have never used such a move against a normal person, of course. Torchwick's men always got the blunt side of her scythe, but Torchwick... he was DANGEROUS. Worse, he was part of all the terrible things that had happened. Yang losing her arm, Penny, Pyrrha, the Atlas robots attacking everyone. Torchwick was part of it. Maybe he wasn't in charge. It had been a really confusing year, but he was certainly a big piece of why all those terrible things had happened. Ruby didn't hold back. Even as he parried, she whipped herself past him and swung again for his back.

Torchwick rolled forward, barely ducking clear of her blade, and came to his feet in a moment, pointing his gun-cane back her way as he attempted to get a clear shot. Ruby didn't give him time, firing Crescent Rose to shoot herself back toward him and inside his guard before he could fire. The master criminal jerked sideways, but not quite far enough, and his aura took a massive hit as he went spinning into the wall of a nearby alley from the force of her blow. She'd damaged his coat, and it looked like she might have cut him a bit, even through his aura.

Torchwick's eyes went from astonishment, to fear, to determination in an instant. "Kind of murdery for a little kid, aren't you, little red?" He asked with a bit of an edge to his voice, parrying Crescent Rose away with his cane as Ruby sliced at him again. He kept the alley wall to his back, keeping Ruby from rushing past him and building more momentum, so Ruby fired at him point blank to fling herself away and give herself some room to maneuver.

Roman dodged the sniper round, barely, then was forced to dodge and parry several more as Ruby dug Crescent Rose into the street thirty feet away from him and opened fire from a fixed position. The heavy sniper rounds knocked his cane around in his hands and one parry was not quite enough, the round nicking him in the side of the chest and knocking another chunk off of his aura. But the distance gave him enough time to line up a shot of his own.

Ruby lifted Crescent Rose and fired again as the dust round hit the street where she'd been standing a moment before, and when the smoke cleared, Roman wasn't there anymore.

"Darn it!" She muttered. "He did that last time too!" Quickly scanning about, she spotted him swiftly climbing a ladder. "Wow, he's really fast when he wants to run away..."

Ruby raced toward the ladder, but rather than climb it, she used her semblance to race up the side of the building, landing in a flurry of rose petals on the roof just as he was reaching the rooftop himself.

Swearing, he leaped to one side to avoid her first swing, and he sprinted for the other side of the roof, where a Bullhead was already hovering. But Ruby was faster, and she knew where he'd be going. She fired Crescent Rose once, letting the recoil carry her into the air over Roman, then fired a second time, using the momentum to send her spinning downward over top of where he was heading.

Roman glanced behind him at the first shot, not stopping, but wanting to make sure he wasn't shot in the ass on the way out, but, like most people, didn't think to immediately look upwards. He DID spot her coming down from above out of the corner of his eye, and tried to turn and parry her attack, but he was too late. Ruby slammed Crescent Rose into his right side hard enough to send him skidding across the rooftop with a broken arm.

He skidded to a halt when he hit the edge of the roof, and for a long moment the Bullhead hovered above the building. Then Glynda Goodwitch came down out of the sky next to Torchwick, and the Bullhead pilot had obviously seen enough. It turned and accelerated, rapidly putting distance between itself and the roof. Ruby was torn between firing at the retreating craft and making sure Torchwick didn't try anything, and the craft quickly disappeared into the distance.

Glynda Goodwitch was staring at Ruby with a mix of astonishment and, Ruby realized, trepidation? Miss Goodwitch couldn't actually be scared of her, could she?

Seeing that Torchwick didn't seem to be trying to escape at the moment, Ruby retracted Crescent Rose into it's boxy, rifle-only mode, and pointed it slightly towards the rooftop, rather than directly at Glynda or Torchwick.

"Er... hi?" Ruby tried, feeling more than a little nervous at the strange look Beacon's combat instructor was giving her.

/-/

Torchwick had surrendered almost immediately after that, and once the police had arrived, Glynda had handed over the criminal and his squad of goons, who were still scattered either unconscious or wishing they were unconscious on the street below, over to the cops, who had Torchwick handcuffed and in the back of a police van before ten minutes had passed from his initial entry into From Dust till Dawn.

Glynda had then taken Crescent Rose, escorted her to the local police station, and, after talking to the local police captain for a minute, taken her back into an interrogation chamber.

