#maybe ruby mages can only be redheads or something

[show-tunes]

So long to this wretched form

[brokenmimir]

The Soulmate Chalice

White Rose Week Day Two: Soulmate AU

All her life Ruby Rose had dreamed of getting into Beacon so that the Archmages could find her soulmate.  She was sure everything was going to be perfect, just like her parents marriage had been.

Nothing, not even some crabby girl she ran into after landing could get in her way!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14905727

The stories say you'll know the moment you meet them. Your soulmate. The person you're destined to spend the rest of your life with.

Ruby had been looking forward to meeting them since she was old enough to talk. Her mother and father had read fairy tales about soulmates to her, and she couldn't wait to meet her own. When her mother died and her father shut down, her older sister had taken over reading her stories, and while she'd been more hesitant, she'd never been able to resist Ruby's pout.

Of course, the world wasn't quite so simple, something she'd started to discover as she'd gotten older. Her mother and father had met at Beacon, as most mages did, but somehow her father had had Yang with someone else even though he'd already met his soulmate. In fact, despite most mages discovering exactly who their soulmate was, some never married them.

“You excited Rubes?” Yang asked.

Ruby grinned. “Yup!”

“Even though it means meeting new people?” Yang asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Ruby folded into herself a little. “Er…”

Yang chuckled and bumped shoulders with her. “Come on sis, it'll be great. You'll see. You're gonna make a ton of friends.”

“Why do I need friends?” Ruby grumbled, crossing her arms. “I'll have you! And my soulmate!”

Yang's smile faded slightly. “Ruby… it's not that easy. I mean, yours might not even be here, yet.”

“Yours was!”

“Yeah, I got lucky,” Yang said with a grin, which faded slightly as she gave Ruby a serious look. “That doesn't mean it was easy, though. Seriously, I had to work hard to win my kitty cat over. She didn't want anything to do with a soulmate, and it took forever to wear her down.”

“I still don't understand what some people have against soulmates,” Ruby said, crossing her arms. “Why would someone want to be with anyone else?”

“'Cause people choose what they want, no matter what some magic spell says,” Yang said. “Some people don't believe it's real, or that the Archmages make it all up so tjey can control everybody. Some people claim the soul mate finding spell is basically a giant love spell, making people they want to be together be together. And of course, most of the old families think marriage is the best way to make alliances and gain power.”

“That's all stupid,” Ruby grumbled. “I just… I just want what mom and dad had.”

“I know,” Yang said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Just remember… even if your soulmate is already at Beacon and you can meet them the first day, that doesn't mean things will just work out like, well, magic. You've gotta work for it.”

“I had to work for my magic, too,” Ruby pouted. “Not everybody taught themselves how to make fire when they were two.”

Yang chuckled. “Yeah, I wonder sometimes how dad isn't all gray hair.”

They airship set down at Beacon's dock with a splash and a creak, and the two of them stepped off onto dry land, walking past someone that was puking noisily over the side while a statuesque redhead rubbed his back. Once they were on solid ground again Ruby turned to her sister, who was already walking away. “Wait, where are you going!”

“Sorry Ruby, I'm off to find my Blakey!” Yang called as she dashed away.

“Wait, come back!” Ruby shouted as she tried to run after her sister. “I want to meet Blake… don't leave me alone! Oof!”

Ruby slammed into someone while she was focused on keeping up with her sister, knocking them both to the ground. She groaned for a moment, and was just about to get up and apologize when a loud, angry shriek interrupted her. “Get off of me!”

“Sorry!” Ruby yelped, stumbling back and barely reaching her feet before she was confronted by her victim.

The woman was about her height, with long white hair in an off center ponytail and angry blue eyes that glared spitefully at her. She was dressed in an incredibly fancy white dress, which was obviously enchanted since it didn't pick up any dirt from their impromptu fall to the ground. Ruby realized that she must be very wealthy, and was probably the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen, the scar over one eye somehow enhancing her already sharp features.

Then she opened her mouth. “You!”

“M-me?” Ruby stammered.

