2

The next morning started pretty much as Ruby remembered. They packed up their sleeping bags and headed for the locker rooms, getting their combat outfits and weapons from the lockers they'd been assigned the previous night. As she finished getting ready, she glanced over to see Weiss talking to Pyrrha as the champion fighter adjusted the fit of her armor. Then Jaune wandered over and started hitting on Weiss. Again. Ruby wrinkled her nose and walked towards the incipient argument. Jaune really didn't know how to deal with girls, but he didn't deserve to be yelled at by Weiss or pinned to a wall like the last time, did he?

As she got closer, she could hear Weiss clearly, the heiress's voice easily carrying over the background noise of the locker room. "Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you are talking to?"

"Pyrrha, right?" Jaune said, giving the champion a friendly wave. "We met yesterday." Turning back to Weiss. "Why?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow at that. "You know Pyrrha Nikos?"

Jaune looked confused. "Er... yes? We met yesterday?"

Pyrrha nodded back with a smile. "Yes. Hello again Jaune."

Weiss gestured to Pyrrha. "So you know who she is?"

Jaune looked more confused. "Um, yes. That's Pyrrha."

Weiss looked dubious, and began to explain in detail about the champion's many accomplishments. Jaune seemed unimpressed till Weiss, who was looking more and more frustrated, brought up the fact that Pyrrha's face was currently on every box of Pumpkin Pete's marshmallow flakes.

Jaune looked shocked. "Wow! That's awesome Pyrrha! I didn't know you were famous!"

Pyrrha's smile wilted slightly, and she looked almost apologetic. "Well, it never came up..."

Weiss pressed on, seizing her advantage immediately. "So do you think you're really in a position to be on a team with such a famous champion?"

Jaune wilted. "I suppose not..." he said with a defeated sigh.

Ruby grimaced and stepped forward. "Why not? Why does it matter who any of us were before Beacon? We're all here for the same reason. We're here to learn to be hunters and huntresses. Once we pass initiation, we're all in the same boat. And why can't someone famous be friends with someone who isn't?"

Pyrrha beamed at Ruby. "I agree completely." She turned to Weiss with an apologetic smile. "Not that I don't appreciate your acknowledgment, Weiss, but Ruby is correct. Who we were before Beacon shouldn't matter."

Weiss snorted. "Maybe it shouldn't, but you can't deny that it DOES matter. People are going to treat us differently because of who we were before we came here."

Pyrrha glanced at Ruby thoughtfully. "Maybe. But maybe I don't want to be treated any differently than anyone else?"

Ruby grinned back at Pyrrha. "Well, I don't care who you were before Beacon, Pyrrha. The only Pyrrha Nikos that matters to me is the one I met yesterday before the opening ceremony. And I'd like to think that person is a friend of mine."

Pyrrha sighed. "But you did know who I was when you first saw me, didn't you Ruby?"

Ruby's eyes went wide for a moment, then she sighed. "OK yes. But... I meant what I said just now, Pyrrha. Who we were before we came to Beacon doesn't matter. I don't know the girl on the cereal boxes. I never met her before. But yesterday I saw a girl who was standing by herself in a crowd. That girl looked like she was lonely, and maybe she wanted a friend. That was something I could understand. I came here with my sister, but I left all my old friends behind. I'm not all that great at making friends, but I thought I'd try and talk to people, and see if I could make some new friends."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. "I think you're better at making friends than you think, Ruby."

Ruby blushed. "I think I just got lucky enough to meet a few really nice people right off the bat."

Weiss groaned. "Seriously? This isn't kindergarten! We're here to learn how to kill monsters, not make friends!"

Jaune stepped up next to Ruby, then glanced curiously at Pyrrha. "Well, if it doesn't matter who we were before Beacon, maybe we can all be on a team together?"

Pyrrha gave him a genuine smile. "That sounds lovely."

Weiss rolled her eyes and stalked off. "I'll see you on the cliffs, Pyrrha. Just be careful to choose your partner carefully. It's not a decision you can take back later."

Yang walked up at that point. "We'd better get going, sis. Don't want to miss initiation, do we?"

Ruby grinned and nodded, and turned to go. "See you out there, Pyrrha, Jaune! Good luck!"

Pyrrha started walking as well. "Good luck to you as well, Ruby. And thank you."

Ruby blinked. "For what?"

Pyrrha smiled. "For treating me like a regular person. It can be tiring, always being treated like a celebrity."

Yang blinked at her. "Oh? Are you supposed to be somebody famous or something?"

Ruby chuckled. "Nope. She's just my friend Pyrrha. Nobody special."

Pyrrha giggled, but didn't comment.

Yang raised an eyebrow at that, but let it go.

Soon, they had gathered on the cliffs, everyone going to stand on a metal launching platform. Ruby went to stand on one next to Yang, and was pleased to note Pyrrha taking up a position on her other side. Jaune, looking confused, got on the platform on the other side of Yang at the end of the row.

Ruby considered her plan as the headmaster explained the initiation to them. She'd heard the speech before, and initiation was an event she remembered quite clearly. She considered her plan one last time. She could find Weiss again. Weiss had ended up being a great partner, despite their rocky start, and it would be really neat to form team RWBY again, but she couldn't do everything the same, or the whole reason she'd come back in time would be wasted. She'd come back to save Pyrrha, so she'd be Pyrrha's partner, or be on her team. That was the only way to be sure that she could save her when the time came.

