Chapter Text
And so fell the sword of fate…
On a quiet back street in the city of Vale, a group of young punks stood across from a tall, very angry looking blonde and an equally angry looking brunette with red highlights in her hair. The blonde had her foot on one punk's head, grinding his head into the pavement.
“What the hell is wrong with you?! No one jumps one of my boys and gets away with it!” The tallest of the group charged the blonde and was swiftly met with a fist to the face, knocking him out instantly. One of the remaining punks shouted, “Oh shit, she just took out Cardin!” The brunette spoke up.
“Alright, listen up! Do you see that over there?” The brunette points over her shoulder at a shattered vase and a crushed bunch of flowers. “First question. What do you think that is?”
One punk mutters, “I… I guess those flowers were left for somebody who got killed here…”
Before he can finish, the blonde charges forward and punches him in the gut. The brunette replies, “Exactly! Now, you, why is that vase destroyed?” The last punk standing hesitantly answers “We just thought it would be kinda funny to break it…” This time the brunette answers him with a kick between his legs, causing the punk to crumple to the ground in a heap. “Apologize, or next time the flowers will be for you!”
The punks drag themselves to their feet and swiftly apologize to the small shrine before running as fast as their various injuries will let them. The brunette turns to the blonde. “Thanks for the help, Yang. You're my favorite sister.”
Yang chuckles. “I'm your only sister, Ruby. But you know me, I can't stand assholes who like that. I'm happy to lend a hand. Now, you alright little one? Those guys won't be coming around here anymore. One of us will bring you some new flowers tomorrow.” The sisters turn to the spirit of a young girl standing next to the broken vase.
“Thank you. I think now I'll finally be able to rest in peace.”
Ruby smiles. “Don't mention it. It's the least we could do for you.”
Ruby and Yang turn and walk away as the young girl slowly fades away.
“My name is Ruby Rose. For as long as I can remember, my sister and I have been able to see spirits. I'm 18 years old, in my final year of high school. Our dad is a doctor, so maybe because he cares so much for the living my sister and I have the ability to see the dead.”
As the two sisters entered their home, their father came flying at them with a kick they easily evaded. Taiyang Xiao Long dragged himself to his feet and smiled. “Good job keeping your guard up! But you were still late for dinner! What were you two doing out so late?”
Both Yang and Ruby groaned. Yang replied “Come on Dad, I'm 20 and Ruby is 18. Having a 7:00 pm curfew is ridiculous and you know it!”
Ruby nodded. “Yeah, what if I wanted to hang out with Weiss after school or something?”
Taiyang rushed over to a shrine in the corner and began weeping. “Oh Raven, oh Summer, our girls are all grown up and they're being so mean to their old man and disobeying me! Whatever shall I do?”
“You could start by getting rid of that shrine for Raven for starters. Mom I understand, but Raven isn't even dead. She's just… Gone.” Yang marched up the stairs to her room. Ruby sat at the table and quietly ate her dinner while working on her homework.
In the morning Ruby had an uneventful walk to Signal, the high school she attended. Yang had left earlier in the morning on her motorcycle to get to her classes at Beacon University. Ruby took the long way to class, dropping off flowers for the spirit of the young girl from the day before, but she was nowhere to be seen. “Hopefully she passed on,” Ruby thought to herself. As she made her way to campus, Ruby found herself deep in thought and didn't realize where she was going until a familiar voice called out “Watch where you're going, dolt! We don't want a repeat of freshman year, do we?” Ruby immediately dropped out of her train of thought and turned to the woman speaking to her, a smile rapidly growing on her face.
“Weiss! Will you ever let me live that down?” Ruby smirked.
“I guess you running into me wasn't all that bad… I did meet you after all.” Weiss leaned in and kissed Ruby. “Did you get all your homework done?” Ruby groaned.
“Most of it.”
“Really?”