“Are you completely braindead!?” the woman shouted. “What are you doing, running blindly through a crowd?!”

“I said I was sorry, princess!” Ruby snapped.

“Do you have any idea who I am?”

“She's Weiss Schnee,” another voice drawled, this time coming from a tall brunette with cat ears. “Heiress to the Schnee Family… the most infamous family of dark sorcerers and demon summoners in the Magocracy of Vale. Only the Salem Clan has a worse reputation, but they didn't have enough gold to bribe their way out of banishment.”

“How dare you, Belladonna,” Weiss sneered, before turning on her heel and storming away, a small collection of white creatures, some form of imp that Ruby didn't recognize, scrambling to gather her luggage and follow after her.

“I'll make it up to you!” Ruby shouted, only to be ignored.

“You must be Ruby,” the woman named Belladonna said.

“Yeah! How did you know?”

She chuckled. “Your sister wouldn't stop talking about you. I'm Blake Belladonna… Yang's soulmate.”

“Oh!” Ruby gasped, before jumping forward and pulling Blake into a surprise hug. The faunus stiffened up for a moment, before relaxing and hugging her back. “I'm so happy to meet you!”

“I'm happy to meet you, too,” Blake said. “But where's Yang?”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “She ran off looking for you and left me behind. Come on, I'm sure she's around here somewhere…”

It took a while, but Ruby enjoyed getting to know Blake, and Beacon's campus was lovely, so she couldn't really complain. When they finally found Yang she was waiting in the main amphitheater with a growing crowd of students. Ruby hung back for a moment while the couple kissed, before finally Yang turned her attention to her. “Hey Rubes, I see you met Blakey.”

“Yeah, she saved me from some crabby girl,” Ruby said.

“Crabby girl?” Yang asked.

“Weiss Schnee,” Blake explained.

Yang made a face. “Ugh. Her.”

“What's her deal, anyway?” Ruby asked.

“She's a stuck up ice queen,” Yang said dismissively.

“She's worse than that,” Blake said darkly. “Her family uses magic to summon and bind creatures to their service. Mostly demons, which is bad enough, but they made most of their wealth by magically enslaving faunus. They only stopped when the White Fang forced them to, and even then it wasn't until Vale threatened to banish them to the Darklands that they agreed to free their slaves.”

“That's terrible!” Ruby gasped.

“Yeah, and despite everything they never had to give up even a copper of their ill gotten wealth,” Blake said, glaring hatefully at a head of white hair a few rows ahead of them. Ruby jumped as she realized that Weiss was close enough that she could potentially overhear them with how loudly they were talking. “They are the worst kind of mages.”

“But I mean, she was kinda crabby, and she had those imp thingies carrying her luggage, but… she's still in school so it's not like she enslaved people, right?”

“The Schnee slaves were freed ten years ago, so who knows,” Blake said. “At the very least she had faunus waiting on her hand and foot as a child, and she still acts like she expects everyone to keep doing so.”

“Yeah, she's a lost cause,” Yang said. “She spends all of her time studying and looking down her nose at everyone. She doesn't have any friends.”

“That's… sad,” Ruby said quietly.

Blake's ears twitched. “Sad?”

“Yeah, I mean, can you imagine not having any friends?” Ruby said. “She must be really lonely. Does she have a soulmate?”

Blake snorted. “She'd need a soul for that.”

Before Ruby could reply two adults walked to the center of the room. She recognized them as the Archmages Glynda Goodwitch and Ozpin. The rest of the room obviously recognized them as well, as everything quieted down.

“Thank you,” Goodwitch said. “Now, as is traditional, all new students will take these enchanted cards, fill them out, and then push some of your mana into them. Then, you will place them in this magical chalice, which will determine if your soulmate has done the same. This way every mage who passes through Beacon has the opportunity to meet their soulmate.

“Now, all new students, please come to the front so that we can begin.”

As excited as Ruby was, she hesitated for a moment. This was it. The moment she'd been waiting for. In a few minutes she could be meeting her soul mate. Or maybe she wouldn't be matched to anyone at all.