She could hear Jaune asking the headmaster about landing strategies, but most of her focus was on watching where the launchers were sending everyone. Pyrrha was launched, and Ruby's eyes locked on the amazonian girl as she flew through the air. A moment later she herself was launched into the air, and for a moment, she lost track of Pyrrha, but she was a lot more experienced at aerial maneuvers than she'd been the last time she'd done this, and she spotted the red-haired girl again right away. Pyrrha had been launched higher than Ruby, and was falling to the right of where Ruby seemed to be headed, but it was easy enough to make a course correction or two with the aid of Crescent Rose and her semblance.

Ruby heard rather than saw Yang pass by over-head. The sound of Ember Celica firing was too familiar to mistake for something else, and she caught sight of Yang flying far ahead of the rest of the pack, going for distance rather than trying to land right away. Typical Yang. Hopefully Yang would find Blake... or Blake would find Yang, somewhere in the forest, but Ruby had her own partner in mind.

She fired Crescent Rose three times to slow her momentum, and just as she hit the treetops, she converted her weapon into it's scythe configuration and caught a tree trunk to whip her to the right. As she passed through the trees, heading for the ground at a breakneck pace, she used her Semblance, zipping farther right and down, and re-materialized on the forest floor, already moving at a run. Pyrrha had landed nearby, she was certain.

Pyrrha hopped down out of a tree in front of her, not seeming the slightest bit surprised to see her. "Hello again Ruby." She said with a wry smile. "Somehow I don't think our meeting here is a coincidence, is it?"

Ruby blushed lightly. "I meant it when I said you were my friend, Pyrrha. I haven't met many other people here yet, and if I could partner up with someone I like, why not?"

Pyrrha nodded. "I have no complaints." She looked around. "Well, now it's time to find the relics, I suppose?"

Ruby grinned. "Yup!" She looked around thoughtfully. She hadn't known where the ruin the relics were in the first time she'd been in the forest, but she had a pretty good idea this time. "How about we go... this way." She pointed in the direction she'd noted Yang flying off into.

Pyrrha and Ruby started walking in that direction, side by side. Both girls held their weapons loosely, ready for combat, but a scream from somewhere off to their left caught their attention.

"Someone may be in trouble." Pyrrha said firmly. "We should help."

"Right!" Ruby agreed easily. "It came from this direction!" Inwardly she was worried. That scream had sounded an awful lot like Weiss.

Coming into a clearing, they saw Weiss Schnee running, one arm over her face, the girl looking distraught. Worse, it seemed like Weiss hadn't noticed the pack of Beowolves that were coming out of the trees behind her and to her sides. They'd noticed her, and they were obviously about to pounce.

"Oh no you don't!" Ruby yelled, activating her semblance to blur up to the closest Beowolf on the right. Her scythe sliced through the monster with a single stroke, and Ruby fired Crescent Rose to increase her momentum as she flew toward a second.

Ruby cut through the four Beowolves on the right side of the clearing in one smooth sequence, slicing through them with practiced ease. She'd been nervous and out of sorts during initiation the first time, but this time she was as calm and deadly as she'd been in the forest near her home at Patch.

Pyrrha had charged into battle on the other side of the clearing a few moments later, and the two fledgling huntresses met at the far side. Ruby was pleased to note that she'd killed nearly twice as many Beowolves as Pyrrha had in during the short fight.

Weiss had stopped running as Pyrrha and Ruby flew past her to engage the Beowolves, and was standing, shell-shocked in wonder, as they decimated the beasts all around her.

Ruby and Pyrrha approached the heiress then. Pyrrha smiled and waved, but Ruby was starting to get worried. Weiss had been a little hesitant in combat at first as well, but even their first fight in the forest hadn't caused Weiss to freeze up like that. What was going on?

"Hey Weiss, are you alright?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

Weiss took in a shuddering breath. "I... I... I am uninjured." She said, controlling a shaky stammer as she visibly collected herself, a cool mask of indifference slowly returning to her face. "Thank you for your assistance. I was... badly shaken. I'm... I'm afraid to say that one of our number seems to have been killed already."

Ruby froze. That couldn't be right. Nobody had died during initiation. How could someone die during initiation? Everyone had been fine! Sure, there had been a bunch of applicants who hadn't passed. Some had been injured, others gotten lost, or given up and retreated to the cliffs of Beacon to evade the hordes of Grimm, but nobody had died. She'd have remembered!

Ruby looked back the way Weiss had come from, and started to turn to go that way. Weiss put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Don't." Weiss said softly. "Don't. You don't want to see that. You... you're obviously skilled enough to be here." She gestured at the still dissolving Grimm that Ruby had slain just moments before. "I obviously underestimated you. But... you're too young to see something like that."

Pyrrha put a hand on Ruby's other shoulder. "We should... we should push on and find the relics. Professor Ozpin warned us that some of us might die. We put our lives on the line to serve as hunters and huntresses."

Ruby started to shake. "Who... who was it?"

Weiss looked away. "That... it was that fellow we were speaking with in the locker room. Jaune, I believe?"

Ruby turned to her incredulously. "Jaune?! No! How? Why?"

Weiss shook her head. "I don't know. He seems to have... died on impact. It wasn't pretty, I'm afraid."

Pyrrha grimaced, looking pained. "Are you... are you sure he's dead?"

