Ruby



"I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna screw it up. I mean, I'll screw up with flair, but..."

- Ruby to Emma Swan

Ruby is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the first episode of the first season. She is portrayed by starring cast member Meghan Ory, and is the Storybrooke counterpart of Red Riding Hood.

History
For events occurring before the casting of the Dark Curse, see Red Riding Hood.

During the Curse
During the early days of the curse, Ruby often has argumentative disputes with her Granny over getting the early waitressing shift at Granny's Diner. Granny's response usually remarks upon that Ruby should have not stayed up partying so late. Her rebellious nature goes in hand with her wild style of fashion and makeup; usually clad in a red themed outfit with a lot of skin showing. She has plans to get out of Storybrooke and move to Boston. However, these plans are halted by her grandmother's sudden heart attack, and Ruby has been working at Granny's Diner ever since.

In the town bed and breakfast, Ruby and her grandmother are in a middle of an argument, but fall silent when they see Emma, who is looking for a room to stay in for a week. After Mr. Gold collects the rent, Emma inquires about him, and Ruby says that he owns all of Storybrooke. During her shift at Granny's Diner, she brings Emma a cup of hot chocolate and tells her that someone bought it for her. Emma turns around to see Sheriff Graham, and instantly assumes it is him, but it was actually sent by Henry. The next day, while on a date with Mary Margaret Blanchard in the diner, Dr. Whale becomes distracted and begins ogling Ruby's figure. The date ends on a bad note, and Mary Margaret asks Ruby for the dinner bill. A pregnant resident, Ashley Boyd disappears, and Mr. Gold seeks out Emma's help to find her. Emma speaks to Ruby in hopes of discovering where she is. Ruby is fiercely protective of her friend, and distracts Emma by directing her to Ashley's ex-boyfriend Sean Herman's house, claiming that he would know where she is. This was actually a ploy to get buy more time for Ashley, as Ruby let her use her car to escape to Boston. Ruby helps out in the rescue effort when Henry and Archie Hopper are trapped in an abandoned old mine. Throughout the rescue, she flirts with Billy in front of his tow truck. Ruby serves Sheriff Graham drinks in the diner as he shoots darts and watches as he confronts Emma. Days later, Ruby goes out with Mary Margaret and Ashley Boyd for a girls' night out. While Ashley passes up on flirting with any guys, Ruby goes over to the bar and begins chatting with them. In the same evening, Ashley is proposed to by Sean. She proves to be very helpful when David Nolan starts acting strange and goes missing, and she is able to locate him. In this way, Ruby proves her talent of finding lost things.

Ruby chats with August Booth in the diner one day, and slacks off from her job a bit. Granny wants to train her to take over the business one day, which Ruby does not want. They get into yet another argument, and this time Ruby quits and storms off. Unable to find a job anywhere, she thinks about leaving Storybrooke. She packs up her things and heads for the bus stop where she rebuffs Dr. Whale's advances. Emma and Mary Margaret come across the scene; to which Dr. Whale leaves. Since she has nowhere to stay on her own, Mary Margaret allows her to room in the apartment until she finds her footing. She is offered a job by Emma after seeing her helping a townsfolk over the phone in the sheriff's office and enlists Ruby to work as her assistant. Once on the tasks force, she asks Ruby to go to the Toll Bridge, since that was where David was found after he woke up from his coma and escaped the hospital, to see if she can find anything. She ends up finding a box which contains a human heart. The encounter traumatizes her, although Emma praises her for her skill in locating things. Ruby then quits working for Emma and goes back to the diner. She and Granny reconcile, and Granny explains that she merely wants Ruby to take over the business when she retires. Emma and August hear a scream in town and find a shaken up and frightened Ruby, who can only muster to tell them, "She's in the alley." As Emma goes to investigate, she discovers what Ruby saw—a very much alive and breathing Kathryn Nolan—lying in the alley in dirtied up clothes. Ruby is walking with her grandmother on the street when Emma breaks the curse with true love's kiss, returning her memories of her true identity.