“Go on, sis,” Yang said, giving her a shove. “It's time!”

She stumbled a few steps, before rushing forward to reach the line of other first year students. She bit her lip nervously as she was handed the heavy parchment card and quill, writing her name on it quickly and then carefully channeling a little burst of mana into it. The card glowed bright red for a moment, and she grinned, knowing it was ready. She was ready. She could do this.

She also had a name in the second half of the alphabet, so while other students one by one were called forward and placed their cards in the chalice she watched everything that happened. Most names simply went in, making the chalice flash silver, but some of them flared with golden light, provoking cheers as two cards shot back out, snatched from the air by Ozpin who would then casually read the names of two people who's lives were bound together forever.

Ruby looked around at the crowd. Most people were eagerly watching, excited about the drama unfolding. Older students who hadn't found their soulmates yet were either playing things off as unimportant, or eagerly watching every student that approached the chalice, hoping or fearing that each one would be their soulmate.

She noticed Weiss sitting by herself near the front. Apparently her sister and her soulmate had been right about the girl not having any friends, as no one even seemed to want to sit near her. She had a cold, disdainful look on her face, like she was above all such silly things like soulmates, but Ruby saw a glint of well hidden hope in her eyes whenever the chalice flashed gold.

Ruby hoped that Weiss would find someone, even if she did feel a bit sorry for whoever was stuck as her soulmate. Even if she was kinda mean no one should be alone, and she bet that Weiss was probably mean because she was so lonely. In fact, when things calmed down she was going to track the white haired girl down and make her a friend, since everyone needed a friend. Besides, with Weiss she might actually have someone worse at making friends than her around!

“Ruby Rose!” Goodwitch called.

Ruby eeped and jumped, dropping her card and having to pause to scoop it up before she could run up to the front where Goodwitch was tapping her foot impatiently. She ignored the derisive laughter for her clumsiness and hurriedly stuck her card in the chalice, biting her lip as it disappeared into the shimmering opalescent magical fluid within.

Ruby felt like her heart was going to explode from her chest, and that was before the chalice flashed gold. She had a soulmate! She couldn't even imagine what they were like. This was the greatest moment of her life!

“Ruby Rose… and Weiss Schnee,” Ozpin read, giving her a warm smile.

“What!?” Yang shouted.

Ruby felt her smile freeze for a moment, before she turned around and looked at the crowd. Her sister and Blake both looked upset, making Ruby shrink into herself, and the unpleasant looks she was getting from the crowd didn't help either. Weiss, her soulmate, was looking at her like a particularly unpleasant bug that had crawled on top of her freshly baked cookies and started doing the can-can.

She swallowed hard, unable to move, until Goodwitch cleared her throat forcefully, making Ruby stumble forward, almost tripping over her own feet as she moved up next to Weiss, taking one of the empty seats beside her. The other girl stiffened up, her perfect posture somehow becoming even more rigid, although she didn't say anything.

“Hey,” Ruby said quietly.

Weiss just gave a disdainful sniff, but she was at least looking at Ruby out of the corner of her eye.

Ruby gave her a nervous smile. “Look… I'm sorry about the whole running into you thing, and the whole Blake ambushing you thing… uh, but… I mean… I hope we can get along.”

“Why?” Weiss asked flatly.

“Well, I mean… we're soulmates,” Ruby said with a smile, which faded as Weiss glared at her.

“I fail to see the relevance of that,” Weiss said. “No Schnee has ever married their soulmate. My father will pick someone for me to be with, so I can assure you that you won't receive one gold piece from my family.”

Ruby's brows furrowed. “What?”

“Look, whatever it is you think you can gain by being with me… you won't get it,” Weiss said.

“That's not… I don't want anything,” Ruby said. “I just… my parents were soulmates. And I remember… they were so happy. I've always wanted that for myself.”

“The world isn't that easy,” Weiss said, standing as the group was dismissed. “Soulmates are nothing but a waste of time.”

