#ladybugweek

“Perhaps she’s traveled here from the future?” Penny suggested.

“Everything we know about how the world works says that would be impossible,” Glynda assured her. Yet, despite saying so, she was the only one not giving Penny a strange look for suggesting such a thing.

The woman began to stir. Her eyes blinked open; silver, Ruby noted, another point of familiarity. Her eyes traveled slowly around the room, still half-lidded and groggy. “Is this an intervention?” she muttered. “I swear I’ve been taking it easy on the cookies.” Then her gaze landed on Ruby, standing close to the bedside, and stopped moving. She blinked a few times, rubbed her eyes as if to clear the sleep from them, then suddenly shot upwards.

Weapons were drawn, but when the woman made no further movement beyond slowly raising her unarmed hands, Ruby ordered them to relax.

“I don’t suppose anyone could tell me where I am?”

“You’re in Beacon Castle,” Ruby answered, summoning as much royal authority as she could. “My home. A portal opened in my garden, and when we arrived, you were passed out on the ground. Care to explain who you are and where you came from?”

The woman met Ruby’s gaze unflinchingly. “My name is Ruby Rose.”

A soft “Oho!” came from Penny’s direction, but Ruby refused to break eye contact with the stranger.

“Would I be right to guess that your name is also Ruby Rose?” she continued.

Blake answered before Ruby could. “She is Rubilacxe Rose, Queen of Vale and Surrounding Territories. Attempting to impersonate her is a serious crime that could earn you the death sentence.” She had positioned herself on the opposite side of the bed, so that when the stranger faced Ruby, she had to turn away from Blake.

The impostor didn’t react to her presence, nor even turned around as she addressed her. “You must be Blake, then.” She made a wordless sound, more a whine than anything else, and flopped back down on the bed. “This is the last time we take a cleanup job from a mad scientist. I don’t care how well he pays.”

Looks of confusion were traded generously around the room until Weiss opted to pick up the trailing end of the, apparently two-way, interrogation. “You still haven’t answered the Queen’s question. Where are you from and why did you enter the Castle Grounds without permission?”

The impostor propped herself up with her arms, not quite sitting, but no longer laying either. Ruby noted that she was acting very casual and unconcerned, despite being surrounded by a dozen armed people currently holding her captive. “Does the name Eltanin mean anything to you?”

The name sounded very vaguely familiar to Ruby, but she couldn’t say why. Fortunately, Ozpin was there to save the day. “I believe there’s a small settlement far to the northwest, near the edge of the Kata territories, by that name.”

“Huh,” the impostor said. “Well, that’s not where I’m from. Me and my crew, we live on a ship called Crescent Rose; I’m it’s captain.” Crescent Rose bristled in her mind, indignant at sharing a name with a mere boat. “We pick up work here and there to get by; we’d taken a cleanup job for this scientist named Arthur Watts. One of his labs had been destroyed by an explosion, so we were supposed to cart the wreckage off to another location for him to rebuild. Of course, Watts is the kind of guy who thinks impossible is for people with less than three doctorates, so we probably shouldn’t have been handling anything there without radiation suits and ten-foot…” she cocked her head to the side. “What are those grabby things called that let you pick up stuff from far away? I’m blanking on their name right now. Whatever, it doesn’t matter, mistakes were made, is my point.” She hummed for a moment, staring off into space in thought. “The last thing I remember was finding a piece of Watt’s tech that looked to still be in one piece. Then everything went white and I woke up here.” She returned her gaze to meet Ruby’s. “Was there a small, black box nearby where you found me?”

“Nope,” Yang answered. She and Blake had been the only ones with her when they’d found the impostor. “Just you and your gun.” She pointed at Nora, who still maintained a firm grip on the weapon.

“You’re claiming to have been teleported into the castle grounds against your will?” Glynda asked. “That kind of magic is far beyond the work of any but the strongest of mages. Furthermore, we’ve already confirmed that you came from beyond this plane; you can’t claim otherwise.”

By which she means I confirmed it, Crescent Rose said.

The impostor shook her head. “Not magic, science. And I’m not just from another plane; I think I’m from another universe altogether.” She paused. “Erm, that might not be the best explanation. How should I put this?”