Ruby wasn't scared, of course. This had all happened before. In a few minutes, Professor Ozpin would come through the door and offer her the chance to come to Beacon! She'd done it! Better than that, she'd stopped Torchwick! Sure, there were the White Fang, and Cinder and her team, but surely things would be easier from now on, wouldn't they?

Things were not quite going as she remembered, however. For one, Glynda seemed quite a bit more angry then Ruby remembered.

"What were you thinking?!" Glynda yelled angrily. "You could have killed those men! You badly injured several of them, and from what I saw, you were going after the last man with the full intent to kill him!"

Ruby blinked. "Um... huh?" She didn't remember Glynda accusing Ruby of trying to murder anyone before.

Glynda tapped her foot, eyes harsh. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

Ruby tried to think quickly. "Well... they tried to kill me first?"

Glynda growled. "And was that sufficient reason to resort to murder?"

Ruby backpedaled quickly. "I didn't kill anyone. I didn't even try to kill anyone! I used the blunt end of Crescent Rose on all those goons!"

Glynda stared back at her. "And what about their leader? You obviously were not holding back against him in the slightest."

Ruby thought frantically. "Well... I could tell he was really strong. And er... I recognized him from the news? I knew that if I held back he'd beat me."

Glynda blinked. "Did you now? How did you know that?"

Ruby swallowed, then lied blatantly, hoping that the teacher wouldn't figure that out. "I'm... good at reading people?"

"So it seems." Ruby nearly jumped as Professor Ozpin came through the door. His face was stern, and, to her shock, he was NOT carrying a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. Did she not remember that part correctly?

She cringed back as he approached her, his face grave. "Ruby Rose..." He said, leaning in close. "You have silver eyes."

Ruby took a breath. This seemed more familiar. He'd said something similar the first time, hadn't he?

He carefully sat down in the chair opposite her, and seemed to regard her carefully. "So. Tell me, Miss Rose. What were your intentions, tonight, when you confronted Roman Torchwick and his gang?"

This seemed to be going entirely differently than the last time, but Ruby had an answer ready. "I didn't intend to confront anyone, sir." She said carefully. "I was shopping when they tried to rob the store I was in."

Ozpin nodded. "But when you realized that the store was being robbed, what were your thoughts?"

Ruby considered that. "Well, I wanted to stop the robbery, of course."

Ozpin inclined his head in acknowledgement. "You used one of the most lethal weapons ever designed to stop a robbery?"

Ruby shrugged. "Crescent Rose is really dangerous, but my Uncle Qrow taught me how to use her. I was careful not to hurt anyone too badly. But they were pointing guns and swords at me."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "I see." He gestured to Glynda, who produced an oversized scroll, on which was playing a video of Ruby's fight. "And here?" He said, tapping the screen as a red blur was racing toward a surprised looking Roman Torchwick. "Why didn't you hold back here?"

Ruby forced down her nervousness. She'd already answered this question, hadn't she? "He's Roman Torchwick." She explained. "I knew he had aura. And I could tell he was dangerous. When he pointed his gun-cane at me, I didn't want to give him a chance to fire. It fires high caliber shells."

Ozpin glanced at Glynda, who looked surprised. "You recognized his weapon for what it was that quickly?"

"Yes." Ruby nodded. She hadn't the first time, but she had an easy lie ready. It had the benefit of being mostly true. "I love weapons. I'm a bit of a weapon nut, really. I read all the hunter weapon magazines. I built my baby myself, and I could tell that Roman's cane was modified to fire high caliber dust rounds. Not with anything like the muzzle velocity Crescent Rose has, of course, but that doesn't mean it wasn't dangerous."

Ozpin looked pleased. "That's very impressive, Miss Rose." He looked thoughtful. "Your uncle taught you? Qrow Branwen?"

Ruby nodded, back on more comfortable ground. "That's right. He's a teacher at Signal Academy. I'm training to be a huntress there."

Ozpin smiled. "And why do you wish to become a Huntress, Ruby Rose?"

Ruby's shoulders sagged slightly in relief. She knew the answer to that. "I want to help people. My parents always taught us to help people... and my sister is going to Beacon this year, and I'm going to go in two more years..." she trailed off, looking at the man curiously, wondering if she'd somehow messed up. Wasn't he going to invite her to Beacon? Was she too scary with Roman Torchwick? Did he think she was some sort of murdering crazy person who was too dangerous to go to his school?

