Endless. Pointless. Why was she still here? Why was she still sitting through this, despite more pressing, more urgent business being at her doorstep.

The ace of Beacon's first years, Pyrrha Nikos, wanted to simply get out of class. Despite being the ever serious student she was, even she could barely focus on the lesson at hand, her notebook filled with the few scattered words that actually stuck in her head long enough to be jotted down. The reason for her lack of concentration? It was obvious, right? It was Ruby, it had to be. In her head was a typhoon of emotions and thoughts.

On one hand, Pyrrha, despite some of the others in her dirty little secret passing it off and joking it away, was one of the few who took it seriously. Though, who was she kidding? Even those jokers realized the high odds. Everything Pyrrha had shown them matched up, and even as illogical as it sounded, it still sounded more logical than any other theory. No body was found, despite Grimm not even needing to eat, leaving that up in the air. Her weapon was never recovered either. It made sense that the Red Queen might end up being Ruby, come back from the dead with some new ability to control Grimm. And this terrified Pyrrha to no known end. And why wouldn't it? It took a special kind of hunter, a special kind of person, to not shiver when facing down a Grimm. Most simply suppressed it, but there were few to none who were immune to that deep, instinctive fear. Knowing that a huntress, even one as looked down on by her peers (mostly out of jealousy, mind you) as Ruby, leading a group of Grimm, creatures born, or spawned or whatever, specifically to hunt down and kill humans and faunus, creatures with abilities far beyond that of a normal man or woman. And now, they had a leader, one with intelligence far surpassing any living Grimm.

On the other hand, Pyrrha was absolutely pissed off. And to her, the anger was justifiable. It didn't matter what anyone said, she couldn't have been wrong. Even among her peers, her generation, she was considered one of the best. Flawless in nearly every aspect, with more experience in actual hunts than most, as well as a track record that spoke volumes of her abilities. On the other hand was Ruby, a girl virtually unknown with probably the bare minimum training and very good luck. Why did Pyrrha have to dance on pins and needles to avoid letting others know that she was one of those who took Ruby out. If anyone were to look at their worth, it stood to reason that they would obviously see Pyrrha as being much greater than Ruby. So what about the loss of one huntress, even in the circumstances the world is currently facing, in comparison to the one who lived. Pyrrha felt- no, she knew that she was definitely worth ten, no a hundred Ruby Rose's.

With all of this running through Pyrrha's head faster than Nora on her fifty meter dash after consuming enough sugar to kill a hundred diabetics, Pyrrha remained staring into space, her concentration lapsing. It was only when that familiar chime, the one indicating the end of the period, and the beginning of lunch, that Pyrrha snapped to attention. Gathering her things, Pyrrha threw them all into her bag and slung it over her shoulders. Exiting the classroom, she made her way to Beacon's cafeteria. In there, she found the two she was looking for; Blake and Weiss.

In order to finally give herself some peace, Pyrrha felt it was necessary to throughly prepare for what would be coming, and decided to ask Ruby's former teammates if they knew anything that could help her take the little red speed demon on. Grabbing her food, she swiftly took one of the empty seats at the same table as the two.

"Good afternoon Weiss, Blake."

"Hello Pyrrha," Weiss replied, sounding rather chipper.

"..." Meanwhile, Blake was rather silent. It wasn't as though she was ignoring Pyrrha, but rather that she was simply out of it.

"Well, what can I do for you, Pyrrha?"

"I wanted to talk. About," and carefully looking around, Pyrrha leaned in a bit closer and lowered her voice before resuming. "Ruby."

Immediately, even Blake's attention returned to the situation, and the three of them quietly got up and left the cafeteria. Without a word, they made their way to the academy's courtyard, a rather popular place during lunchtime which, for some unknown reason, was rather empty right now. Just a few scattered students here and there. And no faunuses. Perfect. Settling near one of the larger trees, with it being between them and any possible prying eyes from the direction of the cafeteria, Pyrrha continued their conversation.

"I want to talk about Ruby."

"But Pyrrha," Weiss interjected. "There isn't much to talk about. You already told us what you found out about this Red Queen crap. Personally, I don't see it as being any big deal. I mean, even if that little red nuisance survived what we'd done to her, there was no possible way that she could have raised an army of Grimm. Perhaps she's working with this Red Queen, in which case it seems unlikely that any possible resources this Queen has would be wasted on coming back here to take revenge on us."