“Okay, maybe only half. But it's so boring…”
Weiss flicked Ruby in the forehead. “I swear, sometimes I don't know why I put up with you. You want to get good grades and get into Beacon, don't you?”
Ruby winced. “That hurt Weiss! And you know I do. Technically we both could have skipped a few grades and gotten there early…”
Weiss sighed. “Yes, but then we might not have met. Fate works in mysterious ways.”
The bell ringing caught their attention and they said their goodbyes and made their way to class. The day passed without further incident and after the last bell rang Ruby made her way home. As she passed a parking garage she noticed the spirit of a young boy running towards her, screaming for help. Ruby called after the boy, “Slow down! Where are you going? What's wrong…” A deafening roar cut her off, and a massive creature came out from behind the parking garage. Ruby's face paled and she began running with the spirit. “Just what the hell is that thing?!” she thought to herself as she fled. The beast was in hot pursuit but before it could reach Ruby or the boy a sudden black blur collided with the creature, its hideous masked face splitting with a spray of blood before it disintegrated entirely.
“What was that thing? And what killed it?” Ruby thought to herself later that night as she lay in bed. Yang was out late, probably hanging out at the club she liked to frequent. As Ruby lay there, a figure dressed in black climbed in through her window. “Uh, who the hell are you and why are you in my room?”
“Strange, I thought I felt a strong spiritual pressure here… Where could it have gone?” The black clad woman appeared to be speaking to herself, entirely ignoring Ruby's presence.
“Excuse me, I said what are you doing in my room?” Ruby asked the woman again. Still being ignored, Ruby kicked the woman, knocking her down. The black haired woman stood back up, turning to the brunette. “Wait, what? How can you see me? That shouldn't be possible! What's wrong with you?”
Ruby looked offended. “Wrong with me? What are you talking about? You climbed in through my window like some kind of burglar and…” Ruby noticed the sword at the stranger's side, “And you're armed! What am I supposed to do, not defend myself?”
The stranger scoffed. “Even then, you still shouldn't be able to see me unless you have some level of latent spiritual pressure, and I can barely sense any from you. But… Wait a minute. I saw you earlier today with the spirit of that boy and the Hollow that was chasing him. You must have just enough power to see spirits, so I'll explain it to you. I'm a Soul Reaper. I was sent by the Soul Society to track and eliminate Hollows here in the World of the Living. It's also my job to make sure that souls unable to pass on on their own are guided to the Soul Society.”
Ruby gave her an incredulous look. “Uh huh… And that makes more sense than you being a burglar with a sword, how exactly?”
“Wha… You can see spirits but you refuse to believe in Soul Reapers?” The black haired stranger looked offended almost.
Ruby shrugged.
“Well, I've seen spirits all my life but today is the first time I've ever seen… What did you call yourself? A Soul Reaper? And I've never seen Hollows before today either. Now why don't you get out of my room before I make you get out?”
The black clad woman sighed and made a gesture with her hand while shouting “Bakudō 1, Sai!”
Ruby's arms twisted behind her back and she fell to the ground, barely able to move. “What… What the hell did you do to me…”
“That is called kidō, specifically a bakudō. It's a low level spell designed to restrain targets with a low spiritual pressure. How's that feel, coming from something you don't believe in?”
Ruby was about to reply when a roar shook the walls of her room. The stranger turned towards the window. “Did you hear that? A Hollow is on its way!” She drew her sword and attempted to jump out the window but before she could the wall exploded inwards, showering the room and both women with debris.
“Hey, let me out of this spell!” Ruby shouted. “I can help!”
“Fool, you don't know the first thing about Hollows! Leave it to me!”
The Soul Reaper was about to jump down to the street when she felt Ruby struggling against her bakudō. She turned back to Ruby. “Hey, don't struggle against the spell like that, a simple human like you can cause permanent damage to your soul trying to break it! I'm warning…” The Soul Reaper blinked, shocked by what she was seeing; a meer human, spiritual pressure or no, shouldn't be able to break even the lowest level bakudō and yet this woman was not only struggling, but succeeding at breaking out of it! The bakudō snapped and Ruby stumbled to her feet. The Soul Reaper realized in that moment that this woman had much deeper reserves of power than she had previously realized. “That Hollow earlier today, and this one now… It wasn't after that boy, it was after you! Just stay here, let me kill this thing, then you and I need to talk.”