Ozpin nodded slowly. "I see. Do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon."

He chuckled slightly. "Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

"Do you want to come to my school?" He asked, leaning forward.

"More than anything." She answered him with complete honesty.

Ozpin glanced at Glynda, who grunted and looked away, then looked back at Ruby, and smiled just a little. "Well, OK."

Glynda gave Ruby an evil stare. "SOMEONE has to reign in your reckless behavior. It might as well be us."

/-/

It turned out there were cookies after all. Professor Ozpin handed her a plastic bag full of chocolate chip cookies on the way out of the station, explaining that he thought she'd probably be hungry after her long night. She'd been appropriately grateful, and not at all surprised to find an anxious Yang waiting for her in the police waiting room.

Yang's anxiety turned into ecstatic cheer by the time they got back to their hotel room. Their father, on the other hand, was not terribly thrilled to learn that his baby girl had been battling hardened criminals in the streets, nor was he especially thrilled by her early entry into Beacon. Ruby however, had had this conversation before, and it went as she remembered. Taiyang knew how badly Ruby wanted to go to Beacon, and more, how much she'd been fretting over being separated from her sister Yang for two years, so he reluctantly agreed that she could go.

The next morning, on the shuttle to Beacon, Yang was still over the moon with pride. "I still can't believe it! My baby sister, going to Beacon!" Ruby tuned out Yang, looking out the window instead, thinking hard about what she could remember about the days to come. Initiation would be tricky. So much could happen, and she needed to get it right. In the background, she could hear a news report going on about Roman Torchwick and his gang being captured, and she was thankful her name wasn't mentioned. Then the story moved on to something about a faunus civil rights protest.

Ruby frowned. "Blake..." she muttered quietly to herself. "We have to help her..."

"What was that, sis?" Yang asked curiously.

Ruby wrinkled her nose. "Er... just thinking about trying to make friends when we get to Beacon?"

Yang's smile grew a mile wide. "Is my baby sister breaking out of her shell at last? Oh, this is going to be the best year ever! I just know we're both going to make a bunch of new friends."

Ruby nodded slowly, a melancholy smile coming over her. "I sure hope so, sis!" She glanced around as the image of Glynda Goodwitch came on the screen, going into her introductory speech. She recognized a lot of the people on the transport. Ren and Nora were both here, as were the boys from Cardin's team. She wondered if they knew each other, or if they'd grouped up by chance like she had with Weiss? There were a bunch of other prospective students there as well. Ones she didn't recognize.

"Not everyone here is going to get in..." She remembered. "I guess initiation was pretty tough."

She spotted Jaune, the blond boy looking ill, and she winced as he vomited, splashing Yang's boots. "Oh! I'd forgotten about that!" she said in a whisper to herself, giving herself a light rap on the head with her knuckles. "Darn it."

Yang jumped and swore, scraping the vomit off her boots with some tissues, and before long they'd docked at Beacon. Jaune was one of the first ones off, but Ruby wasn't far behind him, looking around for the other people she knew from her last time. She spotted Blake sitting under a tree, reading, and Weiss was coming out of a private airship with a load of luggage and a pair of butlers? Ruby's eyes narrowed. Where was Pyrrha? The reason she'd come back in time, more than any other, was to prevent Pyrrha's death. It had been that which had sent her back. Ruby felt that it meant something. That somehow, she was destined to save Pyrrha from her fate. But to do that, first she needed to find her, didn't she?

Almost as soon as they'd left the airship, Yang spotted several of her friends from Signal, who'd also made it to Beacon, and excused herself, promising to meet Ruby inside. Ruby sighed as she watched Yang go. None of Yang's friends would make it in. It hadn't seemed to bother Yang all that much, but Ruby wondered. Could she change things so that some of Yang's friends made it? She probably shouldn't, she knew. If they weren't tough enough to get through initiation, they probably wouldn't do well at Beacon anyway. A selfish part of Ruby remembered how glad she'd been to be on a team with Yang and have her sister almost entirely to herself. She shook her head. But now wasn't the time to be distracted! She had things to do!

Ruby glanced from Blake to Weiss, contemplating approaching one or the other. "What should I do? I want to have team RWBY back, but how do I stay close to Pyrrha if I'm not on her team? I can't let her die again."