Ruby wasn’t following the explanation anymore. Firstly, magic was a part of the world that could be studied by science the same as anything else, but the impostor seemed to consider them separate things. Then she claimed to be from outside the plane of Vale, yet not from another plane? Was she claiming to be from the void between planes? Only spirits were supposed to be able to survive there.

Fortunately, Glynda seemed to be following better. “You’re referring to the multisystem theory?” she asked.

The impostor brightened. “Maybe? What is that?”

Glynda nodded. “It’s a mostly disregarded hypothesis that there could be other planar systems, or universes, beyond our own. With enough of these universes, you would expect to see some similarities or repetitions between them.”

“That’s close enough,” the impostor replied. “I’m not claiming to be the queen, but I am Ruby Rose. My crewmates are Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao-Long, and if I ended up here, the others probably did too.”

Ruby shared looks with the three women in question. “There were three other portals opened at the same time as yours, but they were further away.”

“One of the portals opened inside the Curia,” Glynda added. “The wizards informed us that a crystalline golem came through it, which they’ve taken into custody for now. One of your friends?”

The impostor – no, the other Ruby – nodded. “That’s probably Weiss.”

Ser Schnee turned to leave the room. “A golem? I should like to see that. I’ll be taking the Knights Auffallend to the Curia, then. The wizards aren’t set up to hold prisoners for long. Your Majesty.” She bowed, then left.

“Right,” Ruby said, still trying to wrap her head around the situation. “We’ve already sent soldiers out to the other two locations, but we won’t hear back from them for a while. One portal opened in the western desert, and the other a bit closer, but to the south.”

“No offense to your soldiers,” the other Ruby said, finally sitting up properly and throwing her legs over the side of the bed towards Ruby. “But the moment my crewmates wake up they’re going to disappear. Especially Blake. If we want to find them, we’ll have to go ourselves.”

It was a refreshing change of pace to watch Blake sneak up on someone else for once. She moved with all the grace and stealth of a panther, every movement exact and silent, not even stirring the air as she placed the bone-white blade of her hand scythe against Ruby’s doppelganger’s neck beneath her cloak. Blake pressed against her back, mouth to her ear. “You’re still our prisoner. You don’t get to go anywhere without permission.”

Ruby’s counterpart didn’t even flinch, instead grinning mischievously. “Are you going to tie me to the bed, then, Blake? I hope you make the others leave before you have your way with me.”

Ruby tried to hide the blush that rose to her cheeks in response to the images her response conjured. Blake seemed equally distracted, which the other Ruby also noticed. In an instant their positions were switched, Blake pinned to the bed with the other Ruby’s arm at her neck. She was grinning as she taunted, “Unless you’d rather me be on top?”

Ruby grabbed her counterpart’s hood. “I might be able to accept that you’re some alternate version of me.” With a slight boost from Crescent Rose, she pulled hard enough to send her flying across the room. “But that doesn’t mean you get to flirt with my fiancée.”

The other Ruby stumbled, missed her step, and landed with a crash against the wall, sliding slowly to the ground. “Fiancée?” she muttered, sounding slightly dazed and looking like her worldview was in the middle of being redefined.

Ruby wondered, with everything that had happened today, if she had a similar look on her face.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Despite the potential risks involved, Ruby had ultimately decided to let this Captain Rose accompany them to the Southern Forest to investigate the opened portal. Her Majesty rode atop Celica, one of Yang’s sand dragons, sharing the saddle with their prisoner, who claimed to have never ridden a horse before. Jaune and Penny rode alongside the queen, with Blake taking up the rear. The rest of the court were either investigating the other portals or had remained in the castle.

Blake’s position gave her a good vantage point on the prisoner. The woman’s weapon had been returned to her and she now carried it slung loosely across her back. Ruby seemed to trust her, and they were heading into grimm territory, so it was best for everyone to be armed.

Blake still wasn’t sure about her story. The idea that she came from a different world with different physical laws, that nonetheless produced similar people, seemed completely bizarre. And yet, it would explain many of her strange traits. Her looks could be chalked up to coincidence, and knowledge about the court members was hardly a secret, but that wouldn’t explain her lack of reaction upon discovering Penny was a robot. Not to mention her aura, or lack thereof. Her soul was quiet, nearly impossible to feel. Even when they’d been on the bed together, close enough to share breath, Blake had barely felt a glimmer from the silver-eyed woman. Her lack of spiritual presence was unsettling, especially in light of her significant physical presence.