Weiss bowed her head. "Very sure, I'm afraid. I can't understand it. It was like he had no aura. Even a beginner should have been able to survive a fall like that, even if they didn't take the fall well, their aura should have protected them."

Ruby started to shake her head. "No! No! Jaune, Jaune can't be dead! He can't be!" In a blur of rose petals, she shot in the direction Weiss had come from, not willing to believe it.

Ruby came to a halt a dozen feet away from the body. Weiss was right. There wasn't any doubt Jaune was dead. Ruby turned away with a shudder, feeling faint and going down to her hands and knees to keep from falling over in a faint.

Pyrrha came up to her side a few moments later, taking one long look at Jaune's body, then kneeling at Ruby's side, putting a comforting hand on her back. "I'm so sorry, Ruby. I liked him too. He seemed like a good person."

Ruby shook her head. "How can he be dead? He should have been fine! This doesn't make any sense!" She felt nauseous, faint, light headed, almost as if she was about to pass out. "Is this my fault somehow?"

Pyrrha continued to rub comforting circles on her back. "Of course not. No one could have expected this. He somehow must not have had his Aura activated. I can't imagine how he managed to get into Beacon without that, but I can't think of any other explanation."

Ruby swallowed hard, remembering the past. She vaguely remembered seeing Jaune pinned to a tree by Miló in spear configuration. It had seemed obvious at the time that Pyrrha had deliberately pinned Jaune to a tree in order to team up with him. But had that somehow saved his life? Jaune had Aura. She'd remembered him flying into her that day, thrown by the Deathstalker, and later, him catching Weiss in mid air only to have Weiss land on him. He'd taken more than one major hit that day, and he'd been fine. Jaune had a massive aura. It was one of his better qualities. So how had he died like this?

"He... didn't have his aura unlocked before initiation?" Ruby whispered. It was the only thing that made sense. Had Pyrrha somehow noticed and saved him that day?

Ruby turned to Pyrrha, her eyes wet with unshed tears. "Pyrrha... do you know how to unlock someone's aura?"

Pyrrha nodded slowly. "Yes. My mother showed me how. Why do you ask?"

Ruby's head sagged. This WAS her fault. By changing events, she'd kept Pyrrha from saving Jaune's life. The champion must have deduced that Jaune hadn't had his aura unlocked yet, and done so herself sometime before encountering that Deathstalker. Pyrrha had been at the top of their class for a reason. She'd saved Jaune, but this time, this time Ruby had interfered, selfishly taking her as her own partner, and Jaune had died because of that.

"Ruby..." Pyrrha said softly. "Ruby, it wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. Come. We... we should go. It would not honor our friend's loss to fail this initiation."

"Honor his loss?" Ruby looked up at Pyrrha's face, now crying openly, not understanding the words.

"Jaune was our friend." Pyrrha acknowledged. "But he would want us to go on. To succeed and become huntresses. We won't forget him, but we cannot let his death define us."

Ruby sagged, then slowly got to her feet, keeping her back to Jaune's body. "Oh Jaune. I'm so sorry."

Overhead, Ruby heard the screech of a Nevermore, and she glanced up, noticing the huge avian Grimm heading in the direction that she was pretty sure that the relics were in.

Ruby remembered. The Nevermore. The Deathstalker. They'd both come to the ruin where the relics were kept. She couldn't be sure things would happen the same way, but regardless, Yang could be in trouble. Blake could be in trouble. Ren and Nora could be in trouble. Jaune was dead, but she couldn't let anyone else suffer because of the changes she'd made.

"Right." She said firmly, wiping her tears away with her sleeve. "We should go. The others could be in trouble."

Pyrrha nodded firmly, helping Ruby to her feet. "Let's go check on your sister, shall we?"

Ruby smiled gratefully up at the taller girl. "Yang's tough. But... there are some pretty big Grimm out here. Better to face them as a group if we can."

Pyrrha glanced upwards at the huge Nevermore that was now circling in the sky over where Ruby thought the relics must be. "I agree. We should hurry."

Ruby sniffed and started jogging in that direction. "We won't let anyone else die today."

Pyrrha grunted agreement as she fell in beside Ruby, matching her speed effortlessly. "No we won't."

It took a couple minutes of running, but they reached the ruin quickly enough. Yang and Blake were firing up at the Nevermore from the cover of the ruin, while Ren and Nora fired from the trees.

Ruby took in the situation in an instant. The Nevermore seemed content to stay high above it's prey for the moment, and dozens of it's enormous feathers littered the ground around the ruin. They needed a plan. And where was Weiss?

Weiss came up behind Ruby and Pyrrha a few moments later, with a short boy carrying a collapsible staff jogging up next to her. "What's the situation?" Weiss asked quietly, glancing up at the enormous bird. "Is this where the relics are?"

Ruby pointed at the ruin. "They're in there, I think. But we've got to deal with that Nevermore first." She frowned as she thought. Drawing the Nevermore all the way to the ruins near the cliffs like last time was a possibility, but without the Deathstalker adding to the fight, she was sure they could deal with the single Grimm here.

"I need to get above it." Ruby decided. "Everyone come on!" She started running toward the ruin, firing Crescent Rose to propel her up to land on top of the crumbled wall surrounding the area containing the relics. Weiss joined her a second later, propelled by one of her speed glyphs.

"You want to get above it, you say?" Weiss said, sounding curious. "Any idea as to how?"

Ruby nodded as Pyrrha ran to the base of the wall under her. "Pyrrha, Yang, everyone, get over here and start shooting! Draw it toward us!"