She wrinkled her nose, then looked around, spotting Jaune after only a few moments. "Jaune gets on her team, and I like Jaune. Maybe I should just make friends with Jaune again, and I can meet Pyrrha that way?"

Ruby grimaced. Making friends was NOT one of her better skills. But then again, Jaune was pretty awkward too. And he was really nice. She knew the blond boy well enough by now to know that if she just walked up and and introduced herself, he'd be nice right away. She could do this! Putting action to her thoughts, Ruby waited for the crowd to thin a bit, then headed for Jaune Arc.

"Hi there. Are you feeling better?" She asked politely. "I'm Ruby Rose, by the way."

Jaune grimaced at the reminder. "Motion sickness is really very common you know!"

Ruby blinked. "Um... sure?" she held out her hand hopefully. "Well, it's nice to meet you...?"

Jaune looked at her hand for a long moment, as if surprised, then stuck out his own and quickly shook her hand. "Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

Ruby giggled. "Do they?"

Things continued smoothly from that point. Ruby fell back on her old standard for meeting people. Talk about weapons. Jaune seemed suitably impressed by Crescent Rose, if a bit confused, and Ruby was genuinely appreciative of his sword. People really didn't appreciate the classics anymore, and there was nothing wrong with using a sword and shield. It kind of made Jaune seem like a knight from one of her stories, even though Jaune wasn't really as suave or confident as one of those characters from stories. Still, she did honestly like Jaune Arc, and it seemed like she was well on her way to reestablishing her friendship with the first person she'd befriended at Beacon the last time.

She let Jaune lead her away from the main building for awhile as they talked, then nodded back toward the main hall. "I think we're supposed to be meeting up over there."

Jaune nodded and followed her, and soon they had joined up with the mass of students in the main hall. Ruby glanced around, spotting Yang's bright yellow head of hair almost immediately, but deciding to wait till later to rejoin her sister. Where was Pyrrha anyway?

Ruby glanced behind her, and spotted the red-haired amazonian girl almost immediately, then forced herself to face forward quickly. "Gah. Did she see me looking? What do I do? What should I say to her?" she muttered under her breath.

"Um... what's wrong?" Jaune asked Ruby curiously, not quite able to make out what the small girl was saying.

Ruby tried to come up with an excuse. "Er... that girl by the door looks like she's lonely. Maybe we should say hi?"

Jaune turned and looked, causing Ruby to wince. "Oh? Who?"

Ruby took a deep breath to calm down. "You can do this." She turned to face Pyrrha, then looked at Jaune. "Come on, we're all new here, right? Let's meet some people."

Ruby led Jaune toward Pyrrha, and couldn't help but notice Pyrrha seem to stiffen. Pyrrha's expression quickly morphed into a polite smile as they got into speaking range, but Ruby had to frown. She'd seen Pyrrha smile before, many times, and that wasn't her happy smile. It was the smile she gave to fans.

Ruby took a deep breath, walked up to Pyrrha, and held out her hand. "Hi. I'm Ruby Rose."

Pyrrha blinked, looking mildly surprised, then held out her own hand for a handshake. "Hello there. I'm Pyrrha."

Jaune grinned and waved. "My name's Jaune! Nice to meet you!"

Pyrrha's smile softened into something a bit more genuine. "Nice to meet you Jaune."

Ruby hesitated, then forged on, emboldened by how well this seemed to be going. "So, are you new here too?" She glanced around. "This is my first day... although I guess it's everyone's first day, isn't it? I mean, everyone is here for the first time because it's the first day and we're all here to be huntresses and huntsman and... I'm going to stop talking now..." Ruby trailed off, kind of wishing she could melt into the floor.

Pyrrha, however, didn't seem upset, and smiled gently at her. "I am new here, yes." She looked mildly curious. "If you don't mind me asking, you seem a bit young for Beacon."

Ruby sighed in relief. "That's because I am! Young I mean. I'm fifteen. I wasn't supposed to be going to Beacon for two more years. My sister Yang was going to go this year, er... I mean she IS going this year, but I wasn't going... to go... this year..." she trailed off again, grimacing. "Er... I'm a bit nervous?"

Pyrrha didn't seem to be upset. "So are you here to see off your older sister then?"

Jaune seemed disappointed. "You're not actually going to be here this year?"

