CHAPTER 1 - Forgotten Rose

Ruby Rose was alone in her dorm room on a Friday night as she played on her Scroll, waiting for her teammates to return.

After their last class of the day, they said for her to go on ahead of them as they had to take care of something. Ruby, never one to doubt her friends, went on back to her room and simply passed the time for them to return by playing on her Scroll so she could ask what they wanted to do for the weekend.

The only problem being at it was four hours later and they had yet to return. This worried Ruby as she wondered if something happened that held them up or if they got into trouble but Ruby had to remember they each had their weapons on them and were in fit physical condition.

Which confused her more since they promised they'd be right there and they hadn't returned any of her texts or calls either.

Ruby's worries were over when the door opened to reveal Weiss, Blake, and Yang all entered the room as they conversed with each other and they seemed to have gotten back from something exciting given how happy they all were.

"Guys!" Ruby said as she hopped off her bed and ran up to them. "Where were you?! It's been over four hours!"

"Oh, has it?" Blake said as she checked the clock. "Sorry, Ruby. We must've lost track of the time."

"For FOUR hours?" Ruby asked skeptically.

"...We REALLY lost track of the time." Blake said, holding up her hands in defense.

"Well, it's okay if you guys forgot," Ruby said calmly. "So, now that you're back, what do you wanna do?"

"Actually, Rubes," Yang spoke up. "The three of us are heading over to Team JNPR for a few hours. Just the three of us."

"What? You mean I can't come?" Ruby asked with a hint of sadness.

"Sorry, it's just that we're doing stuff that you're too young for," Yang said but didn't really sound apologetic.

"But that's not fair! Just because I'm two years younger doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to come! I'm the team leader!" Ruby said.

"Well, excuse us for wanting some time away from you for a change!" Weiss spoke up. "Sometimes you're too much to take at once."

"She has a point, Ruby," Blake said with less annoyance than Weiss but still annoyed nonetheless. "We spend time with you all the time and just need a break."

"But that's only during school! Once classes end, you three go out to Vale or something else without me!"

"That was just a few times, Rubes. Besides, Nora got her hands on alcohol! We can't miss this!" Yang said with a grin at the thought of how Nora illegally got her hands on that stuff.

"Wait! You guys are 17! You have to be 21 to drink!" Ruby said with some heat.

"Well, we can pass for seventeen, but you're too small and high-pitched," Yang said.

"I'm not high-pitched!" Ruby said, her voice cracking slightly.

"My point exactly," Yang said as the three began to exit out the dorm. "Later, Rubes! We'll be back later tonight."

"But...!" Ruby tried to say, only for the door to be slammed in her face and she was left alone until she heard the sounds of her teammates being happily greeted by Team JNPR before the door was heard being shut again. She was alone...again.

This wasn't the first time Ruby had been left behind for being too young by her friends as it been going on for the past few months but had become very frequent in the past four weeks. Once the weekend rolled around, the three older girls of Team RWBY would go out to Vale with JNPR and sometimes other teams like CFVY along with Sun and Neptune to party or something along those lines.

And of course, every time Ruby wasn't allowed to come because of her age. That gave the redhead many lonely spent alone in her room until her teammates either came back and went straight to bed with talking to their leader or Ruby fell asleep waiting up for them.

This may not have been as big of a problem as Ruby understood that her teammates wanted some time to themselves due to being more mature since Ruby's idea of a "good time" was playing board games or video games in the room when an entire city full of possibilities was out there.

The real problem came from the fact that Ruby didn't have any real friends of her own as her friends were either her teammates or connections she made through them since starting at Beacon.

Team JNPR was friendly to her but they preferred to hang out more with Weiss, Blake, and Yang over her. Team CFVY was friendly too, but she didn't really know them that well and they didn't really talk back to her since she was a year below them and was really only on friendly terms with Velvet who spent most of her time with Coco. Sun and Neptune only ever talked to her if Weiss or Blake were around and didn't really know her personally.

So, the only true friend Ruby had made on her own was Penny, but she had only ever met the girl twice and since then hasn't seen a breath of her robotic friend.

Because of that, Ruby came to the realization that she didn't have any friends that were interested in her because of who she was and not because she was friends with Weiss, Blake, and especially Yang who was very popular in the first year.

She...was alone. Ruby Rose was nothing more than the weird kid who nobody liked because of her age and personality.

It hurts.

Ruby felt tears come to her eyes as the harsh realization came to her that she was the outcast. Rejected by everyone around her, including those she saw as her friends and her big sister who had always been there for her.

However, instead of crying, Ruby rubbed her eyes and shook her head. "No, Ruby Rose. Don't think like that! It's them you're talking about! Sure, Weiss can be a jerk sometimes and Blake's kinda emo, but they care about you! Not to mention that you have the coolest sister in the world as your best buddy!"

