Chapter 5

Ruby had condemned herself to the shower. It was five in the morning, the day of initiation, and everything was wrong. There she was, sitting on the harsh, cold tile floor, crying. Nothing had gone her way in the last day and a half. Her time machine had malfunctioned, she was stuck in the past pretending to be her mother, had accidentally agreed to a date with Glynda, and had most likely completely fucked up the entire timeline. Needless to say, she had reasons to cry. The only solace she had was about six hours of sleep and a brand new weapon, which by the way worked fantastic.

Initiation was in three hours. She needed to prepare. Literally the fate of the universe rested on her shoulders. She was not made for this kind of stress. She was only seventeen, for crying out loud! Which, by the way, was exactly what she was doing at the moment. Her sobs must have been audible from the next country over. Ruby let the hot water wash over her trembling nude frame, but it really wasn't helping any. It was just making her skin damp. She mashed her fist into the wall like Yang might have.

OW.

The pain seared through her wrist like fire though a gas-charged tube. The force of the impact had been enough to crack one of the thick wall tiles, and judging by the way her wrist was now mildly swollen and pulsing, perhaps her radius bone as well. Holy hell did it hurt. She forgot briefly about the reasons she was crying earlier and sat down against the wall, biting her lip so as to not scream. She felt like an idiot. Who willingly damages their dominant hand the day of a crucial physical exam? She clutched her left wrist and sniffed loudly. She could feel the sharp pain slowly fading as her aura began to heal whatever was wrong inside her bones. Now, she knew that in about twenty minutes, any hairline fracture that may or may not have been there would have healed itself, but the pain would remain for the next ten hours or so and her wrist would be stiff and sore. She let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Perfect. Now I have to fight right-handed. Fantastic." she said to no one in particular. She got up off the floor, content with ending her pity party here. There were still tears on her face, but she had since stopped crying. She put her face under the shower head once more to numb the stinging in her eyes, before shutting off the flow and stepping out of the stall. She sat down on the small bench in the changing room. The wood panels were cold against her bare behind, making her shiver. She reached over to her pile of neatly folded clothes she had left herself, grabbing first her undergarments. Her wrist still stung as she towelled her legs off with her wrong hand, holding the delicate silk garment in her left. She pulled them on, ignoring all thoughts in her head that threatened to make her cry again. She was done that for now, she demanded of herself.

She stood up, grabbing her rather unflattering grey, faded bra from the top of the pile, walking over to the huge mirror on the other side of the room. She looked down into her cleavage while she fiddled with the old and slightly warped front clasp. She frowned. Polyethylene-sulfide would have been a better plastic for the clasp, she figured. Or just air-dry her bras from now on. Polypropylene melted too quickly. Once she was satisfied that the clasp was latched enough to not be a problem all day, she eyed herself in the mirror. She was unimpressed.

There stood a girl, short enough to not see anything below the hips thanks to the sink's reflection, with a very juvenile figure in her opinion. She had no breasts, no wide hips, no prominent collarbones, and no round bum. She thought herself a failure. Now, these were all areas someone, like Weiss for instance, would have disagreed with. She was just being dramatic because she was upset. Her figure was womanly for sure, as much as a seventeen-year-old's could be, with a modest thirty-two-B-and-change chest, having filled out a little in the last two months, which her girlfriend really appreciated. Her hips were wide enough to give a figure that might have gotten her into clubs if she had ever bothered leaving her laboratory once in a while, and puberty had done wonders for her skin. In the last few months, the usually short bobbed haircut she kept had been grown out long, ending past her shoulders, and it had a bit of a wave to it. The usual red tips were faded now, in desperate need of reinvigorating. She smiled slightly, remembering how Weiss would always play with her hair and run her fingers though it. She always said she liked long-haired Ruby. Maybe so did Ruby.

She looked over at the digital clock on the wall. It read six in the morning. She's have to leave now if she wanted to have breakfast before initiation. She walked back over to her pile of clothes and grabbed her new combat dress and tossed it over her shoulders, fighting with the well-fitting fabric as she pulled it all the way on. Next up was a set of Lycra athletics shorts up under the dress, thigh-length socks and her all-belts-and-buckles boots. These alone took ten minutes to do up. Ruby tried to hurry. Just as the clock struck six-thirty, she tossed her cloak loosely on and headed out the door, back into the real world.

Breakfast was much better today. She took her eggs over easy with a side of bacon and hash browns. It was fantastic, well cooked, and expertly seasoned. Had the entire cooking staff been replaced since yesterday? Nah, it couldn't be. Perhaps the oatmeal had just been sub-par. She finished up quickly, not wanting to hang around and run into anyone she knew, especially not Glynda.