After the Curse
After Emma Swan breaks the Dark Curse and restores the memories of the townspeople, Ruby reunites with Mary Margaret Blanchard, David Nolan, and the Seven Dwarves, now recognizing them as Snow White and Prince Charming. After stopping the townspeople from harming Regina Mills, she agrees to look after Henry for Emma. Later that night, she and Henry stop by the town hall to witness Regina threatening David, who is tied to the wall by her magic. They leave with David after Henry learns of Emma and Mary Margaret's disappearance into a portal. Ruby takes charge in the aftermath of the Wraith attack, which has left the town damaged and the people shaken. The people gather in clusters at the town hall, and she directs them where to go whether they need beds or counseling. Mother Superior is helping out as well, and she mentions her concern for the townspeople in their current predicament. Ruby reassures her that their prince is working on something.

David is spotted speaking to Henry outside of town hall later on, and everyone—Ruby included—rushes to him with their requests that need immediate attention. He asks for Mother Superior, and discusses the possibly of using fairy dust on the tree that brought Emma into this world so many years ago through the magic wardrobe, but there is none available. Leroy comes to bring bad news about Mr. Clark losing his memory after stepping outside of town, which causes even more panic. David tries to maintain order, and asks that everyone meet up again in two hours. He says he has a plan to fix everything, and walks off, but Ruby catches up to him. She asks what his plan is, and he admits that he does not have one, but he has two hours to think of something.

Two hours later, in town hall, everyone is gathered and waiting for David to show up. Ruby tells everyone not to worry, and that he will be here. Instead, Regina, who has reassumed more power after breathing in the magic from her mother's old spell book bursts through the doors. Some attempt to subdue her; Archie tries to talk her out of doing anything drastic, Leroy charges at her, and Granny fires a crossbow arrow. All is useless, and Regina returns the arrow as a flame ball to show she means business. Ruby refuses to be intimidated, and asks what Regina wants. It is Henry who answers, and he submissively goes home with Regina because he is aware she will not stop terrorizing the townspeople until he returns to her side.

Ruby runs into David on the street. She informs him about the chaotic state in town right now after his no-show at town hall, and there are even people that are going to try and leave town, but he chides her saying he will deal with it later because he is busy chasing Jefferson and figuring out how to get his wife and daughter back. However, Ruby snaps him out of it by telling him he needs to do something now to help everyone.

In David's pickup truck, he and Ruby drive to near the exit of town and get out to stop the line of cars from driving out. David gets on top of his truck and begins speaking to the townspeople. He wins the townspeople's approval when he makes them realize the memories of their old lives are an essential part of them and that they do not have to choose between the two lives; the strengths and weakness; because they are both. The next time we see Ruby, she is bringing lunch to David and the dwarves, who are working in the mines. She hands a muffin from her basket to Henry, then walks off. A little later in the episode, she is working in Granny's Diner serving Belle iced tea. She makes a comment about how many Belle has been drinking, and Belle smiles and admits that she has never had one. The two chat for a little bit, and eventually Ruby suggests that Belle go and check out the library. Ruby continues to work in the diner until David and Mr. Gold show up and ask about Belle. At first she lies and denies seeing her, but David convinces her to tell the truth. She tells them what she knows, and offers to help them track Belle using her newly rediscovered sense of smell. She loses the trail at Game of Thorns, the flower shop that Belle's father, Moe French, owns. She enters the shop and watches David and Mr. Gold question Moe, and discover that he has sent Belle to the Storybrooke border via the mine tunnels. She hops into his truck and drives David and Mr. Gold to the mines. Later, Ruby serves Belle pancakes and explains to her how to eat them. She gives her a small box that someone has left for her, then walks into the backroom. Ruby is seen helping in Granny's Diner when the celebration of finding fairy dust occurs. She is greeted by Billy, and he confesses to her that in the Enchanted Forest he was Gus, a mouse that lived in Cinderella's pantry. She asks why he is telling her, and he says he wanted her to know who he was. He follows by asking her out, and she does not know what to say. Belle, seeing her discomfort, comes to save her from the conversation by telling him they are having a girls' night out.