"Weiss, what if I'm correct? I need to know anything you can tell me about Ruby. If she attacks-"

"Then we deserve it." Pyrrha and Weiss looked at Blake, who finally spoke her mind. On their faces was a simple look of confusion and disbelief at what she'd just said. Especially considering she would likely also feel whatever was coming their way. But before either could ask her what the heck was wrong with her, Blake continued. "We deserve any revenge she wants to take on us. What we did, what all of us did, in unforgivable. I'm hoping, I'm praying that she's still alive, even if she's the Red Queen. Even if she wants to take her revenge on us, I would not complain. We have to right."

"You idiot, do you even realize what you're saying?! If she comes back, then everything we all have will be lost! And I don't know about you, but I have a lot to lose. And besides, isn't this a little hypocritical, especially with what you've likely done as a dog of the White Fang?"

Those words were not lost on Blake, who immediately put the morbid conversation on hold, and glared at Weiss with a ferocity that one would liken to a lion or a panther; sharp, and ready to pounce.

"Watch you mouth you self entitled bitch." At that word, Weiss noticeably flinched, especially as she'd never seen Blake so much as utter a small profanity. But before she could try and act a little offended, Blake cut her off. "First, that was- is my past. Second, what give you the right to even speak about it? Next time you mention that, I will silence you. I'm out of here." Picking herself u, Blake began to walk away when another thought came to mind. Turning to back to Weiss and Pyrrha, she finished. "Oh, and I'm a cat. Next time you call me a dog, I'll show you my bite." Narrowing her eyes and finishing with a glare, Blake walked away from the two girls, leaving them wondering just what the faunus girl was capable of.

Later that night, in the dorm room for team RWBY, a certain cat faunus was sitting up in bed, reading another book from her collection. It was a collection of old children's stories. Well, the actual stories in the book are copies of the originals, which were much less children friendly. The current story she was reading was a rather interesting one. The main character was a young female, on her way to visit her grandmother whose house lie deep in he woods. The girls choice of attire was actually a plain dress and a red hooded cape. In it, she gets to the house, only to find that her grandmother was eaten by a wolf. There are two sides to the story though. In the kid version, the grandmother is saved by a passing woodsman. However, in the original, the little girl in the red riding hood is also eaten by the wolf, and both the grandmother and little red die. It's a rather disturbing tale, but to Blake it felt eerily similar to her current circumstances. The big bad wolf, or rather ten in this case, all who decided to end up taking little red out of the picture. Only this time, little red does indeed come back. And the big bad wolf was currently shaking at the thought.

The thought that she, thankfully, did not lead to Ruby's death. At the same time, she feared the retribution Ruby would be bringing with her. She knew she deserved it, but at the same time she was paralyzed with fear at the thought that Ruby was gathering Grimm to simply come back and take her revenge on all of them. And right now, Blake could only shiver in her bed. Despite the warm air blasting through the air conditioning unit, and despite the lit candelabra nearby providing her some light for reading, she felt an indescribable chill running through her spine. Finally putting the book down and blowing the lights out, Blake slipped back under her covers and tried to let sleep take a hold of her. The story, fresh in her mind, incited tears from Blake as she tried to sleep, hoping that the world of dreams would take away this pain. Hopefully before it was Ruby who got the chance.

The morning didn't bring any happier news or feelings for Blake. Opening her eyes to an empty room became a new thing to her. With Weiss hanging outside of the team now, Yang away on some unknown mission, and Ruby... well, that much speaks for itself really. But with all of this going on, Blake has been the only one staying in the dorm room as of late. It was lonely, it was stifling. Thinking on it for a slight second, Blake gave a slight chuckle at the thought. Well, they always say that rabbits can die of loneliness, and yet here she was, a cat faunus, who was getting sick and tired of being alone. And yet, who exactly could she go to at this time? It's not like anyone would be able to understand the situation, or rather they would. And they would likely have the right idea in mind with how to deal with it, basically turning Blake and the others in.

Hopping out of her bed, Blake got dressed in her casual clothes and decided on a trip out to town. Grabbing her Gambol Shroud and placing it in a sheathe on the small of her back, she left for the school's front gate, where the shuttle- well it's called a shuttle, it's just one of the schools older Bullhead's being used for transportation purposes, sort of like a bus- would take her out to town.