Which is to say that she was certainly cute enough to be Ruby.

Blake rode a bit closer, letting her keen ears drop eaves on the pair of lookalikes.

“How weird,” Ruby was saying. “A whole species of living crystals? It’s hard to imagine.”

Captain Rose shrugged. “Yeah, well, Weiss is still Weiss. You’ll see when you meet her.”

“Is that it, then? Two kingdoms of humans, Vale and Vacuo, plus faunus and materia?”

“There’s one more intelligent species,” the captain said. “The qedem are shapeshifters from the planet Mistral. Most of them can look human, but their natural form looks like a big lizard crossed with a bat.”

“Like a dragon?” Ruby asked.

“What’s a dragon?”

Ruby patted their mount. “Like this guy, but bigger and with wings.”

“They’re a little bulkier, but otherwise you’ve got the idea.” Captain Rose began waving her hands about, as if trying to paint a picture in the air. “They’ve got feathers and scales and can range in size from small dog to large horse. My world’s Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha are all qedem.”

The thought of Nora having the bulk and destructive capabilities of a dragon was a bit terrifying, Blake was unashamed to admit. She did her best to scrub the image from her mind, grateful that they wouldn’t be meeting any time soon.

“Oh,” the captain continued, “and I guess there’s proteans too; that’s what Yang is. Proteans are technically human, but one of their parents is a qedem who was in human form when… well, when they began.”

Blake tried to picture what that would look like. Would Yang be covered in feathers? Scales? Would she have wings growing out of her back? Or would both parents appearing human mean that she would look completely human too? The concept of heredity wasn’t very well understood, so Blake could only make guesses until she finally met her. If she even existed, she reminded herself.

“Your world sounds really strange,” Ruby said.

“Mine does?” Captain Rose sounded incredulous. “At least we don’t have spirits and magic portals.”

“Exactly!” Ruby exclaimed. “You have no magic! How do you manage to get anything done? Especially with the grimm everywhere.”

“Technology.” Captain Rose swung her weapon around her torso, pointing it at the forest ahead of them. “If we get the chance, I’ll show you what this bad boy can do.”

Ruby looked over the gun, a gleam visible in her eyes, even from the poor angle Blake sat at. “I look forward to it. Does he have a name?”

“A name?”

“Of course. A proper weapon deserves a proper name.”

“I used to name my weapons, but it made it harder to upgrade to new ones.” She didn’t name her weapons? How un-Ruby-like. “Now I just name ships. Does yours have a name, then?”

Ruby patted her glaive, where it was strapped to her mount’s side. “Yup. This is Little Thorn.”

Captain Rose chuckled. “Thorn, huh? The perfect weapon for a Rose. Mind if I borrow it?”

“Go right ahead,” Ruby offered.

The captain raised her weapon aloft. “Then from here on out you shall be known as Iron Thorn.” She lowered the weapon, adjusting the strap so it once again hung on her back. “He’s got a brother back home who I’ll call Bright Thorn.”

“You have to treat your weapons right,” Ruby lectured. “They’re like your children, but as long as you do right by them, they’ll never let you down.”

“I know something about that. Speaking of children,” Captain Rose said, changing the subject, “and their various prerequisites, you mentioned that you were engaged?” she briefly turned to meet Blake’s gaze, probably noting how close she’d ridden. Blake drew closer still.

“The wedding is scheduled to take place next week,” she said. “Your arrival has been interfering with the preparations.”

“Blake,” Ruby chastised, “please play nice.”

“So soon?” Captain Rose asked. “You two have known each other for a while, then?”

“A little over a year,” Ruby answered. “I would’ve been okay with waiting a bit longer, but, well.” She shrugged. “Politics, you know?”

“Being Queen sounds like a tough job.”

“It is.” Ruby sighed. “I think I envy you a bit. One ship sounds a whole lot easier to run than a country.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” the captain disagreed. “Keep everyone safe, keep everyone fed. Same thing, really, just on a smaller scale.”

The pair’s moment of commiseration, powerful despite its brevity, was suddenly shattered by several loud screeches. Mounts were halted and weapons were drawn; everyone recognized the soul-piercing scream of a grimm about to attack.