Ruby and Granny then prepare the freezer at Granny's Diner as a place to lock Ruby up while in her wolf form. It is the first night of "wolfs time" since the curse was broken and they are preparing for the worst particularly since they are unable to locate her cloak and she is afraid she will not be able to control herself her wolf form due to not changing for 28 years.

The next morning, David and Granny find the empty freezer torn up and the door ripped off the hinges. Using Granny's heightened sense of smell, they find Ruby unconscious in the woods. She has no memory of the previous night which makes her believe she ran around the town uncontrollably like she did when she killed Peter in the Enchanted Forest. David responds to a call in town and finds Billy's truck double parked and Billy torn in half. Ruby panics and has David to lock herself up in the jail. Albert Spencer accuses David of being an unfit leader by placing his personal loyalties above the safety of the town and he incites the townspeople against David and Ruby. An angry mob storms the jail only find Ruby is gone. Ruby has taken refuge with Belle at the library where she prepares to be shackled for the night. Belle kindly assures Ruby that she is not evil or a killer and offers to stay with her that night to prove it. Ruby appreciates Belle's kindness, but does not believe her and sneakily cuffs Belle in the shackles meant for herself. Ruby, having given up hope, leaves to face the mob.

The mob of angry townspeople corner Ruby in her wolf form in an ally after hearing her howl. Ruby hides behind a dumpster as Spencer aims his gun at her. David and Granny arrive and Granny disarms Spencer with her crossbow. David tells the mob that Spencer killed Billy and framed Ruby. David approaches Ruby with her cloak, which he found in Spencer's car, and tells her she did not kill Billy and that he and her loved ones know she is good even if she does not. Red hesitates and then sits in front of him allowing him to place the cloak on her, which changes her back to her human form.

Ruby and David return to the pacified mob to discover Spencer has knocked Granny down and escaped. They track him down using Ruby's sense of smell. Spencer taunts David telling him that what he really wants is to deprive David of his family. Spencer then throws the remains of Jefferson's hat into a fire. Enraged, David pulls his gun on Spencer but Ruby talks him out of shooting him.

Later, at Mary Margaret's apartment, Ruby asks David to call Granny and have her release Belle back at the library. She then tells him she wants to spend the rest of the night doing something she has not done in a long time. David asks her what it is and she says, "Run". She takes off her cloak and runs through the night embracing her wolf identity. Leroy brings Ruby to the mines to show her that all the diamonds are gone. They immediately go back to Mr. Gold's shop to tell Henry that Regina and Mr. Gold are planning something bad. Ruby brings Henry to the forest, and when Ruby confronts Mr. Gold he pushes her back with magic. She wakes up as Mary Margaret and Emma come through the well and they rejoice together. Ruby is present at Granny's Diner when Mary Margaret and Emma arrive for their welcome back dinner from the Enchanted Forest. She runs up and embraces Mary Margaret happily, then draws back along with everyone else when she sees Regina enter the diner. She later calms down enough to enjoy socializing with Mary Margaret and Emma. The next day, Ruby encounters Archie and Regina arguing on the dock in Storybrooke while on a jog. She asks them what is going on, and Regina responds by telling her to continue on her walk. Ruby reluctantly runs off. Later, she sees Regina enter Archie's office while she is closing down the diner. The next day, Ruby is able to understand Pongo enough to know that something is wrong, and she and Emma go and find Archie's body lying on the floor in his office. When Emma asks who could have done this, Ruby responds, "I think I know", indicating she saw Regina the previous night. Ruby is at Archie's funeral as one of the mourners, and later attends the wake at Mary Margaret's apartment. When Leroy brings up the subject of returning to the Enchanted Forest, Ruby is all for it. As the curse has been broken anyone can come into town anyone could see her turn into her wolf form. She states that if people in the Enchanted Forest did not like the fact that she turned into a wolf during the full moon, she cannot see how the rest of the world outside of Storybrooke would. Ruby is at the hospital after the Outsider crashes into Storybrooke. She gains access to his phone, and is convinced he is a normal guy. Dr. Whale returns from the operating room and informs the group that the outsider is bleeding internally. The group in the hospital come to the conclusion that if he survives he may expose the magic in this town to the outside world.