Ruby smiled as she thought it over and decided since her friends wouldn't be back for a short while, she should simply head over to the library to do some reading or study for Dr. Oobleck's big test on Vale's involvement in the Great War and its alliance with Vacuo that was happening next Monday.

With that, Ruby collected some of her stuff and her Scroll before she opened the door and was ready to head over to the library but was caught off guard when she heard Yang laughing along with the others.

"So, this happened when Ruby first unlocked her Semblance!" Yang said through her laughter. "She couldn't control herself and went so fast that she sped out of her clothes and was left in nothing but her underwear!"

Ruby felt her face go a bright shade of red and her heart drop into her stomach upon hearing Yang tell Weiss, Blake, and Team JNPR about her wardrobe malfunction back at Signal. Her blush deepened when she heard the rest of them laugh as well.

"Oh my god!" Weiss laughed. "I wish I could've seen that!"

"I know right?" Yang said. "I was gonna try to take some pictures but she sped out of their back to the house before I could. Lucky for her, she remembered to hang onto her underwear so she wouldn't be running back in her birthday suit!" Yang roared with laughter. "I was so ready to post them online but my dad threatened to ground me for two months if I didn't delete them. Shame."

Ruby felt humiliation creep in upon hearing her partner and the rest of her friends laugh at her expense.

"I can't believe Yang is telling everyone about my embarrassing stories from back home at Signal!" Ruby thought to herself in crisis.

"That's awesome!" Nora laughed. "So what else do you have to tell us?"

"Well, there are a bunch of things I could tell you, but really it's sad when I think about it. Ruby doesn't really have any friends outside of us. Nobody back at Signal was ever a real friend to her so I more or less had to keep abandoning my friends just to make sure she wouldn't be left out." Yang explained to the others which raised Ruby's spirits just a bit.

"That must've been hard," Weiss said with empathy to Yang. "I don't know how you do it! That dolt and I are practically glued to each other both in and out of classes due to Ozpin making me her partner. It's always her trying to be as annoying as possible with her constant whining and demands about wanting to be 'BFFs' as she puts it."

Ruby's eyes widened upon hearing such hurtful things from her partner. "W-What...?"

"I hear you," Blake said with her own tone of annoyance. "I can't remember all the times I was trying to get some peace and quiet only for her to come along and ruin it and I always have to go to the library or somewhere she won't follow after me."

Ruby felt tears starting to well up in her eyes from the hurtful words. "That's...not true..."

"Trust me, I have it worse than any of you," Yang spoke up which made Ruby feel like lightning crashed through her and gave her a heart attack. "I had to grow up with her and after my dad started working at Signal, I was stuck with her basically 24/7. I can't count how many times I had to cancel hangouts with my friends because Ruby was too shy to make any friends of her own. So annoying..."

Ruby started weeping at that point. Yang had always been there for her, but to hear this from her big sister? It was beyond heartbreaking for the poor girl.

"I thought you were glad to have your sister come to Beacon with you?" Pyrrha asked which brought a drop of hope to Ruby but it was once again flooded with pain and despair.

"I was at first, but then I realized how I was stuck with her again and that only got worse when she was put on the same team as me. I could've done well with two years without her around me. If you ask me, she should've stayed back at Signal for two more years until she matured a bit before getting accepted here. I honestly don't know what Ozpin was thinking with letting here early."

Ruby was silently crying and dropped her books onto the floor which somehow wasn't noticed by the older students in the room next to her.

"I guess you have a point," Jaune spoke up. "I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best student here, but even Ruby's attitude can kinda become annoying sometimes."

"Replace 'sometimes' with 'all the time' and I'll agree with you," Weiss said.

"She is a bit incapable of fighting, especially without her scythe." Pyrrha spoke, the most polite out of all of them but even she seemed to be a part of "who can insult Ruby Rose the most?" game.

"Yeah, I mean. She's more or less useless without it, isn't she?" Nora piped up.

"I have seen her attempt hand-to-hand before, not exactly what I'd call adequate," Ren added.

Ruby was sobbing into her arms at this point as her tears stained the floor. Every last one of them agreed that she was a useless annoyance that they didn't want around her. What more proof did she need? She was the only one not invited to her team's own hangout with Jaune's team...

"Oh, guys!" Yang spoke up. "I just remembered I got a letter from Velvet! She said that Coco's having a huge party over at that new club in Vale, the one that opened this week! She said we're all invited and some third-years are even attending! We have to go!"

"Really?! Awesome!" Nora cheered. "What are waiting for?!"

"As much as I find your parties over in the slums barbaric, there's no way I'm missing out on this," Weiss said.

"I'm in too," Blake said as well.

"You know we're all for it," Jaune said and Ruby heard the sounds of everyone standing up which made her eyes widened before she used her Semblance to collect her stuff and ran back into her room and quickly, yet quietly, shut the door just as the door to Team JNPR's room opened and she heard the seven of them all talking as they walked down the hall to Coco's party over in Vale.