They were well into the forest at this point, trees surrounding them on all sides. A perfect place for an ambush, if one had the smarts to make use of that. Which grimm usually didn’t, unless someone was controlling them again.

The first of the grimm dropped from the trees ahead of them. It was a large beast, monkey-like in shape but at least seven feet tall. A loud crack split the air and it went slack, already fading as it crashed into the ground. Blake’s eyes were drawn to the source of the sound. Captain Rose had slipped off the back of the sand dragon and was standing with her weapon against her shoulder, pointed up into the trees. Three more cracks signaled the fall of three more grimm, these ones not even leaving the trees before they died.

Despite herself, Blake was impressed. A skilled longbowman with enchanted arrows would still have difficulty making those shots. Blake wasn’t sure how much was the weapon and how much its wielder, but it was indisputably effective.

“You’re from around here, Blake,” Ruby said, joining her counterpart on the ground. “Do you know what kind of grimm these are?”

“They look like beringels,” she answered, “except I’ve never seen beringels with wings before.”

The rest of the grimm attacked as one. Leaping from the forest cover, they circled the group on wings too small to hold their bulk.

Blake was suddenly too busy staying alive to give more than the least amount of attention to her companions. She caught glimpses of Jaune, sticking close to Ruby and keeping grimm off her with his shield, and Penny, wielding a pair of identical swords and tearing through the grimm like they were wet paper. Even the impostor Ruby was holding her own, proving just as lethal in close combat as she was at range.

A pair of beringel swooped through the air at her. She ducked low, letting them pass overhead, then turned and launched her chain-scythe into the side of the nearest one. It struck deep, lodging itself in the creature’s ribcage. She was being pulled along as it flew, slowly arcing itself upwards. She moved with the momentum, launching herself into the air and swinging around until she was above it. A sharp tug brought her down on its back, and Gambol soon found its mark in the creature’s neck. It fell to the ground, fading even as it plowed through the dirt.

Blake looked around as she landed, trying to locate the other one that had attacked her. When she found it, she froze. Even if she could move, there was no way she would make it in time. Instead, she was forced to watch the scene unfold as if in slow motion.

Penny was in the thick of battle, taking on all comers and showing no hesitation as she fought multiple foes at once. Jaune and Ruby had stayed close together. Crescent Rose’s power was leaking out in small bursts, allowing Ruby’s semblance to keep most of the large creatures at bay using bursts of wind laden with rose petals. The few who got through were quickly struck down by either Crocea Mors or Little Thorn. Captain Rose, however, had ended up separate from the rest of the group.

One of the beringel, perhaps the one who’d attacked Blake moments ago, had flown up high, hiding itself in the shadows of the forest canopy. These grimm could move remarkably quietly, the movement of their wings barely registering even to her sharp, feline ears. There was no way the captain could hear it as it came down behind her.

“Ruby!” she shouted in warning, already knowing it would be too late. It raised a giant fist above its head, ready to bring it down on its target. Blake’s breath was caught in her lungs, wrapped around her chest and squeezing her heart.

Then, in an instant, the creature’s head was severed from its body. Smoke poured from the gaping hole, steadily traveling down its body as it faded away. Wreathed in the dissipating cloud was a woman with a familiar face. A few minor features, like the shade of her skin, were different, but the overall resemblance was undeniable. It was a face she’d seen in mirrors and pools of water; it was her own.

“You should really be watching your back, Ruby,” the woman, the other Blake, said.

Captain Rose whipped her gun around, pointing the end of it over the other Blake’s shoulder. Another loud crack and another beringel fell from the sky. “How can I,” she retorted, “when I’m so busy watching yours?”

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Between the addition of a new fighter and the beringel’s slowly decreasing numbers, the grimm soon made the decision to cut their losses and flee. Total casualties: zero. Or negative one, since they’d managed to find Blake during the battle.

Ruby Rose, Captain of the starship Crescent Rose and voted Best Girlfriend in Two Universes by the only person whose opinion on the subject mattered, was overjoyed to see Blake alive and unharmed. She’d been doing her best to hide it, but she’d been worried ever since she’d woken up.