After being dropped off in one of Vale's nicer, busier sections, Blake immediately headed to the little spot she had in mind earlier. It was a nice cafe, just a bit east of where the Bullhead dropped her off. It would be maybe a four or five minute walk. And without much to stop and look at along the way, that's about how long it actually took Blake to reach her destination. Entering, she was greeted by a familiar face. As she had come to this shop rather often as of late, the manager and a few of the waitresses knew her and she was on rather good terms with them. Taking her usual spot near the window at the front of the shop, Blake placed her usual order and pulled a book out of the bag she'd brought with her. It was the same book of tales that she'd been reading the night before. Using the ribbon that was attached to the fancy leather bound book, Blake opened it back up to the story she'd stopped on the night previously.

With her nose buried in the book, Blake passed the time as her order came. Sipping down on the drink whose name she still didn't think she could pronounce without some sort of guide, Blake let the disturbing take on children's stories, or rather what was really the origins of those stories, whatever, sober her thoughts up a bit. So much so that she almost missed the newscast that had just popped on.

'Well I mean, you know Lisa that things have been getting worse as of late, right?'

'Indeed Tom. What with the discovery of three hunter's corpses, all sporting the same evidence as the past ones, it looks like the Red Queen has brought her rampage a little closer to Vale.'

Hearing that word, no those words uttered together, Blake immediately became more alert of the news.

"Hey, manager!" Blake shouted, grabbing him as fast as she could. Thankfully he was nearby. "Raise the volume please."

"Eh, sure." Without asking why, he simply complied with Blake's random outburst and wish.

'You sure said it, huh? Reports indicate that the bodies, much like all of the other huntsmen and huntresses's bodies that have been appearing as of late had a multitude of slash marks, as though originating from a curved bladed weapon. And get this, included was also evidence of being attacked by a wild beast, as large claw marks were found across the bodies of the hunters.'

'Wow, that is freaky. Well, what could you tell us about the hunter's mark?'

'More like marks in this case, Lisa. From the reports gathered from the HA, it seems like the team had flagged a hunt for a nest of Nevermores, of all things. Remains found at the scene indicates that quite a few must have no doubt been killed, however there was no indication that the primary target had been hunted.'

'The primary target?'

'Yes. In this case, the HA had a bounty out on a rather large Nevermore. Initial estimates put it's age around the one hundred and fifty to two hundred range. It was a rather large threat. But one thing that's strange is that there was supposed to be a fourth hunter among the crew found, and yet no other body, or DNA was found at the scene...'

Just as Blake was getting engrossed in the report, a loud crash sounded behind her. It seemed that a customer had gotten startled and stood up too swiftly. While the customer helped the waitress clean up a bit of the mess, Blake thought she heard the customer mutter something.

"Fuck! There was a fourth?"

Her ears twitching under her bow, Blake immediately whirled around and looked at the customer. She couldn't see much as the customer had a red hoodie on, but it didn't really matter. What they'd just said, that set alarm bells off in Blake's mind. Nothing else mattered now but finding out what this person knew. But before she could do much, the person seemed finished with everything. Placing some lien on the table, the person muttered their thanks, told the waitress to keep the change, and left in a quick hurry. After the customer had gotten out of the door, Blake told the waitress to put her meal on her tab, grabbed all of her gear, packed up, and readied herself to leave. Rushing out the front door, she looked around, and found the person heading away. Based on the smaller body frame, and the thinner figure, Blake assumed it was a female. Blake jeans, red hoodie, and some boots. Noting this down, Blake immediately set after this person, trying her damndest to not get caught while tailing her. But it was for naught it seemed, as a few moments later the hood seemed to jerk a bit, and the person set off on a full on sprint away. No time to think, Blake gave chase, immediately following the person in the hood.

Weaving through the crowds proved to be no problem for Blake, who was used to swimming through obstacles. But the person ahead of her seemed just as good, likely due to their shorter stature. And with her speed, Blake was amazed that the other party could weave through so well. Concentrating, Blake tried to see if she could focus on the other person. Blocking out all of the surrounding noise she could, she tried zeroing in on the person she was chasing.

"Who the hell is following me? They couldn't have figured anything out, right?"

That was further proof that this person knew something. Taking a chance, Blake increased her speed. After a few more minutes of running, the mystery person ran into an alley to the left. Catching up and turning the corner, Blake saw them standing there in the alley, looking up and down for an exit. A dead end. How fortuitous. Pulling Gambol Shroud from her back, Blake made a show of cocking the gun portion, and spoke to the person before her.