Why not, though? She wondered to herself almost out loud before closing her mouth. She had no real reason to avoid the buxom blond, except that she was convinced Glynda liked her. Once again she trapped herself in paradoxical thoughts on whether it would be okay to date her as she returned her breakfast tray to the side of the room. She was currently in a relationship with a girl she had last seen not even two days ago, except that 'two days ago' was actually almost nineteen years away in the future. And the aforementioned girl wouldn't be born until February! Ruby shook her head. It was starting to hurt. No, it most certainly couldn't be okay! She needed to get out of the dining hall, and quickly. To clear her head in the brisk morning air, yes, that would do. She stepped away from the table, turning herself towards the door and stepping forward.

...directly into a tall woman with very long, feathery black hair. She fell backwards, onto the floor and her butt. She didn't bother looking up, for she knew exactly who had halted her movement. The offending party started yelling at her.

"You! Again! Why don't you watch where you're going, for once in your pathetic, miserable life, you tiny heathen!"

Ruby sighed into her knees. This wasn't the first time she had run into a very aggressive, very angry, and very attractive woman on the first day of school. This specific woman had become her partner, been angry with her for a few months, warmed up to her, they'd became friends, then started dating on the girl's birthday when she had offered to take her out for Valentine's day. This time, however, Ruby really didn't want to be around this woman. Raven was too aggressive. The tall woman glared down at her. Any other circumstance than this, Ruby would have been afraid. But not this time. The dramatic irony of the situation was too much for her. The woman's male companion glided forward and stood between the two of them, placing a hand on Raven's shoulder to stop her from advancing any further.

"Raven, don't. She's just a girl." he turned to Ruby. His voice was gruff and deep, exactly as she expected to be. "Sorry about my sister. She's a little brusque. And a bitch, too."

Ruby smiled, which only served to make Raven angrier. Qrow extended his other hand down to her, and Ruby allowed herself to be lifted off the ground. Qrow reached down next to where she had fallen and collected her new weapon, turning it over in his hands, still having positioned himself between herself and the unruly warrior. He seemed impressed with the newly acquired axe.

"This yours?"

Dumb question, Ruby thought. But she nodded none the less.

"Huh. It's pretty nice. Looks designer."

"It is!" she replied, a smile coming to her face. Her smile faded as he gave her a pained look. Right, Qrow didn't like weapons that weren't hand made, more specifically his personal weapon.

"Hmm. Anyway, in the future I would advise against running into Raven. She's been going on all night about slicing you in half."

Ruby took her weapon back from Qrow and slung the long leather strap over her shoulder, and hiding it back under her cloak. She smirked past him at his sister.

"Yeah? I'd like to see her try."

Raven's eyes started to glow red. Ruby let her smugness show, as she knew she could likely beat Raven tenfold in a spar. She had two more years experience training at this actual school than the black-haired warrior. Qrow seemed amused by this statement, much to his sister's continued anger.

"I think that'd been cool to watch, actually. By the way, the name's Qrow. Is your name as pretty as your face?"

Oh yeah, he's a shameless flirt. Ruby blushed anyways.

"It's Summer Rose, Qrow. I'd be happy to dominate your sister any day of the week."

Raven let out a string of extremely offensive expletives, some of which she recognized, some of which were definitely made up on the spot. Qrow laughed, grabbing his sister around the waist and carrying her off before she murdered anyone, kicking and screaming. Before he left, he turned back towards her and winked, mouthing 'see you later' in her direction. Ruby blushed again, and then was alone once more. She felt a little better after her little mental breakdown from earlier. She made her way outside.

Sitting under one of the small trees in the courtyard, was a blond boy she didn't really expect to see up at this hour. Now, it wasn't super early, but seven in the morning was still early for most students, as the campus seemed mostly empty. She smiled, and strolled over to the blond boy. The closer she got, the more she started to notice that the boy was upset. She sat down on the grass beside him, which made him look over at her. His lilac eyes brightened as he noticed who it was.

"Hey, Summer..."

"Hey there, Tai. What's with the long face? Your voice sounds a little horse?"

He let out a tiny laugh, smiling into his knees, which were drawn up to his chin.

"Ah, it's nothing. I was just thinking about my mother. She raised me and my brother by herself after my father left. She called me this morning and told me that she missed me and about how empty the house was."

"Your father left?"

Tai's smile disappeared again.

"Yeah. Right about when I was like four. He left out of spite apparently, said he didn't love us anymore. So my mom taught me to fight."

"Gran... your mother taught you to fight. Huh."

Tai sniffed.