Her worry eased further when they returned to the castle to find Weiss and, before long, Yang equally safe and sound. The two Weisses couldn’t have looked more different, and boy was it weird to see Weiss as a human, but the Yangs could’ve passed for twins, despite their age difference. She had already overheard them whispering about swapping outfits and both feared and anticipated whatever hijinks awaited.

With the four of them reunited, Ruby had hoped that returning home would be as simple as flipping a switch. Unfortunately, it seemed this universe was no more generous than her own. The black box had come through with Weiss and had been returned to her when the human Weiss, Ser Schnee, had picked her up from where she’d come through. Unfortunately, all attempts to activate it had resulted in complete failure. At Glynda’s recommendation, they’d returned it to the wizards of the Curia, allowing them to study it in hopes that their magic could do what Ruby’s jiggery-pokery couldn’t.

That left the four of them with nothing to do for over a week, none of them allowed outside the castle walls unsupervised for numerous reasons, mostly to do with their appearances resembling important political figures. Ruby was about to go mad from boredom when the day of the wedding finally came.

She really wasn’t sure what to think about it. The wedding of Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna. It wasn’t something she’d given much thought to, her relationship with her own Blake still too young to be going down that rabbit hole. And yet here she was, a guest at her own wedding, getting a glimpse of what might, someday, be.

Although she suspected her own wedding wouldn’t ever be so grand.

The ceremony was being held outdoors, in the courtyard opposite the royal stables. The castle gates had been propped open, allowing anyone, even commoners, to enter and watch. Humans and faunus intermingled peacefully, an event, Ruby had been told, that was unfortunately rare of late. Seats of honor were reserved for delegates and representatives of the surrounding lands and neighboring planes, as well as close friends and family. Ruby scanned their faces, but aside from the members of the Summer Rose Court, she recognized few of them. There was Oobleck, an old co-worker of hers from Beacon and a librarian and researcher in this world, but she’d already met him while staying in the castle. The same went for Port, another member of the castle staff. She thought she spied Coco, unsurprisingly dressed like a noblewoman, talking with a much less well-dressed Velvet, as well as the less pleasant sight of Cardin Winchester, looking like a clergyman, of all things. Far outside the castle walls, all throughout the city, sounds of music floated through the air. Everyone was celebrating the Queen’s marriage.

Ruby and her crew hadn’t been given seats of honor, and instead were swaddled in heavy, identity-concealing cloaks and standing amongst the common masses. Ruby kept looking around, trying to spot any more familiar faces in the crowd. Was that the mayor of Evernight she spied?

The sound of trumpets signaled the beginning of the ceremony. The main doors of the castle were flung wide open, and out stepped Queen Rubilacxe Rose. She was dressed in a shining white suit of plate armor, trimmed in gold and etched with images of roses twisting about it. Underneath was a wine-red shirt, the tails of which reached down to the backs of her knees, and black pants. Atop her head was a crown of silver molded in the shape of roses, a single red stone sitting front-and-center, embedded in a crescent moon. At her side, his arm wrapped around hers, was Taiyang Xiao Long.

As inappropriate as it would be, Ruby nonetheless felt the urge to rush over and greet him. She hadn’t seen her own father in person in over a year, not since she’d left Vale. Sure, there were video chats, but bandwidth was expensive and unreliable so far from the rest of the galaxy, so such conversations were unhappily few.

Instead of rushing over and ruining the wedding for everyone, Ruby instead took the time, as the duo made their way down the aisle, to imagine herself in her counterpart’s shoes. They didn’t look comfortable. Ruby had imagined what her wedding day might look like when she was younger. She was usually wearing a dress in those daydreams, sometimes a suit, but always cloth. Metal armor looked so uncomfortable. Yang had a set of power armor she used to battle grimm with, on the rare occasion she wasn’t piloting a ship to fight them. Ruby had tried to fit in it once, and the attempt had done nothing good to her body.

What felt like an eternity later, but was in fact only a few minutes, the father/daughter duo finally reached the table where Ozpin stood ready to officiate. Her father bowed deeply to the Queen, then took a seat nearby. Then the trumpets sounded again, and a second pair exited the castle.