"Don't move." Hearing her voice, the other person flinched a bit. "Put your hands up, and turn around slowly. I see you have no weapon, and I have mine pointed right at your back. Don't turn this into a bloodbath." Giving off the impression that her voice was practically seething with venom, Blake tried her best to intimidate the other person. "Hey, did you hear me?! Turn around now!"

The figure began to raise it's hands, yet made no motion to turn around. Instead, in a swift motion, they reached into their jacket pocket and pulled something white out. About six inches long and maybe two wide, it only took Blake a second to recognize what it was. Before she could pull the trigger to her weapon, the other person threw the dagger in their hands at Blake, who barely managed to avoid it in time, leaving a small cut across her cheek. In the meantime, turning back to ace the person, Blake found they had disappeared in the second she's turned from the blade. Looking around, Blake couldn't see any trace of the person who was there before, almost as though they were an illusion, or as though they'd simply disappeared. Sheathing her weapon and walking over to where the other one was just a few seconds ago, Blake began to carefully scrutinize the place, hoping to find something, anything. Without much luck, she turned around to leave, only to be surprised by something she'd found on the ground.

It was a single, bright red rose petal.

"No..."

Unknown to Blake, running along the rooftops was a small figure, clad in a red hoodie and black pants, wearing some nice heavy black boots. While the term running is used, the figure was moving at a speed that cause small scale gale force winds to accompany her. Were there any people actually up on the rooftops, it would feel to them as though a windstorm was passing through. After a minute or two, the figure finally slowed down, stopping to catch it's breath after having put significant distance between itself and Blake. Pulling the hood down, as it had become too stifling, dark red hair kept in a straight ponytail fell onto the young girl's back, her silver eyes wide, staring at the sky as she sat back onto the ground, allowing herself a few moments to rest.

"Dust damnit. How in the hell do I get that unlucky? First, I have to find this other hunter and make sure that they didn't see anything that could lead the HA to me, then I end up spilling my milk shake all over myself. And to top it off, Blake, that bitch, was at the same damn cafe I was! I can only pray she doesn't realize that it was me there. If she does, then this job will get much harder than it needs to be. Even with the addition of the six or so Nevermores I got from those hunters, and that Deathstalker I found, there's not much I can do if all of Beacon is on alert for an assault by a Grimm controlling maniac. Argh, fuck!"

Groaning in frustration, Ruby laid back and threw her hood over her face. Deciding that it was a nice day out, she covered herself up and decided to try and get a nap in. While she did that, a little bit of hindsight told her that it probably wasn't a good idea to be casually strolling around the same town harboring the academy that she was planning to assault with her miniature Grimm army. While yes, she had enough of the older Grimm to easily handle quite a few first years, and maybe some of the second years too, she didn't have enough if even the teachers would get involved with this whole charade. Whatever. For now, she was fine. Since she wasn't dressed like normal, and she was careful not to use her semblance enough that the rose petals formed, she figured Blake likely wouldn't figure out it was her. Hopefully. And with that, Ruby began to calm herself, and nod off.

That night while Blake sat up, allowing the day's events to replay in her head over and over and over again, a Bullhead was making it's way to Beacon's front, dropping two students off from their extended mission. From the Bullhead walked out two blondes, one of which was a well proportioned woman and the other being a rather scrawny young man with a little bit of armor on. Yang and Jaune had just arrived back in Beacon.

Without interruption, the two made their way straight to Ozpin's office, after confirming that the lights were still on ad that someone was still in there of course. When they stepped inside, the sight of a rather haggard looking Ozpin greeted them, along with the aroma of tea.

"Run out of coffee professor?"

"No, Miss Long. I simply needed a change of pace. Would you like a cup? It's simply delightful."

"I appreciate the offer professor, but we think we may know what The Red Queen's, what Ruby's, plan is."

The previous atmosphere vanished in an instant, replaced by a rather serious one. At once, the normal mask that Ozpin wore was now replaced by a business like visage. The headmaster was all ears, and his students were more than glad that he was. Because, boy did they have something to report. Gesturing to the two to take their seats, Ozpin waited while they settled down, and then spoke up.

"Mister Arc, Miss Xiao Long. What did you find?"