"Sometimes I punch things until the pain goes away."

Ruby's heart broke. He reminded her so much of her sister. But then, he would. Yang was supposed to be this boy's daughter. She decided not to say anymore to Tai, lest she upset him anymore. She scooted over to him in the grass and lay her cheek on his shoulder. He shivered under her touch, but quickly relaxed. She hadn't intended to cry again today, but the small amount of moisture forming in her eyes from Tai's explanation reminded her that she was still in pain herself. Perhaps she needed to make them laugh.

"Hey, you know I ran into Raven again today."

Tai chuckled a little, his shoulder bouncing under Ruby's cheek.

"Damn, you have all the luck. I haven't even had the chance to speak to her once. Hey, actually, I heard that initiation involves finding a partner in a forest or something, perhaps I'll get to see her then."

Ruby smiled. He absolutely would.

"Hey, by the way, we should make our way to the cliff soon, initiation starts in an hour. I'll walk with you if you like.

She could feel Tai smile through her cheek. They stood up from where they had been sitting on the grass. Most of the tears that were on Tai's face had dried in the last few minutes. Ruby extended her hand to him. He took it, lacing his finger into hers. It was sweet, the way he felt comfortable around her in an almost automatic way. They made their way towards the cliff, hand in hand.

"Thanks summer. You're a real friend."

She smiled down at her shoes.

"Nah, I'm just trying to be nice. Speaking of nice, I can promise you that you'll get a chance to talk to Raven once we land in the forest."

Tai winced a little.

"I dunno, Summer, I don't think I want to have to face her bodyguard. Dude looks kinda menacing."

"What, Qrow? Nah, he's a real charmer. I like him. I'm sure you will as well!"

They arrived at the cliff. A few students were already there, Including Glynda, Bart, Raven and Qrow. The headmaster stood off to one side, a short young man with a silver mustache in a deep burgundy suit stood next to him. They seemed deep in conversation. Tai squeezed her hand a little, and she instinctively let go of his had and turned towards him, trying to not look so enamoured with him, seeing as Glynda was standing only thirty feet away. Tai looked worried.

"So how does this whole initiation thing work? I thought we'd be entering the forest and meeting our teams in there."

Ruby perked her eyebrows up at him.

"Well, you're not wrong..."

At exactly the strike of eight after about fifty more students had congregated on the cliff, the headmaster addressed them in his usual soft, yet commanding voice, the one Ruby had become accustomed to and actually liked. Ozpin's voice was like a rich, creamy coffee for her ears, the kind the Weiss liked to bring her when she spent late nights in the library or lab working. Today, he addressed them not as Ozpin, but as Headmaster Pine. They made their way to the individual steel pads embedded in the ground. Ruby stood herself between Tai and Glynda, who seemed bashful.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors..."

The beginning of Ozpin's speech tore her attention from the blushing blond woman. Fuck, I did it again. I have to stop myself before I get out of hand.

"...And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest. Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumours about the assignment of teams. Allow me to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates..."

Ruby looked over towards Tai, who looked back, giving a thumbs up. She smiled. She knew that she would be on a team with him, of course, and perhaps she might even be his partner. That would be nice, she thought. Tai seemed like the kind of guy who needed someone cheerful in his life, and Ruby thought that Summer should be that person.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well with."

She looked over at Glynda, who immediately looked away. Clearly she had been staring. Ruby blushed. Damn it, not again! She still couldn't decide if she could bring herself to act on her feelings towards the buxom blond.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years. After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way."

Opposition? Hardly. Ruby pulled her weapon out from under her cloak and lifted it up to rest it on her shoulder. She popped the revolving chamber out and fed in the seven dust cartridges she had in her belt. No creature of Grimm would be able to stand up to the mighty... wait, what had she named this axe?

"Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

There was a faint murmuring from the other students. She looked around. Many seemed suddenly apprehensive. Including Raven of all people. The girl's eyes seemed to flick around, faint hints of fear behind them. Ruby stifled a laugh.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing..."

Ruby tuned Ozpin out and observed her new classmates. She had already heard his speech once before, and already knew exactly where to go and what to find. Abandoned ruin, gold relic, she could remember the route like it was yesterday. Many of the students were readying their weapons. Bart, gods bless him, had his thermos-slash-bat full of what Ruby assumed was coffee, and was consuming it with great fervour, Glynda had her riding crop at the ready, but Tai didn't seem to have his weapon on him. Strange. The headmaster ended his speech, and bid them good luck. Ruby got down into launch position, mentally prepping her landing strategy. There was a loud bang, and Ruby shut her eyes, expecting to be hurled into the air.