Yang shrugged and raced over to join Pyrrha by the base of the wall, as did Blake, Ren, and Nora. The five of them started to fire at the Nevermore, hitting it over and over and definitely getting it's attention. The short boy who'd been with Weiss used his collapsible staff to launch himself up to the top of the wall next to Ruby and Weiss, then he shortened his staff again.

"How can I help?" The boy asked politely.

Ruby eyed his staff thoughtfully. "That staff uses compressed gas cylinders? How high could you launch me with that?"

The boy shrugged. "Twenty feet, maybe, if you jumped at the same time?"

Ruby nodded, glancing to Weiss. "Could you put one of your glyph thingies about twenty feet above us, in a position where I could launch toward the Nevermore?"

Weiss looked quickly at the approaching Grimm, then nodded. "Certainly."

Ruby opened Crescent Rose fully, then nodded to the boy who's name she didn't know. "Get ready."

The boy shortened the staff till it was only about a foot tall, then placed one end on the wall, then glanced at Ruby. Ruby put one foot on the other end of the staff, and lowered her center of gravity so she was balanced on it.

"Ready."

The Nevermore screamed and started to dive, and the boy hit a button on the staff, causing it to expand explosively to it's full six feet of length, sending Ruby flying into the air. Weiss gestured, and a white glyph appeared in her path, angled to one side. Ruby landed on it and jumped, and Ruby heard her sister scream her name as the Nevermore opened it's massive beak to snap her out of the air as it came in.

Ruby grinned and activated her semblance in mid air, spiraling past the Nevermore's massive head and neck. Ruby came out of her semblance and slammed Crescent Rose into the shoulder joint of it's left wing, the blade sticking in nearly a foot. The Grimm carried her away, and she heard Yang scream her name once more.

Ruby just grinned to herself. She was exactly where she wanted to be. Firing Crescent Rose over and over again, she ripped the enormous scythe blade back through the Grimm's wing, till, after the third shot, Crescent Rose came free, severing the Nevermore's left wing entirely from it's body.

Ruby fell free of the massive bird, whooping in delight as the air rushed past her. It'd worked! Spinning her weapon, she fired Crescent Rose several times toward the ground to bleed off her falling speed, and landed hard, her aura taking the damage without an issue. Behind her, the Nevermore crashed into the ground a moment later.

Yang grinned brightly at her younger sister as she raced past her, leaping upon the wounded Grimm with her fist raised for a punch. Nora was right behind her, then Pyrrha, then Blake.

The four warrior women leapt onto the Nevermore's body, punching, hammering and stabbing as the Grimm thrashed about trying to right itself. Ren raced in a moment later, firing his machine pistols into it's underside as it tried to stand.

Ruby calmly rose to her full height, and simply watched, Crescent Rose in rifle mode in case one of her friends needed assistance. But it wasn't needed. The short boy who'd come in with Weiss ran up to stop beside Ruby, his staff converted into some sort of rifle mode, and the two of them watched as the others leaped down from the Grimm's disintegrating body.

"Hi." The boy said. "My name's Jack. Jack Spriggin."

"Ruby." Ruby answered back. "Ruby Rose."

"Nice to meet you Ruby Rose."

"Nice to meet you, Jack Spriggin."

The Grimm slain, Yang made her way back to Ruby's side, grabbing her up in a tight hug. "That was CRAZY, little sister."

"Crazy awesome." Ruby corrected.

"True." Yang agreed. "I'm so proud of you. That was really amazing."

Pyrrha jogged up, looking pleased as well. "I have to agree with your sister, Ruby, that WAS quite impressive."

Ruby beamed at the praise, then her face fell. "Well, we probably should grab our relics."

Pyrrha's expression grew grave as well. "Yes, I suppose you're right. We should move out before more Grimm approach."

Ruby walked up to the ruin, accompanied by the others. Nora rushed ahead, grabbing a castle piece, and started to sing about being queen of the castle, but Ruby glanced at her sister, then sidled up to her. "Which piece did you pick?" she whispered.

"One of the gold pony ones?" Yang whispered back, catching on.

Ruby nodded and hurried forward, noting with relief that the second gold knight piece was still there. She grabbed it immediately and slipped it into one of the pouches on her belt.

Jack walked up a moment later, then grabbed a gold castle piece. He nodded to her, then went back towards Weiss, who was headed their way at a more leisurely pace.

"So... Jack passes initiation instead of Jaune." Ruby murmured to herself. "What else have I changed?"

As the group of eight students made their way back to the cliffs outside Beacon, Ruby's elation at defeating the Nevermore and helping her sister and the others pass initiation faded quickly into a growing depression. She'd as good as killed Jaune with her own hands. His death was her fault. She couldn't even explain what happened to the others. Even if they believed her story about traveling through time, they'd realize the truth, that she'd abandoned Jaune to die out of her selfish desire to get on a team with Pyrrha. It wasn't even subtle. Pyrrha obviously realized that Ruby had sought her out on purpose. Ruby was glad that the Mistralian champion didn't hold her maneuvering against her, but surely if she knew the truth, that if Ruby hadn't interfered that Pyrrha would have saved Jaune and become his partner instead, surely Pyrrha would never forgive her.

Yang, of course, noticed her younger sister's darkening mood as they headed back to the school. "Hey sis, what's wrong? We got the relics, beat that Nevermore... we're home free! What's the matter?"