After this, Dr. Whale is preparing to jump off the dock in an act of suicide, but Ruby uses her wolf speed to quickly grab him before he falls to his death. Dr. Whale explains to Ruby the story of his brother and how he failed to revive him. Ruby informs Dr. Whale about her wolf form and how it made her kill her boyfriend and how the Dark Curse stripped them of their unwanted memories. She eventually convinces him to save the outsider. He returns to the hospital, to finish the surgery.

The surgery is successful, and Dr. Whale thanks Ruby and tells her that the outsider will survive. Ruby goes to visit Belle in the hospital as Belle is resting and watching TV. She comes and sits by her, telling Belle that she and her were once friends. Belle does not seem to believe her. Ruby then reaches into the basket she brought and removes a book. She tells Belle that when she had her memories, she mentioned one of her favorite authors was Jules Verne. To that end, Ruby brought one of his books for Belle to read. When she mentions seeing Mr. Gold holding a ball of fire in his hand and what occurred at the town line, Ruby tries to downplay it, saying that what Belle is seeing and remembering is a side effect of the medicine. Belle becomes extremely agitated and has to be sedated by the Severe Nurse. Ruby asks if this has been happening often, and the nurse replies that Belle has to be heavily sedated due to her condition.

Storybrooke is terrorized by a giant, Anton, after he is freed from Hook's ship by Mary Margaret, David and Leroy, and then eats a magical mushroom Regina gives him in order to return to his normal giant size. He takes his hatred of humans out on the residents, but the effects of the mushroom wear off and he becomes stuck in a hole. Many residents, including Ruby, help out to bring him up to safety. When an injured Mr. Gold returns to Storybrooke, she helps him walk off of the Jolly Roger, with the help of Neal Cassidy, Mary Margaret asks her to watch Henry, because of the dangerous plans she has in store for Cora, and Ruby agrees. At the diner, as Neal waits for Emma and Henry to show up, he orders something for Henry. Henry plops down into the seat at the table across from Neal, and Ruby comes over carrying a tray with his order of a large sundae with "extra everything". Ruby goes back to the counter to get Emma some coffee when Greg, who recently got out of the hospital, walks in. She hands him his already prepared order on a separate tray. He asks if he could have it to go, and Ruby walks away to wrap it up for him. While he is waiting, he chats with Emma about going on a nature hiking walk. Emma muses she thought he might've already been back to Pennsylvania by now. Ruby comes back with his bagged food just as he says Storybrooke is starting to grow on him. He thanks Ruby for her service and pays for his order. Ruby and Emma exchange a look after he is gone.

Trivia

 * The name Ruby refers to the red gemstone.
 * Ruby has a red wolf key chain hanging from the rear view mirror of her red car that she says brings her good luck.
 * She is close friends with Ashley Boyd and Mary Margaret Blanchard. She also becomes friends with Belle after the break of the curse.
 * Although she could not transform into a wolf before the curse was lifted in Storybrooke, she still had her wolf senses; such as heightened hearing and smell.
 * Ruby is notorious for her provocative clothing. She wears gothic style makeup, bright red streaks in her brown hair, and is always wearing red. Ruby is rebellious and flirtatious, but is caring and lacking in self-confidence. After a series of events help her to mature, her clothing is less revealing and she wears significantly less makeup. Eventually, her red highlights also disappear.

Appearances
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