All eyes in the courtyard were on Blake. She was gorgeous, though Ruby would admit to being biased about the matter. She wore a dress so long that a young faunus girl followed behind her to lift the end off the ground so it didn’t trail through the dirt. It was two-toned; the bodice was white, with a low neckline and thin straps in lieu of sleeves. It was decorated with patterns of stones that glistened when they caught the sunlight and stretched past the waistline in loose loops and curls. The skirt, bell-shaped and made of overlapping layers, was dyed a purple so dark it nearly looked black. She didn’t wear a veil; instead, she had a crown of her own, this one made of actual flowers. Roses were woven together by their stems, each a shade of golden-yellow that matched Blake’s eyes, save for a single red rose near her left ears. An intricate braid interwoven with strings of polished wooden beads trailed down her back.

Ruby’s breath was caught in her throat the moment Blake Belladonna of the Southern Forest walked through the castle doors. At her side, her partner inhaled sharply. Ruby spared a moment to glance over at her girlfriend. It wasn’t awe that held her in place the way it did everyone else.

She turned back to the soon-to-be princess, trying to figure out what had set her partner off. Walking the bride down the aisle was a man Ruby didn’t recognize, dressed in fur-lined robes and possessing a pair of horns jutting out of his auburn hair.

“Do you know him?” Ruby whispered.

“That’s Adam,” Blake responded in the same hushed tone.

Oh. Adam had been Blake’s abusive ex-boyfriend. While Ruby still didn’t know many details, she could imagine how strange it would be to see such a person handing her alternate off at her wedding.

“I guess they have a different relationship in this world,” Blake muttered.

Ruby drew close to her, threading their fingers together and bumping shoulders. Blake squeezed her hand in response.

The couple of the day were united at last. Like Tai, Adam bowed to the queen and retreated to his seat, though Ruby noticed his bow seemed a bit shallower than Tai’s. Ozpin began the ceremony, speaking loudly enough to be heard all throughout the hushed crowd.

“We are gathered here today to witness the union of human and faunus. But more than that, we witness a union of love and commitment that has withstood countless tests.”

He continued on in the same vein, referencing events that Ruby had been told about but not witnessed and praising the couple for their feats. The speech was full of politically-aligned language with heavy emphasis on themes of strengthening the kingdom and unifying the two species, and seemed to say very little about the women actually getting married.

If Ruby had to guess, she’d say the two brides weren’t hearing a word of it, tuning it out in favor of each other’s presence.

Vows were exchanged, promises to support each other and to support the kingdom, and then Blake was anointed with rosewater and welcomed into the royal family. Finally, rings were exchanged. Queen Ruby placed a silver band on Princess Blake’s hand, then received a gold one in return.

Moments before the two could kiss and seal the deal, a piercing screech split the air and tore a portal open overhead. In an instant, the confusing swirl of emotions churning in Ruby’s stomach settled into something more familiar. Through the gap in space, Ruby saw a formless ocean of reds and blacks, twisting and gyrating to an ever-present song of rage and violence. A single massive claw gripped the edge of the portal, and an equally-sized grimm mask soon followed. It had the approximate shape of a deer’s skull, with sharp teeth and a brace of antlers that wound together as they plunged skyward, all tangled and intertwined like branches of an ancient tree, complete with tendrils of ivy and patches of moss hanging off.

Expectant cheers instead came out as screams of terror as panic drove the crowd into a frenzy. And yet, despite the pushing and pulling of people trying desperately to be anywhere except where they presently stood, a path was cleared between the royal couple and the woman Ruby had spotted in the crowd earlier. Her hair was black and her dress red, decorated with gold lining and glass jewelry. A pair of curved swords were strapped cross-wise on her back.

“For shame,” the woman said, her silken voice somehow perfectly understandable despite the panicked screams filling the air. “Lord Ozpin, you forgot the most important part.” She held out her hands palms up, and flames began to pour forth from them. “You didn’t ask if anyone has reason to object.”

The queen turned to her betrothed, stealing a quick kiss and sealing the deal. Then she tore the cloth off the table they stood at, revealing her and Blake’s weapons underneath.

She seemed to have the situation under control, so Ruby instead chose to focus on her crew, who were having a hard time staying together as people jostled them from all angles.

“I can’t see a thing in this cloak,” Weiss complained. “What’s happening?”

“Trouble,” was all Yang replied.