Ruby shook her head, not willing to answer, and Pyrrha spoke up in her place. "I'm afraid Jaune... the blond haired boy with the sword and shield? I'm sorry to say he was killed."

Yang looked shocked and appropriately horrified at the news. "Oh my god! That's terrible! How did...?"

Pyrrha shook her head. "It appeared that he died on impact. I can't imagine how, but he must not have had his aura activated when he hit the forest floor."

Yang's eyes were wide. "Oh wow. I'm... I'm so sorry." She grabbed Ruby from behind, hugging her tightly. "Gosh Ruby, that had to be awful."

Ruby let Yang hug her, the small group of students stopping as a group and growing silent.

"Damn." Jack said with sympathy. "I guess you knew him?"

Ruby nodded slowly. "He was the first friend I made here."

Weiss turned her head away from the others. "It was horrible. And I was so mean to him. I wish I could take back some of the things I said."

Pyrrha put a hand on Weiss's shoulder to try and comfort the heiress. "You didn't cause his death, and a few... miss-chosen words don't make you a bad person. Jaune wasn't the most... sophisticated person, but he seemed like a good man."

Nora was uncharacteristically silent, and Ren put a hand on her shoulder as well, offering the usually peppy girl his own silent comfort.

Yang kept hugging her sister, and the group stood in silence for a minute, everyone lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, Ruby pulled herself free of her sister's embrace. "Jaune was my friend, and I'm not going to forget him. But we're here to learn to be hunters and huntresses. That's not a safe thing to be. I won't let anyone else die if I can help it though. We all need to watch out for each other from now on."

Everyone looked at each other, and a unspoken determination seemed to fill the group.

"You're right, sis." Yang affirmed. "We'll protect each other and make sure we all make it through Beacon together."

One by one, the others nodded agreement. Looking about, they each seemed to take stock of the faces of the people around them, truly looking at each other for the first time in some cases.

Weiss grunted. "No one else dies."

Pyrrha nodded firmly. "Not while we draw breath."

The heiress and the champion met each other's eyes, and understanding passed between them.

The slight boy named Jack shrugged. "That's why we're here, right? To protect people. Guess we've got to protect each other first though."

Ren smiled faintly at that. "Well said."

Nora tapped her hammer against the ground a couple times in emphasis. "Hell yeah. We've got each other's backs, right?"

Yang grinned. "Hell yeah we do."

It was a somber but determined group which reached the top of the cliffs. Glynda Goodwitch was waiting for them, although Ozpin was missing.

"I take it you're all aware of what occurred with Mister Jaune Arc?" Glynda asked softly. "Professor Ozpin and Professor Port have gone to... collect the body. There will be an investigation into the circumstances of his entrance... but the details are unimportant. What matters is that you all did well. Congratulations on passing your initiation."

Ruby was lost in thought for the next few hours. It wasn't until her team was called up onto the stage during the initiation ceremony that she managed to pay attention again.

"Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xaio-Long, the four of you retrieved the white knight pieces, and together you will form team RPBY (Ruby), lead by Ruby Rose." Ozpin told them, sounding proud.

Ruby tried to smile, but her heart wasn't in it. She and the other members of her team walked off the stage while Weiss Schnee, Jack Spriggin, Li Ren and Nora Valkyrie came up onto the stage to become team WJNR, or team Winter, lead by Weiss Schnee.

"Team leader..." Ruby said quietly. "Good for you, Weiss. You deserve it."

The tired group made their way to their new dorm room, which Ruby noted with some pleasure was the same room she'd been assigned in the previous timeline, and, exhausted, they'd only taken time for some quick showers before heading to bed.

The next morning, Ruby was up early, planning. Things would be different this time, she was certain of it. Different, and better. Jaune's death had shocked her. She was, to be honest with herself, still reeling, but she put that out of her mind and focused on the future.

"Bunk beds!" Ruby announced, out of the blue, as everyone was just finishing up getting dressed for the day.

"What's that, sis?" Yang asked, looking curious.

"Bunk beds!" Ruby repeated. "We should turn the beds into bunk beds! We'd have more room for our stuff, and it'll be cool!"

Pyrrha blinked, looking at the heavy looking wooden beds in some concern. "I don't know if these beds are meant to be used as bunk beds, Ruby." she cautioned.

"It'll be fine!" Ruby reassured her. "I totally know what I'm doing!"

Blake shrugged. "We can try it, I guess."

Ruby grinned, and got to work. It was easier the second time than the first, and turned out just as well. When they were done, the girls looked at Ruby's bed, hanging from the ceiling, and Blake's, supported by some of Blake's sturdier books, with varying levels of confidence. Blake seemed to be a bit torn by having so much of her reading material out of reach. Pyrrha seemed mildly dubious of how stable the beds were, but apparently decided to err on the side of being supportive. Yang just grinned and gave Ruby a thumb's up.

"Don't worry!" Ruby assured Pyrrha. "They'll stay up fine. Trust me."

Pyrrha chuckled. "I'll take your word for it, Ruby. I suppose that even in the worse case, we do have our aura to protect us." she had been grinning as she said it, but her face fell a moment later. So did everyone else's. Nobody said it, but Ruby knew what Pyrrha's words had reminded them of. Jaune hadn't had aura, and he'd died because of it. They'd avoided talking about it, trying to focus on other things, but the wound was still fresh.