“If you thought that, then why'd you watch everyone so closely?” Ruby challenged, but Weiss ignored her as she strutted away, nose in the air.

“Rubes?” Yang said, coming up behind her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “I'm so sorry.”

“Huh?”

“You got her as your soulmate,” Yang said, grabbing her and pulling her into a too tight hug. “I know you really wanted to meet yours, and then this happened.”

Ruby looked down, frowning for a moment, before looking up with determination. “No.”

“No?”

“No,” Ruby said, pulling away from Yang. “Nothing is wrong. I've found my soulmate, and now I just need to convince her to give me a chance.”

“Why would you want her,” Blake said.

“Because she's my soulmate,” Ruby said simply. “Look, I appreciate you guys being worried about me and all, but… she's my soulmate, and that's good enough for me. Now I'm gonna go find her.”

“Wait, Ruby!” Yang shouted, but this time she was the one left behind as Ruby ran out of the room.

Ruby didn't know where to look, but she refused to be dissuaded, running around the school as fast as she could, hoping to spot a glimpse of long white hair. Just when she thought she would never find her she saw someone hunched over under the shadows of a tree next to a small pond. It was only when Ruby got close that she heard soft crying.

“Weiss?”

Her soulmate froze, before wiping her face. “What are you doing here?”

Ruby carefully sat down next to her, although she stared into the pond to give Weiss a little privacy to recover from her crying. As much as she wanted to hug her and make her feel better, she was on thin ice as it was, and she had a feeling that Weiss' pride wouldn't let her accept being comforted. “You're my soulmate. Where else would I be?”

Weiss scoffed. “I already told you, this is meaningless. We're never going to be each others anything, no matter what a glorified cup says. So why don't you just go away and leave me alone.”

“Nope,” Ruby said.

“What?!”

“Jeez you're so loud,” Ruby grumbled, before finally looking at her. “Weiss… why are you so against this?”

“I already told you, this is meaningless,” Weiss scoffed. “Look, even if soulmates and that stupid chalice are real, my father would never allow us to have any sort of relationship.”

“But what about what you want?” Ruby asked.

Weiss blinked. “What I want?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said. “You told me what your father thinks, but what about you? Do you want a soulmate?”

“There's no such thing.”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Come on, Weiss. I saw the way you watched people putting their names in the chalice. I know you wanted someone. Am I really that bad?”

Weiss hesitated, a sharp retort on her lips, before she looked away. “Bad enough,” she grumbled, but it lacked the force of her earlier complaints.

“Look, we're at Beacon, right?” Ruby said. “Even if your parents don't like soulmates, they wouldn't pull you out just because of this, would they? I mean, graduating from here will really help your magic and stuff, so wouldn't they let you stay?”

“Unless I bring shame on my family,” Weiss said. She didn't actually say that Ruby had the potential to be that, but Ruby felt her stomach churn at the implication.

She pushed that thought away and reached over slowly, giving Weiss a chance to retreat before carefully taking her hand. It was so soft and delicate, making her heart pound in her chest just from something so simple. “Then I'll be good enough they won't say anything! I'll work super hard, and they won't be able to be upset with you hanging around someone at the top of their class, right?”

“Maybe.”

“See, and we can get to know each other,” Ruby continued. “Before you know it you'll be like, 'wow, that Ruby is so awesome, and I'm glad I'm her soulmate.'”

“I will never say such a thing,” Weiss said with a sniff.

Ruby grinned. “Just you wait. I'm going to make you so happy you won't be able to believe you tried so hard to keep me away.”

“Why?” Weiss asked, staring into her eyes, obviously searching for something. “Why do you want this so badly?”

Ruby smiled at her warmly. “Because I want to be happy, and nothing could make me happier than being with a happy soulmate.”

Weiss finally looked away. “F-fine. If that's what you want to do I'm not going to stop you. Just don't expect things to work out so easily!”

Ruby grinned, squeezing Weiss' hand, which she noticed the other girl had never let go of. “Nothing easy is worth having.”

Weiss harrumphed but didn't say anything. She did, however, tighten her grip as well.