Ruby quickly shook her head. "Oh no! I am going here this year! I just... I just got in two years early."

Pyrrha's eyes went wide. "That's remarkable! I don't remember ever hearing about anyone getting into one of the main huntsman academies so early before. That's quite the achievement!"

Ruby winced. "Well... It's really not that big a deal. It was more of an accident, really."

Jaune looked confused. "How do you accidentally get into Beacon two years early?"

Ruby grimaced. "I... kind of stopped Roman Torchwick from robbing a dust shop? Yesterday?"

Pyrrha's eyes went wider. "That was YOU?" She beamed. "That's amazing! The news said it was a pair of huntresses from Beacon... but they didn't give any names. Was that you and your older sister then?"

Ruby was starting to get embarrassed. Sure, she'd lived through being the prodigy who'd stopped a robbery to get into Beacon before, but she never liked the attention. Still, Pyrrha seemed impressed, so maybe this was a good thing just this once?

"No, my sister wasn't there." Ruby admitted. "Miss Goodwitch did show up at the end though."

Pyrrha blinked. "Miss Goodwitch?"

Ruby looked around, then pointed up towards the stage. "Miss Goodwitch. She's the combat instructor here at Beacon. She helped..." Ruby trailed off. She could tell the truth, that the fight had been all but over when Glynda Goodwitch had arrived, but she really didn't want it to seem like she was bragging. "And I guess she and Professor Ozpin were impressed, because they invited me to come to Beacon!" she finished with a little shrug.

Jaune looked flabbergasted. "Wow! You're a hero! That's awesome!"

Pyrrha was beaming. "Most wonderful. It's a honor to meet you, Ruby Rose!"

Ruby couldn't stop her blush from covering her face entirely. "Um... thanks? I mean, I'm sure anyone would have done the same."

Pyrrha smiled softly, and put one hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I disagree. Most people would not have acted in such a situation, and fewer would do so successfully. You should be proud of your accomplishments."

Ruby sighed, and went with honesty. "I am. I mean, I'm really glad I got to come to Beacon. I was really sad that I'd be away from my big sister for two years, and I've ALWAYS wanted to train at Beacon Academy. My mom and dad trained here, and they were both hunters! But I don't know if I want everyone to think I'm weird." She chuckled self deprecatingly. "I mean, I guess I am kind of weird. I'm obsessed with weapons, and I'm younger than everyone here..."

Jaune leaned in to get his face closer to hers. "Hey, I don't think you're weird. I think you're pretty cool."

Pyrrha nodded. "I agree. I think you are... cool, Ruby."

Ruby smiled back, feeling more than a little overwhelmed. She'd done it. She'd made friends with Jaune and Pyrrha! Biting her lip, Ruby lowered her eyes, not wanting to push her luck.

"Thanks." She told them honestly. "I'm really not all that cool. But it's nice to hear anyway." She took a deep breath, and a solid step back. "It was nice meeting you both. I should probably go meet up with my sister though. She'll probably be wondering where I am. I'll see you around though?"

Pyrrha nodded. "I certainly hope so. It was very nice meeting you as well."

Jaune grinned. "Yup! See you later Ruby!"

Ruby waved as she walked backwards, then smacked into someone behind her, knocking herself and the person she'd run into over in a heap with Ruby on top.

"Watch where you're walking!" Weiss Schnee growled angrily, pushing Ruby off of her with a huff as she sat up. "What kind of a dolt are you?"

Ruby quickly rose to her feet, and offered Weiss a hand up. "Sorry! I'm so sorry, that was my fault..." she began.

Weiss waved her away, getting to her feet without assistance. "Obviously. What kind of an idiot walks backwards through a crowded room, anyway?" Her eyes narrowed. "How old are you anyway? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

Ruby blinked. She REALLY hadn't intended to start things off with Weiss this way, still, it had been even worse the first time, so this wasn't really all that bad, was it?

Weiss waved a hand in front of her face. "Excuse me? Are you even listening? This isn't just any combat school. It's not just sparring and practice you know. We're here to fight monsters. So watch where you're going!"

Ruby had to hide a smile. "Sorry, Weiss... Ice Queen." Ruby blushed, hoping Weiss hadn't noticed the slip.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Weiss Queen?"

