And now, for a probably weird one: AU where Penny is a split personality developed by Ruby?
Ruby tightened another screw on her arm and winced as the pain receptors turned on. Her hand clutched the desk she sat in front of and dented the metal. A smile came across her lips once she finished. “There, all better.”
“You know you did that wrong, right?”
Ruby rolled her eyes at the voice that ran through her mind. “Penny, I already told you I had to do maintenance-”
“And all I am suggesting is that you have tightened that screw to tightly,” Penny explained. Within seconds, she quickly took control of Ruby to loosen the screw a bit. Her eyes flashed green and her smile quickly faded. “I only want to keep us safe.”
“And I told you it was fine before. It wasnt going to hurt either of us.”
“And you were already showing signs of anxiety when you were maintaining our arm.” Penny sat the screwdriver down and relaxed in the desk chair. “So until you calm down, I will drive our body.”
“I’m fine,” Ruby lied. “*Its only my nerves picking up with orientation tomorrow.*”
“And not an anxiety attack forming because you’ll be running into people who used to bully you?”
Ruby went silent. She knew Penny was right, of course she didnt want to be near the people who tormented her over her mechanical parts, but it wasnt something she could ignore either. She watched as Penny pulled up the design program on the computer and started working on a new weapon. “What are you doing?”
“If we are going to Beacon, then I need my own weapon.”
“What’s wrong with using Crescent Rose?”
“Crescent Rose is yours, not mine.” Penny smiled as she started designing a small backpack to house a few swords she could control with dust and wires. “And I dont fight like you do.”
“Look, Penny, we need to talk-” Ruby was quickly interrupted as the door opened. “-after we’re alone.”
Penny looked up and smiled at Yang. “Salutations sister.”
Yang paused for a moment. “You’re… Penny right now, right?”
Penny nodded and went back to work. “Ruby was starting to panic about Beacon.”
“Actually, that’s something we need to talk about.”
Penny paused and slowly closed the lid to the computer. “What do you mean?”
Yang sighed and closed the door. She sat down on the bed next to Penny. “Dad… isnt sure he’s going to allow you to go to Beacon.”
“Why not?”
“Well, because of your… problem.” Yang twiddled her fingers and looked down to the ground. “He’s… not sure you should go to Beacon when you’re… not quite all there mentally.”
“But we are here mentally,” Penny said as she stood up. “Ruby still hears and sees everything when I am out-”
“And dad thinks you should get a bit of treatment before you go.” Yang sighed and leaned back against the wall. “Uncle Qrow and I are doing everything we can to convince him to let you go. We know you’re recovering from the accident, but he doesnt quite understand… you. He thinks this split between you two is going to cause you problems at school.”
“We’ll be fine.” Ruby’s eyes flashed silver as she took control once more after a few minutes of trying to push Penny back. Her flesh and blood arm shook as she picked up her scroll. “Just… tell him we’ll come up with a few ground rules to follow, but we’ll… I’ll be fine. I’m going to figure things out with Penny so that way we can both run me through Beacon without any issue. And it’ll give me a chance to fix a few things.”
“And if he doesnt go for it?”
“Then… he can talk to me about it.”
Yang nodded and stood up, pulling her sister into a hug. “Alright, I’ll let him know. You and Penny need to make sure you eat too. You’ve been cooped up for a few days.”
“Dont worry, we will.” Ruby smiled and pulled away from Yang. She waited until her door shut before she fell back onto her bed and sighed. “...we need a better game plan for Beacon.”
“I think we will be fine,” Penny replied.
“We’ll figure things out when we get there. Just… for now, anytime you take over, you have to answer to my name. I’ll let you use whatever weapon you want but I do want this to be a normal school year for me.”
“May I at least have my own friends?”
“We’ll figure that out after the team assignments.” Ruby sat up and pulled her computer to her and reopened a few files she had saved. Her eyes moved along the strings of code and diagrams for the A.I. she had initially created, along with a few schematics for another body. “And maybe we’ll finally make the connections we need to make you your own person.”