Ruby swallowed hard, checking her scroll for the time. "We... we'd better get going. Class starts in ten minutes. We have Professor Port's Grimm Studies first this morning."

Yang moved in to give her younger sister a quick hug. "You're doing great, Rubes." She turned to go quickly, hiding her own pain behind a quick smile for the others. "Well, it'd be bad form to be late on our first day, right?"

Pyrrha and Blake nodded in agreement, both still looking subdued, and the four girls headed out the door to class. Weiss's team had beaten them there, and Ruby and her team took up a row to the left of team WJNR, sitting as a group. Before long the rest of the students had found places, and Professor Port began his lecture.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle as the professor started his lesson. She remembered how silly his stories had been, and even his saucy wink at Yang when he'd talked about huntresses was more over the top than creepy. Professor Port was actually kind of sweet, if loud, overbearing, and very, very boring.

Ruby hadn't forgotten about how boring one of Port's lessons could be. Listening to Port talk about his past was worse than listening to one of Nora's stories. With Nora, at least, Ren's commentary kept things interesting, but with Port, well, the man just seemed to ramble on about everything and nothing. He boasted, but it wasn't really clear what exactly he'd done. Ruby tried to pay attention, she really did, but the second run-through did not make his stories any easier to stay awake all the way through.

She did, however, keep glancing at the cage in the back corner of the room. She knew the cage had a Borbatusk in it. Weiss fighting the Grimm during that first class period had been one of the most memorable events of the previous year for her.

When Port asked for a volunteer to fight the Borbatusk, however, rather than Weiss, it was Weiss's partner, the small boy who'd showed up with Weiss at the ruins. Ruby perked up. He'd had a cool expanding staff, that, as was pretty standard nowadays, could be used as a rifle. She hadn't gotten a really good look at it though, and she was extremely curious as to how it shifted and functioned. She hadn't seen that particular design before, although it did have some similarities to Pyrrha's Milo.

"Go Jack!" Nora yelled at the boy. Jack Spriggin, that was his name, Ruby recalled, had finished changing into his combat gear and walked out in front of the class, facing the cage with an air of forced nonchalance.

"What a little twerp." Ruby heard Cardin Winchester grouse from the row behind her. "How old is he anyway? Twelve?"

Ruby grimaced at the bully's' insensitive comment. It was true, Jack was pretty small. He was even shorter than she was. About Nora's height, maybe, and he was obviously pretty slender as well. He probably was less than a hundred pounds, even with the few pieces of armor he was wearing. Jack had leather gauntlets on his forearms, and knee-high leather boots with thick, heavy looking soles. He wore black denim trousers, a white shirt and a leather vest with numerous belts and buckles across the front. He had quite a few pockets scattered about, several large ones on his pants, pockets on his vest, and a belt with pouches. His collapsible staff was attached to the middle of the small of his back, much like Ruby carried Crescent Rose, and he pulled it out smoothly as he waited for the Professor to open the cage.

Professor Port did so with a flourish, smashing the cage open with his signature weapon, an axe/blunderbuss that seemed older than Port himself, and the Borbatusk came out at a run.

Jack dodged to one side, extending his staff and giving the Grimm a solid strike to one armored flank as it went by, but the hit had little effect. The boy seemed quick, and strong for his size, but he didn't seem to have the mass or strength to deliver a blow that could break the Borbatusk's armor.

"Go for the belly!" Ruby yelled her encouragement.

Jack was circling, swatting at the armored Grimm as it charged him a second time. He didn't acknowledge the advice, but his second strike DID hit lower on the Grimm's body, and it sounded like his second hit had caught the creature in the solidly in an unarmored place.

The Borbatusk slowed, turning to face the small boy squarely this time, and approached more cautiously. Jack spun his staff, gaining momentum with it, and cracked the Grimm a couple times in the face, although the creature caught the second blow on it's tusks, knocking the staff aside and taking a swipe for the young hunter's chest.

Jack jumped back, but the Borbatusk followed, swiping at him again and again as if sensing weakness. Jack moved backwards faster, then leaped to the side and started to sprint, circling around the Grimm.

Cardin laughed cruelly. "Run little man!"

As he ran, Jack shortened his staff back into it's default configuration, then twisted one part. The Borbatusk spun around to face him, then charged a second time, and Jack lowered himself nearly to the ground, placing one end of the staff against the floor, and pointing the other end toward his charging foe. Pressing a button on the side, the staff expanded with a whoosh just as the Borbatusk was about to reach him, slamming it hard right between the eyes. Then, as the Borbatusk stumbled back, a spear head popped out of that end with another whoosh of compressed air. Jack leaped forward, stabbing the monster in the gap between the Borbatusk's back right leg and it's body, then shoved, using his staff as a lever to slowly push the wounded monster over. Jack ripped his transformed spear free as the Borbatusk fell on it's side, squealing with rage, and jabbed it in again at the now exposed belly. He pulled the spear out and jabbed it in again, and then again, and a fourth time, as the monster squirmed and tried to get to it's feet, and finally, the monster quivered, then started to dissolve.

"Well fought!" Professor Port told him enthusiastically. "I see we have a true huntsman in our midst!"

"A tiny baby huntsman, maybe..." Cardin grumbled, too quietly for Port to overhear, perhaps, but the comment made Ruby clench her teeth. Cardin was still the bully she remembered, and now he had someone even weaker than Jaune to pick on. Well, maybe not weaker, but Jack Spriggin WAS, at the very least, one of the smallest boys in the school. Even Weiss was bigger than him. His staff was pretty cool though.