Ruby tried to shrug nonchalantly. "Ice Queen?" She fought for an explanation. "I mean, you're kind of... icy. With the white hair, and er... you're kind of acting like you're a queen?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow.

Ruby winced. "Sorry. Sorry." She held out a hand. "I'm Ruby Rose. I'm sorry for bumping into you. The bad nicknames are my sister's fault."

Weiss snorted. "A likely story." she rolled her eyes. "Very well, I will accept your apology on the condition you do not bother me again."

Ruby hesitated. "Well, we're kind of going to the same school now, but... I'll do my best not to knock you over any more!"

Weiss put a hand to her forehead. "I can't believe I have to put up with this." Shaking her head, she stalked off.

Ruby sighed. "Well, that probably could have gone better."

Jaune came up behind her and patted her shoulder. "Ah, you can't win them all, right?"

Ruby chuckled. "I suppose not." She smiled at him, then pulled away, giving him a friendly wave. "Still have to get to my sister. Hopefully without knocking anyone else over!"

As she walked through the crowd, she looked around for Blake. The Faunus, however, was nowhere to be seen, probably, Ruby thought, not wanting to mingle with the dense crowd of students. Ruby managed to rejoin Yang without difficulty, just in time for Professor Ozpin to begin his speech. Ruby listened, interested to hear what he'd say. When he was done, she blinked.

"Wow, I'd forgotten what a bummer that speech was..." she muttered to herself.

Yang shook her head. "Wow. That was... different."

The rest of the evening proceeded much as Ruby remembered. Everyone ended up camping out in the main hall, boys and girls together. Yang ogled some shirtless guys, quite a few guys ogled Yang back. Ruby waved to Pyrrha, who waved back happily, looking almost surprised, and came over to join her and her sister.

"Hey Pyrrha, want to join us?" Ruby asked the tall red head with a smile.

Pyrrha ducked her head, looking almost shy. "Would that be alright?"

Yang looked up at the tall amazon, then grinned. "Sure! The more the merrier!" She sat up and held out a hand. "I'm Yang. I take it you've met my baby sister?"

Pyrrha smiled and nodded. "I have had the pleasure, yes."

Ruby gestured to Pyrrha. "Yang, this is Pyrrha. Pyrrha, I mentioned my big sister Yang?"

Pyrrha nodded again. "Nice to meet you Yang. May I?" she gestured at the floor.

Yang grinned. "Any friend of Ruby's is a friend of mine." She reached over to ruffle Ruby's hair. "That's great, sis! You've made one friend already!"

Ruby blushed, then glanced over at where Jaune was wandering, wearing his blue onsey. "Two, I think."

Yang glanced at Jaune as well. "You mean tall blond and dorky?" she gave him the once over. "I mean... kind of cute, although wow. Who wears a onsey?"

Ruby shrugged. "Maybe his mom gave it to him? Who cares if he's got the best fashion sense. He's nice."

Pyrrha nodded agreement. "He does seem nice."

Yang grinned and shrugged. "Eh, whatever. Two friends already! That's great Rubes!"

Ruby glanced at Pyrrha, and they exchanged a smile. "I guess so. Are we friends, Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha seemed to think about that for a moment before nodding. "I'd like that, Ruby."

Yang threw up a thumb's up. "Excellent!" Her eyes followed Jaune as he wandered over to talk to Weiss, who sent the blond away with a growl and a pointed finger. "Er... wow. Guy has no idea how to talk to girls though, huh?"

Ruby giggled. "Nope. But he's still nice."

Yang chuckled. "Well, if he was all suave and sophisticated I might be worried he'd be a bad influence, but he seems safe enough. I'm proud of you, sis." She turned to Pyrrha. "So, how'd you and my baby sister meet, anyway?"

Pyrrha glanced at Ruby, looking as if she almost wanted to ask a question. "Ruby came up to me and introduced herself. She was quite charming."

Yang looked dubious. "Ruby was?"

Ruby groaned and Pyrrha giggled. "I thought so, yes."

Ruby shook her head. "I started to babble after the first ten seconds."

Yang laughed and gave Pyrrha a friendly punch to the shoulder. "If you survived a Ruby babble storm, you're alright in my book."

Pyrrha looked shocked at the familiarity, then started to smile. She didn't seem to know quite what to say, but she certainly looked pleased.