Except she wasn't. She opened her eyes, to find that every other student was currently flying through the air, over the cliff. Only she and Ozpin remained. He took a sip from his mug before addressing her.

"I wished to speak with you, Miss Rose, before initiation. I realize that I just launched all of your newfound friends of a cliff, but this is important."

Ruby stood up straight, dropping her hood off of her hair.

"Pleaze hurry, Oz, I have a team to make."

"That's precisely the reason I have you up here still. Were you ever told which one of her team that your mother was partnered up with?"

Ruby shook her head. Ozpin smiled.

"Then the next part of your day will be entirely within your control. This is one instance where you will be allowed to make your own destiny, Summer. But remember, you are the more capable huntress of any of the others. Make sure you use that to your advantage. Some people can be swayed by demonstrations of prowess and leadership. Some, however cannot. No matter who you get paired with, I'm certain that you'll make the best of it. You've had past experience dealing with difficult partners years from now, after all." Ozpin frowned "Okay, even I just confused myself with that. Anyway, are you prepared, Miss Rose?"

Ruby laughed. This was the second time today that she had confused someone with the logistics of the timeline she was in. She nodded, indicating she was ready for initiation. He smiled, and gave her a second to get into launch position again. She crouched slightly, her right hand wrapped around her axe's handle near the top, between the blade and the revolving chamber. It felt a little weird to be holding the weapon in her wrong hand, but said appendage was currently bandaged up from when she had damaged the bathroom wall earlier in the morning. Ozpin nodded at her and hit the button on his launch panel. The springboard under her feet exploded.

For the second time in just over two years, Ruby was sailing though the air over the Emerald Forest, preparing to meet her team. The forest whizzed by below her. Most of the other students had already landed, she figured, and now the ground was quickly approaching. She realized that only very few times had she ever needed to use a 'landing strategy' in combat, and hers wasn't exactly perfect. Still in free fall, she pulled the axe off of her back and held it before her. Quickly rotating the chamber to the correct cartridge, she pulled the trigger. A glowing grey flame erupted from the barrel of the weapon, briefly blinding her. As she opened her eyes again, she started to feel her skin tingle, and the sensation of falling lessened. She pulled the trigger again. And again. And a third time, just for good measure. Her momentum had slowed to a light float, as she descended gracefully through the foliage.

The instant her boots touched down on the soft muddy ground, the grey glow that had enveloped her body dissipated, and her body-weight returned to her, pushing her into the soil slightly. She took a glance over her shoulder, back towards the cliff. Huh. It's a lot higher than I remember. Man, gravity dust does wonders. I should have been using this since last year. She stepped forward, beginning her trek towards the relics. She frowned, again. Last year to her was still nearly eighteen years from the current moment. She kicked her way through a small shrubbery, into a clearing. Her potential team came to her mind. Ruby knew that her mother's team included, Summer, Tai, Raven and Qrow, and that her mother was supposed to be its leader. Around the next outcropping of trees, lay a beowolf, completely oblivious to her arrival. Even Ruby was taken aback by this.

"Ahoy! Beastie!" she shouted at it. The animal turned to her, looking almost distracted. The moment she met it's eyes, the beast fully turned and bellowed at her. She smirked, drawing the axe out once more in her right hand. The mindless monster charged forward, and Ruby hoisted the mighty axe above her head, and just as the beast was about to mutilate her, she brought the axe down, bisecting the creature's skull. It stopped dead in its tracks, quite literally as its roar was cut suddenly short. Ruby looked down at her new weapon in awe, completely surprised by the sudden end to the huge animal. She quickly withdrew the axe from the monster's slowly dissolving head and examined the blade. Good gracious it's sharp. And I had this thing strapped to my back? She was impressed.

She kept walking. Thoughts about her team returned. Who would she want to be paired with? Taiyang was the obvious choice for sure, as she knew about his fighting style already, as the boy had already raised and trained her, even if he didn't know he would, yet. She could match his style with ease!

Her thoughts were interrupted by a roar from her left. She drew her axe again, spinning around to meet the face of a huge Ursa that had snuck up on her. For such large animals, they could sure be sneaky if they chose. She wasn't afraid. Ursas had very obvious weak points after all, that spot just between the shoulder blades where the armour was thin and their spinal chord was least protected. She pointed the barrel of her weapon at the ground and fired, while pulling the trigger and activating another round of gravity dust. Straight up into the air she went, over the head of the growling black bear some thirty feet or so.

"I mean, there's also Qrow, I wouldn't mind being partnered with him." She said aloud, spinning herself horizontally in the air, bringing the blade of her axe down into the back of the beast, knocking it to the ground. She dug her heels into its flesh and flipped backwards, pulling out her axe and dismounting from the animal.