The class was dismissed, and Ruby paused to go down and give the boy some encouragement. "Hey!" She said cheerfully. "That was pretty cool. I like your staff."

Jack had been busy wiping down the spear portion of his staff, and as she came up, he blinked slowly. "Oh. Er. Thanks, I guess?"

When she was right up to him she noted, that indeed, she was looking down slightly to meet his eyes. He was so small! But she'd been small all of her life, and when had that ever stopped her?

"So... I noticed you were using it as a rifle during initiation. How does that work? I don't see any place for a magazine...?" Ruby asked, genuinely curious.

Jack blinked. "Oh. Yeah, I had to make it modular, to save space. I wanted something pretty small so that I could carry it anywhere without it knocking into stuff." He fiddled with the staff, causing the spear head to retract, then rotated one section to show a four inch long slot along one side. Reaching into a belt pouch, he pulled out a medium sized magazine, and slid it into the slot, then grabbed the other end of the staff and twisted and scrunched it so it made for a rifle stock he slid in against his shoulder. "Only eight rounds, and I can't fire it in spear or staff form..." he said, a bit deprecatingly. "But it's nice and small..."

"Like you!" Ruby commented happily, then turned bright red. "Er... not that you're small! I mean, I'm small, who cares, right?"

Jack gaped at her in astonishment, and she could hear someone loudly slapping themselves in the head from somewhere behind her. Probably Yang, but the small boy finally just grinned at her. "Yeah, I'm pretty short. I've always been the shortest guy my age I knew... except for this mouse faunus that was in my last school. He was tiny!" He shruged. "My dad says I've still got a lot of growing to do though, and he's really tall."

Her sister Yang came up behind Ruby. "Late bloomer, huh? That's cool. I kind of thought you might be my sister's age."

Jack looked from Yang to Ruby, then back. "Twins?" he guessed.

Yang blinked. "Er... what?"

Jack pointed from one to the other. "Well, you're both in the first year together, and you're sisters. So either you're fraternal twins or one of you is adopted, right?"

Yang gaped at him, then laughed. "No, no. Ruby is two years younger than me. She's the youngest person to go to Beacon, from what I heard."

Jack blushed. "Oh. Oops? Sorry about that."

Yang shrugged. "No big deal. I can't believe you're actually seventeen though!"

Jack flushed darker. "My birthday was last week. Like you said, I'm a late bloomer."

Ruby smiled at him. "Well, even if you never get any bigger, I think you're doing great. And your staff is awesome. Did you make it yourself?"

Jack grinned. "Sure did. My dad had to help a bit with the first few parts. Till I got used to the machine tools in our shop, anyway. Took me four months to finish her."

Ruby nodded appreciatively. "We had to make our own weapons at Signal too. What's her name?"

Jack pulled out the magazine, put it away, then retracted the staff back to the foot long cylinder it had started out as. "Tempest." My dad was always saying I made a racket like a thunderstorm when I was practicing with her, so it seemed appropriate."

Ruby grinned. "Cool."

Weiss was standing by the exit, tapping her foot impatiently. "Jack! We've got Professor Oobleck's class next! You can hit on girls on your own time!"

Jack flushed. "I'm not hitting on girls! We're talking about weapons!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm not having my partner show up late for any classes on his first day."

Jack sighed. "Fine, fine, I'm coming."

Ruby and Yang fell in behind him. "We're going to Ooblecks class next too. I guess we probably shouldn't be late either." Ruby murmured softly.

"I honestly don't know what the rush is. There's a half hour break between classes..." Jack complained back to them, loud enough for Ruby and Yang to hear, but softly enough that Weiss couldn't make out what he was saying. He joined up with Weiss at the door, and the two of them walked off.

"Your performance was... acceptable." Ruby heard Weiss saying as the two of them walked off.

/-/

Classes were progressing much as Ruby remembered them from the first time. In some ways, things were going much better. Ruby had been two years behind in the coursework at Beacon her last time through, and this time she was already pretty familiar with most of what they were studying. It was good, in that it enabled her to answer most of the questions posed by the professors in class pretty easily, and her homework wasn't nearly as hard as she remembered it being the first time through, but it was bad, in that classes were more boring then ever. Staying awake in class was really hard. Ruby entertained herself by doodling in her notebook and daydreaming, but it was hard. The mildly disappointed looks that Pyrrha gave her when she caught Ruby sleeping in class were better motivation to do well than Weiss's complaining had been, however.

Nights were the hardest. Ruby was waking up from nightmares nearly every night. Yang was as supportive as always about it, and Pyrrha and Blake were understanding, but Ruby wanted to be stronger than that. Still, Jaune's death haunted her, and made her think of the last week of the previous timeline... or more specifically, that last, horrible day when Beacon had fallen.

Ruby woke up from one particularly bad dream where Jaune's mangled body in the forest transformed into Penny, torn apart by her own wires, then Pyrrha, laying dead and motionless on the ground, broken and mangled like Jaune had been. Ruby was jolted out of the bad dream by a hand shaking her shoulder lightly.

Ruby blinked blearily up at the face of Pyrrha Nikos, who seemed both worried and slightly embarrassed at the same time. "Ruby... Ruby, it's fine, I'm fine."