Ruby lay back, covering her face, but she couldn't help giggling softly. Pyrrha joined in a moment later.

Once they'd calmed down, Ruby sat up abruptly, looking around. She spotted Blake over by a wall, reading by candlelight, and contemplated the faunus for awhile, trying to figure out how to approach her.

"Who's that?" Yang asked curiously. "A third friend?"

Ruby blinked, turning to her sister nervously. "No... just... she seems lonely I guess?"

Yang looked a bit surprised. "Huh." She brightened. "Hey, want to go talk to her?"

Ruby nodded slowly. "I think I do."

Yang grinned, rolling to her feet and yanking Ruby to hers as well. "Well, now's your chance!"

Ruby let Yang drag her towards Blake, feeling bemused by the feeling of deja-vu.

"Hello!" Yang called cheerfully as she marched them towards the dark haired girl with the black bow in her hair. "I'm Yang!" she announced as they got within an easy speaking distance. "This is my little sister Ruby!"

Blake slowly looked up from her book. "OK." She answered noncommittally.

"So..." Yang went on. "What's your name?"

"Blake." Blake answered back with a note of reluctance, going back to reading her book immediately.

Ruby latched on to what she could remember. "What are you reading?" She asked.

Blake looked up. "The Man with Two Souls." She answered simply, not trying very hard to conceal her annoyance.

Ruby smiled. "Oh, that's a good one!" She commented. "I enjoyed the ending." Yang blinked at Ruby, looking surprised, and Blake glanced from one sister to the other, looking dubious.

"What part did you like?" Blake asked, partly curious, partly suspicious.

Ruby grinned. She'd borrowed that very book from Blake during the previous timeline, and she HAD enjoyed it. "I think the beginning... when the old man's soul enters the younger man's body, and the young man is so confused, and the old man is trying to calm him down, and he's so bad at it!"

Blake chuckled, having just read that part of the book herself. "Trust me, you're not going insane..." she quoted. "As if that would calm anyone down..."

Ruby laughed. "I know, right?"

Yang grinned at her younger sister. "Sounds neat! I should read it sometime!"

Blake smiled slightly, the annoyed look now completely gone from her expression. "If you want, I can let you borrow my copy, once I'm done with it."

Ruby beamed. "That'd be really nice of you." she winked. "But we better not talk too much about it. We'll end up spoiling it for Yang!"

About then, Weiss finished storming over. "Could you keep it down! People are trying to sleep!"

Ruby grimaced. "Sorry... sorry. We'll just... go." Weiss turned around with a huff and stalked off.

Blake grinned at Weiss's back, looking a bit pleased at the heiress's annoyance, but then turned to Ruby. "Perhaps we can talk about it later. For now, perhaps we should call it a night."

Ruby smiled and waved. "OK Blake. Goodnight." She turned to go back to where she and her sister had their sleeping bags, and Blake blew out her candelabra a moment later.

In the dark, Ruby carefully found her own sleeping bag, and settled onto it, sighing in satisfaction. Nearby, just finishing getting her own sleeping bag unrolled, Pyrrha smiled at the younger girl, then settled herself down to sleep as well.

Yang giggled as she plopped down on her own bag. "Wow, sis. That was pretty smooth. What happened to my awkward geeky baby sister? I'm so proud of you!"

Ruby giggled, then put a finger to her lips. "Yang, shh. People are trying to sleep you know."

Yang chuckled, snagged Ruby by the head to mess up her hair, then released her, grinning. "You know, this has been a really great day. I've got my baby sister, we're making lots of friends. I can't wait for tomorrow. I just know it's going to be even better!"

Ruby lay back, smiling happily. "Yup. Everything is going to go great. Nothing can possibly go wrong."

Yang laughed. "Whoops! There you go and jinx us!"

Ruby just rolled her eyes and hit Yang with her pillow.

Just wanted to put an author's note here on something that may seem like a plot hole to some.

Ruby seems to kick Roman's ass pretty easily here, and I am well aware that Roman always beat Ruby in their fights in Canon. So why does Ruby win here?

Well, to be straightforward, Roman starts by underestimating this kid he's never seen, and Ruby starts out of the gate fighting as if her life depends on it. She's seen Roman fight multiple times, and Roman has never seen Ruby fight before. She had a large, very unfair advantage here. She won't have it so easy if they meet again.