As soon as she was certain they were gone, Ruby peeked outside the door to make sure nobody was around before opening it completely. She looked around and saw that the door to JNPR's room was slightly ajar. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help herself as she walked over and carefully opened the door to see some of the sheets of the bed ruffled and some drawers opened.

What caught her attention was a piece of paper sitting on one of the beds and grabbed it as she began to read:

To the three older girls of Team RWBY,

Hey guys! This is Velvet of Team CFVY! I'm here to tell you that Coco has organized a huge party for first and second-year students in the new club that opened in Vale this week! Some third-year students have even agreed to come and we're excited to have you Weiss, Blake, and Yang!

Since you live right across from Team JNPR, can you tell them that they're invited too? We couldn't risk sending this out via texts with the faculty watching the network and we had only a few of these letters made to avoid suspicion. Thanks for letting them know.

Also, I think it goes without saying, but could you not tell your leader, Ruby, about this? The party is only for those 17 and up and we don't want to risk this getting out since we can't really trust her to keep this a secret. Can't wait to see you guys out there Friday night! The party starts at 8:00!

- Velvet

Ruby lowered the letter with her hands trembling. There was a party that she wasn't invited to? No, everyone except for her had been invited! Everyone BUT her! This was so unfair!

She re-read the letter several times just to be sure of what she read was true. Upon realization, the harsh truth came crashing down: she had nobody. She was truly alone with no friends!

She was all alone!

Ruby began to weep and sob openly as she ran back to her room and shut the door before hopping onto Weiss' bed and began sobbing her heart out.

Why did the world hate her so? Why was she the only one in Beacon treated like a social outcast? Why?!

Ruby cried for about fifteen minutes until she was physically incapable of producing any more tears but even then she didn't stop for a good long half an hour Afterward, she stood up and walked over to the mirror and blew her nose into a tissue that she threw into the garbage as she looked at herself.

She had red, puffy eyes and a sniffling nose with a look of pure sorrow on her face as she thought about how much fun everyone must be having at the party...without her there to annoy anyone...

That was when her sorrow was suddenly replaced with another feeling: pure rage. No, it was hatred.

Hatred at everyone. Her team, JNPR, CFVY and every other student in Beacon for turning her into this. A crying mess with nobody who loved her. She hated it! She hated them! She hated everyone!

"SCREW YOU!" Ruby yelled out at her reflection and held the urge to punch the wall before she began to beat Weiss' pillow onto her bed and scream out her frustration! "Screw, no...fuck those bastards! Fuck all of them! Fuck Weiss! Fuck Blake! Fuck JNPR! Fuck CFVY! AND ESPECIALLY FUCK YOU, YANG!"

She panted from exerting her anger but it wasn't quelled as she remembered all the hurtful things they said.

How she was annoying, useless without her weapon...

Useless? Well, not for long... She would prove them all wrong!

Ruby looked over to Crescent Rose in it's compact form and grabbed it before her hands shook in rage as she opened her drawer, buried her weapon under her clothes, and shut it. It had once been a source of joy for her but now it was a reminder.

She was weak.

Too weak to make friends. Too weak to stand up for herself. Too weak to fight without it. Well, things are going to change from now on...

Ruby grabbed a duffle bag and filled it with spare clothes and a water container, along with her Scroll as she went into the bathroom and changed into gym clothes before walking out the door of her room and left it empty with the lights off.

No longer would she be held back. She would prove them ALL wrong. She was going to become the best damn Huntress in all of Beacon! The best anyone had ever seen! Better than Pyrrha, better than Yang, better than her uncle Qrow, and even better than her mother, her childhood hero/inspiration.

She was going to become strong.

Here we go, A Rose in Pain is back and better than ever and dare I say I am proud at how quickly it took for me to write this chapter!

I sincerely apologize to everyone who was shocked and worried when they realized the story was taken down! The truth is, and many of you probably know but for those who don't, I have been dealing with depression for a while...at least since February.

I have gotten much better since then and I dare say I am almost good to go. But it came back strong in the past few days but I feel much better now and that was the reason I deleted the story. I felt such strong despair and hatred and forced so much of that onto the story...the problem is I forced too much and ruined some things.

But also because I feel I rushed some of the chapters. Don't get me wrong, they were good but I feel I could've done a lot better with dialogue and such so I decided to delete and make sure they are NO mistakes like the ones I made this time around.

I apologize again for the sudden deletion but I promise it won't happen again! Thank you for your understanding and I promise to post more stories onto this site that I hope you will love.

Also, like I previously stated, this story was heavily inspired by both "Red and Pink" by jin0uga and "Notice Me, Ruby!" by JustAnotherGuy04, the latter of which I am a huge fan of his stories about RWBY.

RWBY is owned by Monty Oum & Rooster Teeth.