Ruby blushed as she realized she'd been crying out in her sleep again. "I'm... I'm sorry Pyrrha. I keep waking you up in the middle of the night." She glanced over at Yang, who'd taken to wearing earplugs, and who seemed to be sleeping soundly, and under Yang's bunk, at Blake, who's stiff shoulders told her she was only pretending to sleep. Ruby winced, knowing that the faunus's keen hearing was probably not particularly helpful for sleeping through a roomate having nightmares nearly every night.

Pyrrha shook her head, then put her arms up to rest on Ruby's bed. "Ruby... why were you calling my name?"

Ruby blushed harder. "I... I was dreaming about Jaune, but then it changed, and it was you on the ground, all..." she shut up, not wanting to go into detail, but Pyrrha appeared to follow her train of thought regardless.

"Jaune's death wasn't your fault, Ruby. And I'm not going to die. You know that, right?" Pyrrha said, trying to be reassuring.

Ruby looked away from the championship fighter, not wanting to meet her eyes. "Any of us can die, Pyrrha. I know you're strong. You're probably the strongest in our year..." she chuckled, meeting the tall girl's eyes now. "Although don't tell Yang I said so. But being strong isn't always enough."

Ruby hesitated, then decided to share a bit. "I've told you that my mom and dad used to go to Beacon, right?"

Pyrrha nodded slowly. "You did mention that, I believe. They were on a team together?"

Ruby nodded in agreement. "Right. Team STRQ, team Stark. Summer Rose, Taiyang Xaio-Long, Raven and Qrow Branwen. They were the strongest team of their year. They were incredible. My dad says my mom was probably the strongest fighter he'd ever known."

Pyrrha smiled. "I have no doubt. Seeing you fight... and at fifteen! If she was anything like you, she must have been amazing."

Ruby sighed. "She was the leader of her team too. And everyone said team STRQ were unstoppable. Unbeatable. But no one is really unbeatable. My mom went out on a mission when I was young, and she never came back. Any of us can end up facing something, someone, stronger. Anyone can fall."

Pyrrha sighed. "I know that's true, Ruby. There have been many great huntresses and huntsmen among my family over the centuries, and many of them fell in battle. There is a saying... for it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Everyone must face death eventually, each of us does so on their own terms. As huntresses, we chose a path of danger. But I won't die any time soon. We're still in school, after all. Nothing is going to attack us here."

Ruby swallowed, suddenly wanting to tell Pyrrha... what? To tell her that she'd be killed before the end of the Vital Festival? She'd never believe it, and besides, Ruby was going to change things. Pyrrha WASN'T going to die.

"You're right." Ruby lied. "I'm sure we'll be fine. I mean, there are missions even before the first year is over, but we'll look out for each other. We'll all be fine."

Pyrrha nodded. "I promise, I'll look out for you, Ruby. And I won't go down easily myself, either."

Ruby smiled wanly. "Right back at you, Pyrrha." She sighed, then yawned, stretching. "Thanks... but it's late, and we're keeping Blake up."

Blake stiffened, then turned to face them. "It's... don't worry about it, Ruby. I'm a light sleeper, that's all."

Ruby smiled apologetically. "And I keep waking you up. I really am sorry, but I'll get better. I promise."

Blake shook her head and smiled. "Never apologize for who you are, Ruby. You have a good heart. I'm sure with time your nightmares will fade, but don't apologize for having them. None of us are upset at you about them."

Pyrrha sighed. "I have had my share of nightmares myself since initiation. I certainly can't blame you any for yours."

Ruby sniffed. "Thanks. You two are great. It's like I have three big sisters instead of only one."

Blake chuckled and, inexplicably, Pyrrha blushed.

Ruby raised an eyebrow, then giggled. "Just don't tell Yang I said that."

"Too late." Yang grumbled, then turned over and winked. "But seriously... it's cool. You and Blake can be fellow big sisters any time, Pyrrha. Ruby can use all the big sisters she can get!" she said jokingly.

The pillow that hit Yang in the face half a second later DID make Ruby feel better, even if it did start a pillow fight that ended up causing Weiss to rap loudly on their door and threaten to complain to Miss Goodwitch. Ruby certainly slept better afterwards.

Some author's notes here.

If it wasn't already obvious, Ruby is the butterfly who's wings flapping changes the world. Changing Pyrrha's focus during initiation? Whoops. Jaune living through initiation in the original story was a bloody miracle, IMO, so without someone actively trying to save him, splat.

So we have an OC. It was that, or have a three man team somewhere, and it seems obvious that there were more students lining up to jump off that cliff than the ones we see graduating. There wouldn't have been only 11 surviving members, so someone who otherwise might not have passed because Jaune ended up partnering with Pyrrha and showed a surprising amount of competence during the fight against the Deathstalker, will end up passing initiation in their place.

So, Jack Spriggin. A official no-prize to anyone who figures out HIS particular mythological origins. RWBY uses fairy tail characters, so for the new OC, I kept with that particular naming convention. Jack isn't going to be the focus of the story, but he will take up Jaune's place in the storyline in a few ways. After all, Cardin needs SOMEBODY to bully. The focus of the story, obviously, is on Ruby, and her team.

As for Canon or non-canon ships? No spoilers, but obviously Arkos is dead in the water. Renora is probably going to be in there, as much as it is in the show, anyway, and we might see some other people pairing off... but romance isn't the main focus here, and it'll be more interesting for the readers to find out along the way, won't it?