“Finally.” Weiss threw off her cloak and drew her blade in a flourish. “Who are we fighting?” She sounded excited. Spending so much time with Yang, Weiss was starting to pick up parts of her personality. “Oh,” she said as she turned her face to the portal above. “How did I not notice that?”

“From what she’s told me,” Ruby said, “the queen should be able to handle that on her own. We’ve got other fish to fry.” Though the alpha grimm had managed to catch everyone’s attention, other portals were opening throughout the courtyard, letting hordes of smaller grimm through. Ruby whipped Iron Thorn out from under her own heavy garments and chambered a round. “It’s time to repay our hosts for taking care of us for so long.”

Yang leapt high in the air, the heat from her armor activating burning off her extraneous outer layers, and landed atop a grimm moments before it could sink its teeth into a crying child. The rest of the crew followed her example.

The battle was intense, spilling out of the courtyard and into the city at large. Still, Ruby and her crew played their part, killing grimm and saving lives wherever they could. When everything was over, things had turned out better than expected. Casualties of the attack were few, and deaths even fewer. The alpha grimm had been cleaved in twain by the queen when she turned her glaive into a giant, glowing scythe, though not before it did significant damage to the castle walls, and the rest of the grimm were either driven off or killed.

After the all clear was sounded, Ruby and her crew retreated to the castle foyer, tending their wounds and trying not to draw attention to themselves. Most of the wedding crowd had been funneled inside after the attack began, letting the castle’s magical defenses tear apart any grimm that tried to step foot within, and many still remained.

The queen was making the rounds, talking softly with people, calming the worried, and generally being present and visible. When she reached Ruby’s little corner, where the four of them sat leaning against a pillar, she stopped.

“Thank you for your help today,” she said.

“Of course,” Ruby responded. “Did you get the woman responsible for all this?”

“Unfortunately, no. She managed to escape during the battle.” The queen sighed. “We figured something would happen today. Between the recent change in grimm behavior and the appearance of mutants, like those flying beringel from the forest, it seemed likely someone was controlling the grimm again. If they were going to attack, today was a likely day to do it.”

“It would’ve been nice to have a heads up,” Blake said, “if you saw this coming.”

“Sorry,” the queen said, and she did look genuinely apologetic. “You guys were kind of an unexpected addition to the situation and I didn’t want to put more on your shoulders than you deserved.”

“I understand,” Ruby assured her. “Sorry your wedding day got ruined like this.”

“Oh, pshah.” The queen waved her hand through the air. “This wasn’t the real wedding. Today was for the city and the nobles. We have a more private ceremony planned for the day after tomorrow, friends and family only.” She hesitated a moment, then continued. “You guys have more than proven yourselves to be friends today. If you’d like to stay a bit longer, you’d definitely be invited.”

“Sure,” Yang said. “It’s not like we’ve got anywhere else to go.”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you guys about that.” The queen was fidgeting, a sign of anxiety that Ruby shared with her. “Today’s been so hectic I haven’t had the chance to say anything yet, but late last night the we received a message from the Curia. They’re pretty sure they can open a portal back to your world. I’d understand if you wanted to return home as soon as possible; we could do it tomorrow, if you’d like.”

Ruby shared glances with each of her crewmates, finding a general consensus in each of their looks. She stood from her spot and bowed at her waist. “Your Majesty, we would be honored to attend your wedding. Home can wait a little while longer.”

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

As promised, the second ceremony was a smaller affair. It was held in the throne room, with chairs that Blake and her crewmates were actually allowed to use this time. Most of the people present were court members, and the rest had been filled in as to their existence, so there was no need for heavy, identity-concealing clothing this time. Blake recognized most of the people present, either from having met them here or having met their counterparts in her own world; the only exceptions were the blonde boy with a monkey tail who sat next to Velvet and Coco on Blake’s counterpart’s side of the aisle, and a freckle-faced boy sitting next to Ruby’s uncle Qrow on the queen’s side.

This time the local Blake, now a princess (and wasn’t that an entertaining thought) was dressed in something that resembled a tuxedo. She wore a white shirt with puffy sleeves and silver cufflinks, as well as a black vest and trousers. Atop this was a black, fur-trimmed half-cloak that hung over her left shoulder and was held around her neck by a silver brooch. She entered first, accompanied again by her Adam.