The Soul Reaper jumped down to the street and turned to the Hollow, preparing to strike it down, but it vanished in a burst of speed. Ruby ran out into the street. “Wait, where did it go?”
“Look out you idiot!” The Hollow had appeared again behind Ruby, ready to strike, but the Soul Reaper jumped between them and took the blow meant for her. She flew across the street from the force of the attack, slamming against a wall. Ruby ran over to her.
“Are you okay?!”
“No, I'm not. I'm too injured to finish this fight, but if you want to defend yourself and your home, there is one thing I can do for you. Take my sword and pierce it through your heart. I'll transfer half my power to you, and you will temporarily become a Soul Reaper. You'll have just enough power to take on this Hollow. I can't guarantee you'll survive the process, but it's the best chance either of us have. Will you accept?”
Ruby didn't even hesitate.
“What's your name, Soul Reaper?”
“Blake. Blake Belladonna.”
“I'm Ruby Rose.”
Ruby moved forward, impaling herself on Blake's Zanpakuto. In a blinding flash of light, Ruby was transformed. Now she wore a shihakushō and carried a Zanpakuto longer than she was tall. Blake was stunned by Ruby's transformation as well as her own. Her own shihakushō was now pure white and her Zanpakuto was nowhere to be found. “I was only supposed to transfer a small amount of my power to her, but somehow she got all of it!” Blake thought to herself. Before either girl could fully react to the situation, the monstrous Hollow that had previously been stunned had recovered and was barreling down on them, roaring, with its claws ready to strike them both down. Ruby raised her sword in a defensive stance and blocked the potentially fatal blow.
“You're not hurting anyone else tonight, monster,” said Ruby. “You're going down!” Ruby pushed the Hollow back with her Zanpakuto, staggering it and causing it to stumble backwards. Before the beast could recover, the massive blade cleaved through its masked face. The Hollow's blood sprayed everywhere for a moment before it began to turn to dust and ashes, then dissolving into nothing. Ruby planted the tip of her Zanpakuto into the ground and turned around to Blake. “Did you see that? I killed it! I…” Blake cut her off, screaming “Ruby! Look out!”
Ruby turned just in time to see a second Hollow lunging at her, ready to bite. She reached for her sword but it was already too late. The Hollow began to close its jaws around Ruby's arm when two bright blue arrows struck the Hollow between its eyes, making it flinch back in pain. Five more arrows struck it across its body and the Hollow burst into blue flames and crumbled to ashes.
“Ruby… Please tell me you didn't…” A familiar voice called out, “Please tell me you didn't become one of them…”
Ruby turned to see none other than Weiss, her girlfriend, wearing a strange white uniform and carrying a bow made of light blue energy. “Weiss, what are you doing here? What are you wearing? What's going on?” Ruby took a step towards Weiss and Weiss took a step back away from Ruby. Ruby looked hurt. “Weiss…”
“You're a Quincy, aren't you?” asked Blake.
“I don't speak to Soul Reapers.” Weiss spat back.
Ruby stepped between Blake and Weiss. “Weiss, Blake lent me her powers so I could defend myself and dad against the Hollow that attacked us. I don't know what's going on. What's a Quincy? Why do you hate Soul Reapers? I have so many questions. Why didn't you tell me about this before? You were the only other person who knew I could see spirits besides Yang and Dad. You said you couldn't see them but here you are, fighting Hollows. I…”
Weiss cut her off. “I'll explain later, but not while she's around. I…” Weiss's expression softened. “I'll see you at school, Ruby.” With that, Weiss left at high speed, faster than Ruby could follow.