By Any Other Name

Deception

Blake Belladonna stares at the now blank screen. A shiver going down her spine at having met a creature of legend. Rose... Leader of the Grimm and shockingly a Remnant within Vale itself.

Usually the leader of the Fanged Wolves would fear nothing, but those eyes sent fear straight into her heart. Causing her lots of turmoil. Shaking her head, Blake leans back in her chair and stares up at the ceiling. Two others will be competing to get her team leader to join their factions.

Ruby has proven to be surprisingly strong, and her being a Faunus certainly makes Blake hunger to have the young girl within her group.

The silver eyed girl is certainly a mystery. One Blake would love to solve. But all in due time. After all, she has to recruit the girl first.

Shaking herself of her thoughts, the girl gathers her belongings and starts to head towards the airships to take her to Beacon. Upon arrival, she finds Yang and Weiss chatting about their shopping trip earlier. Joining the other two, the group make their way onto the airship and then into Beacon to find their dorm void of their leader.

The three prepare for bed as they await for their leaders return. Slowly one by one, each fall asleep while their leader remains MIA...

—

It has been several weeks since team RWBY was first formed. No other word has been heard from the Cinder woman. Otherwise, things have progressed nicely.

Team RWBY managed to become friends with a group across the hall. Team JNPR led by a Jaune Arc.

While the team maybe a little eccentric, they are truly kind people. Including the hyper active Nora that is said to be a fledgling of the Sunny Dragons. No wonder considering her extreme strength and stamina.

Both Yang and Nora get along like gasoline and fire. Truly a scary pair when left alone.

Ruby's soft voice breaks Blake away from her internal thoughts. "Jaune? Are you alright?"

Jaune lifts his head and gives the group an obviously fake smile and thumbs up. "Yeah! Of course!"

Ruby tilts her head. "Is this because of Cardin?" Rose internally smirks at the thought of beating the leader of CRDL within an inch of his life. The boy is rather annoying, especially if he of all people annoys Rose.

Jaune shakes his head. "No! No no! It's fine-.." Before the blonde male can finish his sentence, Ruby is out of her seat and standing behind CRDL who are pulling on a rabbit Faunus ears. If memory serves her correct, Velvet who is apart of the Fanged Wolves.

Team CRDL seems to freeze as they feel a dark bloodlust aimed towards them. The rest of the cafeteria begin to freeze up and everything goes silent. All eyes now focused on the caped girl.

"Cardin was it?" Ruby's voice grows darker and deeper as she takes slow steps towards the leader. The male freezes in fear, unwilling to glance at whatever is causing such terror within him.

Blake glances around at her teammates. Weiss looks to be in awe while Yang seems to be fuelled by the younger girls bloodlust. Blake looks back to the scene and is reminded of a grimm reaper. With how the shadows of Ruby's cloak hides her face.

Ruby grabs Cardin by his neck and lifts him into the air. "Cardin Winchester. If you dare lay a hand on another Faunus or one of my friends, I will kill you." Ruby slowly brings him towards her face, where Cardin seems to freeze at being able to see whatever it is that he sees. "And it will be a painful death. This is your only warning." Ruby drops Cardin who scatters away with his teammates.

Blake swears she saw a wet stain at the crotch of their pants, but it might have been her imagination.

The lunchroom returns to a dull roar, many talking about what they just witnessed. Ruby exchanges a few words with Velvet before returning to her teams side. As Ruby takes her seat, she smiles kindly towards Jaune. "There you go. He shouldn't bother you anymore." With that Ruby returned to her strawberries and cream, obviously having a craving or a major sweet tooth.

The two teams eat in silence before Weiss breaks it. "Well uh... I do believe we have Oobleck in about ten minutes. Maybe we should head there?"

The group nods their agreement and begin to walk towards Oobleck. Ruby takes a seat next to Blake with Weiss on the other side of her. Yang immediately plants her face in her arms and falls asleep while JNPR are forced to split up due to there not being enough seats for the entire team.

Soon the lesson begins and Ruby finds herself drifting off. Not quite asleep, but unable to hear what's around her.

Red. That's all Ruby saw. Red on white. Her mother's cloak soaked in her own blood and in tatters. She thought it was a nightmare. But she didn't wake up from it. Reality stayed the same, and her mother never returned.

"Ruby.... Ruby... Ruby.- Ruby!" Ruby sits up quickly, finding Yang to have been the one to shake her from her memories.

She glances around at the faces of her teammates to find the lecture hall empty. Ruby gathers her stuff and begins to walk away. "I'll be in the library if you need me."

The remaining three watches as their mysterious leader trudges off, each curious about the odd girl.