"He's kinda cute, I guess. And he uses a scythe! I know how he fights! He'd be the perfect partner!" She jumped forward, impacting the side of the Ursa's face with her blade, firing a round of fire dust into it's shoulder. The crippled beast was flung backward, slowing beginning to disolve as two more Ursas bounded into the clearing from beyond the trees. Ruby let the first one advance, putting herself into a wide stance. The huge bear raised a claw-covered paw above its head and made to swing downward. Ruby brought her axe up to her face, shielding the blow with the handle. The weapon was deflected to her left side, and she used the momentum created to spin around and fire another fire dust round into the second creature. She ducked under another swipe made by the closer beast, rolling away and flipping back onto her feet.

"Although, Tai is supposed to be Summer's husband at some point. I think I need to be his partner now, it will make the transition easier."

She deflected another swipe from the closer creature. The beast's claws scraped loudly against the polished weapon, making Ruby cringe. She sprung herself backwards, away from the two Ursas, landing only about twenty feet away. She looked down at the weapon, which now sported a diagonal scratch across the long handle. Ruby frowned, wilfully ignoring the fast approaching pair of animals. It's a damn shame. This weapon is brand new, and I already scratched it! Rudolf will be so mad at me.

Just at the two animals bore down on the spot she had been standing, Ruby flipped the barrel downward and fired, propelling herself up into the air again with a fire dust cartridge. This wasn't what they were for, of course, but she admitted that they worked excellently as high-jump aids for her much lighter body. Even Weiss had admitted that it was a good idea. Ruby looked down at the two Ursas, which had collided with each other in their haste to devour her. Not that she was going to let them, of course. She pointed the barrel of the weapon upwards to the sky and fired, launching herself back down towards the ground and two bears. Their roars were abruptly halted as her axe made its way brutally though the necks of the two unfortunate monsters. Ruby hit the ground with a thud.

"He's more of a hand-to-hand kind of guy I always figured. Maybe a brawler and a- oof- dust user can be partners! Although..."

Her monologue was cut short by the loud trumpeting of a Goliath, which burst into the clearing, knocking over one of the substantially large trees. Ruby once again smirked at the beast as it snorted loudly at her. She pulled her white hood up, prepped the next dust cartridge, and dashed towards it. The huge elephant roared and also charged forward. Ruby fired backwards, propelling herself towards the commanding animal with even more speed. Just before they would have impacted, Ruby dropped herself to her knees and began sliding on the grass.

"...although I doubt that Tai would be able to match Qrow on pure- whoa, Nelly-" she ducked under the animal's trunk, sliding under it's belly. The moment the soft, fleshy underside was in view. Ruby slammed the head of her axe into it and fired again, ripping a huge gash along its stomach. Black blood burst from the wound and the monster screamed in actual pain. Ruby stood up behind the Goliath and watched as it continued running forward, blinded by pain. It hit a tree and came to a halt, before flopping to its side, still bleeding. Ruby, taking pity on the dying creature, walked calmly toward it, rotating the chamber on her weapon to the next cartridge. The beast's chest heaved painfully. She raised the barrel to he animal's head, and fired one last fire dust shot into it's skull, ending it. She slung the axe back over her shoulder, and prepared to keep walking to the relic site.

"Now, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, Qrow is by far and away the more skilled huntsman when it comes to technical prowess. I haven't seen him use his scythe in a long while, however, perhaps he doesn't use one yet. Oh well, at least I won't get partnered with..."

She was alerted to someone's voice ahead of her. Whoever it was sounded gruff and agressive, almost masculine. Ruby immediately imagined it was either Qrow or Tai, and dashed forward. Yes! My partner awaits my arrival! And they're already killing Grimm! Perhaps we can have a bonding moment!

She crashed though the undergrowth, prepared to greet her new partner with a big hug. He wouldn't mind of course. Probably. The moment she made her was into the clearing she saw them. Surrounded by a pile of decaying beowolves, there stood the unmistakable figure of exactly the person she didn't want to partner with. Her long flowing black hair whipped around, and her red eyes locked down on Ruby, making her stop dead. Oh for fuck's sake.

Raven Branwen looked maliciously angry. At Ruby. She marched forward, her katana still drawn.

"You?!"

Ruby crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, me."

There was a silence that hung in the air. She wanted to be done with this as soon as possible now. Initiation had just lost all of its fun value, now she had been paired with her least favourite human being on the planet. Raven growled at her and sheathed her sword, before turning and walking away. Her head turned back, still angry.

"By no means does this make us friends. Let's go."