Blake had wanted to talk her about that, to pull her aside the day before and ask all the questions spinning through her head. But when she’d tried, the words wouldn’t come out. The plan was to leave the next day, so her chances to try again were slowly dwindling away.

All unpleasant thoughts were blown away the moment Ruby, the other one, the queen, stepped into the room. Her dress had short sleeves and a neckline that ran along her collarbone. The bodice had been fitted tightly, so that it perfectly hugged the curve of her waist. The skirt was relatively thin, though still big enough to leave a trail, and the whole thing was dyed a deep red that darkened to black as it reached the bottom. Thin gold bracelets adorned each of her wrists, which paired with a tight, matching necklace. The simple outfit belied the elegance with which she wore it. Blake was unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of her walking down the aisle, though she maintained enough clarity to reach out blindly and grasp her girlfriend’s hand.

There was no bowl of rosewater this time, just Ozpin, Ruby, and Blake. “We’re gathered her today to celebrate love,” Ozpin began. “Today we forgo speeches about politics, interspecies relations, and the strength of the kingdom, and instead find joy as two people who love each other dearly make the promise to continue together until the end. Ruby, Blake, if you two would join hands.”

The princess raised her right hand, the queen her left, and the two wrapped their pinkies around each other’s.

“Ruby,” Ozpin prompted, “your vows.”

The queen nodded. “I wrote mine down, because I knew I’d be too nervous today to remember everything I wanted to say. But then I lost the paper I’d written it on, so I really hope I get this right.” She cleared her throat and began. “The first time I saw you, you stood with such confidence and certainty that if you’d told me you were royalty, I would’ve believed you. I’ve often thought since then that you’d make a far better queen than I could. But fate has made me queen and I can only make you my princess. As queen I’m supposed to say that I have to put my kingdom first, but I can’t. Your love means too much to me; I would throw everything out for your sake. If everything and everyone displeases you, then we can run away together and live our lives in secret. I vow to stand by your side, wherever you go. I vow to support you, in everything you try. I vow to love you, when I’m old and gray and can’t remember my own name, I’ll still remember you.”

Then it was the princess’s turn. “I never expected any of this,” she said. “Not even in my wildest dreams. You’ve made me the happiest person in the world, Ruby Rose. You did this, not as the Queen of Vale, but as yourself. I didn’t think much of you at first, but I’ve never been happier to be wrong about someone. I can’t promise you that our life will be easy; the tasks ahead of us are daunting, to say the least. I wish I could whisk you away to some tiny cottage on a lake, where we could live out the rest of our days in quiet bliss. But you’ve chosen to live your life on the difficult path, and I will love you forever for that. That’s not a promise, it’s just a fact; at this point, nothing could make me love you less. A vow is meant to be kept, a decision made every day for the rest of our lives, so I vow to stay. I vow to never run away from a problem that can be faced head on. I vow that whatever struggles may come between us, I’ll address them alongside you, as your wife.”

Blake found her gaze latched to the royal couple and unable to move. She couldn’t bring herself to look at her girlfriend right now. The words her counterpart spoke weighed heavily on her ears. She wondered if anyone else here really understood the depth of what she was promising. To never run away, when that was all she was good at. She tried to picture herself saying those words to her own Ruby, but she wasn’t there yet. Marriage is supposed to make you into a whole new person; if this Blake could keep her vows, then that would certainly be true for her. No wonder they say marriage is terrifying.

With both vows completed, the ceremony drew towards its close. Ozpin picked up a long span of soft, white rope and began winding it around the couple’s hands and wrists, until the two were completely bound together by the cord and a single, clasped pinky. As he tied the final tie in the knot, he declared, “With this I pronounce you wife and wife. You may kiss.”

Finally, Blake was able to look away, her gaze drifting to the side. Golden eyes met silver, and Ruby lifted their joined hands and pressed her lips against Blake’s hand. Blake returned the kiss in kind. A mixture of emotions ate away at her, bafflement at the absurdity of her situation, confusion about the emotions she was confronted with, and no small amount of love for the woman at her side.

Tonight they’d party and tomorrow they’d return home, but for that one moment there was only the two of them. Blake’s stomach settled a bit at the thought.

“I love you,” she whispered, just loud enough for Ruby to hear. She’d never said it before, but the moment she did she knew she meant it.