"Like we said before professor, according to the kid we met at that orphan place, the Red Queen has to be Ruby!" With Yang's excitement making her report seem a bit much, Jaune took over explaining.

"As Yang says professor, there is a fairly high certainty that she is indeed Ruby. But that brings me to the next thing. As I messaged to you back in Tinker, I did some extra investigating with the city officials. Well, to be precise I did it with the city's guardsmen. What we found is that they do remember a young woman coming to the city, mentioning that she was passing through on her way back to Beacon. When we checked the logs for the day that she'd arrived, Ruby's name was found." At this, Ozpin made a sharp inhale, likely finding this news to be the best he's had in so long. Finally, just finally. There was tangible proof, proof that Ruby Rose was truly, completely alive. "And one more thing professor."

"What is that, Mister Arc?"

"Yeah Vomit Boy. What was so important that we had to come back here in a rush?"

"Well," Jaune began, looking to both Yang and Professor Ozpin with a serious face. Taking a second to carefully choose his next words, Jaune began. "If I'm right, and based on what me and Yang found, as well as what we were told by the people who interacted with her, the Red Queen. Ruby." Taking a deep breath, then heaving another sigh, Jaune said in the more serious tone he could possibly muster, what was on his mind. "If I'm right, then she's coming back here." And this bombshell Jaune dropped not only tore apart Ozpin's serious face, leaving a look of shock across his visage, but the same to Yang as well. "Ruby, with her Grimm, will becoming back to Vale, to Beacon Academy, to take revenge. On who, I have no idea. But what I do know is that there seem to be quite a number of them, around a dozen, give or take a few, based on the drawings that we found back in Tinker. And it seems that she doesn't plan to simply talk it out with them."

"Wait, what are you saying Jaune?"

"Yeah, what are you saying?!"

"Ruby will be coming back to kill those who tried to kill her. Beacon Academy may soon become a bloodbath."

And it was at that point in time, in that single dawning moment of comprehension, that both Yang and Ozpin froze. They froze not simply because of the severity of what Jaune said, but because of who it was he said it about.

"How can this be?"

"I don't know professor. But if I'm right, the I know the when, sort of." At the look coming from the other two, as though telling him to spit it out, Jaune finished his grim report. "Soon. Ruby will be coming home very soon."

*Author's Note*

Yeah yeah. Before you say a thing, I know I've been gone for a while. It's been what? A month now? Sorry about that. I had to take some impromptu leave to go handle a family issue back in the states, and I forgot my laptop during the packing. Without that, I kind couldn't do much in terms of writing. While yes, that is a paper thin excuse, do remember that my laptop holds all of my files regarding The Red Queen, including the things I keep as inspiration, as well as all of the notes, rough drafts, and original copies of the chapters. Without those, continuing to the next one is usually a bitch. And since I lacked the ability to communicate with any of my friends in Japan, I couldn't ask them to send it. So yeah, took a while, but here I am.

Anyhow, as you can see a few changes were made. I finally put a book cover on. It was an interesting little art piece I found with browsing some discussion boards for RWBY. I say that it seemed to have a Wonderland motif, and the Ruby in it had a crown. With the little Beowolves wearing the cloaks and looking at Ruby like a leader, I kind of was reminded of my story. If I was vain, I would almost claim that it was made expressly for my story here. But I'm not that vain.

Anyhow, as you can see, I decided to skip the part where Ruby actually gets her Deathstalker and Nevermores. Sorry. That was mostly laziness on my part. Well, laziness, and me wanting to try putting the chapter in the perspective of those left at Beacon. Yeah, I ended Pyrrha's portion abruptly, but meh. I did go in depth with Blake however, and yes, it seems like Blake may have figured it out.

On that note, Jaune Yang, and Ozpin did in fact figure most of it out. The next chapter will have Ozpin piece together Jaune's information with what he found about Pyrrha. Where will this lead? Will Ozpin, Jaune, and Yang figure out who the targets are in time? Will the heartless bastards who attacked Ruby (along with the more sympathetic looking Blake Belladonna), get what they deserve? Well, you'll just have to wait and find out, won't you?

With that, you know the drill. Please leave any and all comments, criticisms, and concerns that you may have, along with any general questions you can think of. Also, please no PM's if it's a question someone else may have, as I would like to address it in the next A/N if it's possible. Good night (or good morning; how the heck should I know your timezone?!), and have a good one.