[RWBY] The Great Temporal Step-Sibling War!

[AndrewJTalon]

Radian, Gallia, Vale

Four Years After Salem's Defeat

- - -

The church was gorgeous, even from the inside with all the stained glass windows and sculpted arches. Pyrrha herself could admit that the vision before her in the mirror was one of loveliness-White dress, veil, her hair up in a bun, her makeup perfect.

Yet she couldn't stop crying. No matter how many goofy faces Nora and Ruby made.

"Come on Pyrrha, what's wrong?" Nora demanded. "It's your wedding day! You should be happy!"

"The happiest!" Ruby added, dabbing Pyrrha's eyes. Pyrrha sniffled a bit more.

"I... I'm sorry, I just... Um... W-Well..."

"Well what?" Ruby demanded. Weiss walked around to Pyrrha, frowning deeply.

"Yes... What is it?" She asked. Pyrrha shook her head.

"I... It..." She stared back at herself in the mirror and broke into sobs again.

"Oh geez," Nora murmured. She snapped her fingers. "I'll be right back!" She rushed out. Weiss sighed.

"Is it Blake and Yang's drama? I know it's just tiresome to deal with them now that they broke up so badly-"

"N-No," Pyrrha whispered, "It... It's not that... Though it doesn't help..."

Ruby sighs.

"Yeah, Yang being under mind control from Watts to turn into a lesbian jerk... Wish we'd caught it sooner."

"Not that Blake had that excuse," Weiss muttered. Ruby scowled at Weiss. "What?!"

The door was flung open. Nora stormed in, dragging Jaune in. Weiss yelped.

"NORA! They're not supposed to see eachother-Oh, um, I-I'm very sorry Jaune-!"

"No, no, it's fine," Jaune said, "I turned off my eyes to keep the tradition. Can you excuse us for a second?"

"But-" Weiss tried, but at Nora's look, she sighed. "Fine. Ruby, let's try some of those snack cakes."

"Ooh! Read my mind!" Ruby chirped. She gave Pyrrha and Jaune quick hugs before she headed out, Weiss following with a lingering look thrown back over her shoulder. The door shut. Pyrrha looked away, staring into the mirror, as Jaune approached.

"Pyr? What is it?" Jaune asked softly, walking up to rest his hands on her shoulders. "Nora told me you were crying constantly after seeing yourself... What is it?"

Pyrrha sniffled.

"I... I'm getting married to the man I love, Jaune," Pyrrha mumbled, "I-I'm not... I'm...!"

"Pyr." He turned her to face him. "No more masks, remember?"

Pyrrha bit back a sob.

"I... I just realized... You don't get to see me. You can't see me... A-All of this... People tell me I'm beautiful and it's all so lovely and-and you can't see it! All because of me-!"

"Pyr..."

His quiet voice was punctuated by him tilting her chin up. To look him in his artificial eyes, still off.

"Pyr," he murmured, "I told you before: I knew that if I stayed and fought with you, there'd be a price to pay. And I'd pay it again, just to keep us both alive." He stroked her cheek. "No, I can't see you without these things. But we're alive, and we're getting married. That's what I want. Is it what you want?"

"Of course Jaune," Pyrrha sniffled, "But... You lost so much... For me..."

"Because I love you," Jaune whispered. "Like I said, I would do it again. As far as I'm concerned? I've gained so much in the exchange."

Pyrrha smiled, and hugged him tightly. Jaune hugged her back.

"Besides," he whispered, "Ren taught me to sense Aura... And in Aura? You're the most beautiful woman in the world to me..."

"Oh, Jaune," Pyrrha sniffled. She kissed his jaw. "I... I'm sorry."

"You? I... I've been worried about you marrying... An invalid," he murmured. Pyrrha shook her head and kissed him again.

"Mm... We're both stupid, aren't we?"

"Of course we are," Jaune chuckled, "We're in love."

Pyrrha giggled.

"We are... And always will be."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Meanwhile, at Beacon, Isabel Arc had broken from her now very large family. All of her son's future brides had headed off, bent on their own plans. She now sought out some solitude.

She found it in the Garden of the Star Maiden. As the sun began to set, she went into her family katas, as familiar and comfortable to her as the sweaters her grandfather had knight for her and her siblings.

Palm strike. Punch to the exposed gut. Leg sweep, then finish off with a punch right to the head. She rose gracefully, moving into the next set of strikes and kicks.

"Wow. You're pretty awesome."

Isabel paused. She looked over to see Yang Xiao-Long watching her. Isabel nodded with a smile.

"Thank you," she admitted, "Nick keeps dragging me out to practice whenever possible. Says I shouldn't drown myself in paperwork."

"Heh," Yang grinned. She walked up, and ran through a kata of her own. Isabel watched it with a very practiced eye, her arms crossing underneath her breasts.

"So? What do you think?" Yang asked. Isabel nodded in approval.

"Very polished," she said, "Taiyang's style was always very straightforward, but effective in the hands of a master."

"And your style isn't?" Yang asked. Isabel shrugged.

"I can take a lot of damage, but even bit of Aura I spend on myself is less I can spend on healing others," she said, "And I was the best healer. My grandparents trained me in their own styles."

She unleashed several quick jabs and leg kicks, as fast and agile as a rabbit fighting back against a pursuer.

"Savate, Albion style boxing…"

She switched to more violent movements, striking the air with her knees and elbows as well as her fists and feet.

"Muy Thai, Mistralian southern kickboxing… All to make my own. Switching styles in the middle of combat can be difficult, but it makes you a far better combatant and much more unpredictable."

Yang grinned and nodded.

"Yeah… Think you could train me? I mean, I don't know if you've seen Xia fight but she's got some of the same moves. So I'm betting it's a family tradition."

Isabel smiled softly.

"I would be happy to," she said. "I did promise your father to look after you while he and Qrow are gone."

Yang's face darkened a little. Isabel remained impassive, but gave her an apologetic shrug.

"Sorry," she said.

"No, no, it's… Fine," she muttered. "Biggest thing in our lives to ever happen and he… Can't stay."

Isabel opened her mouth, but Yang cut her off with a bitter:

"Story of my life. Ruby's life too," she muttered. "If I'd known we were old family friends…"

"If I'd known how bad things got, Nick and I would have been there," Isabel said softly. "I'm sorry we weren't."

Yang sighed.

"Yeah well… Dad never told us about you. Or Jaune. Or… A lot of things," she admitted. "Not until now."

She shook her head.

"I get it. Stop the bad guys, save the world. I understand it. But, I'm still pissed."

"I get it," Isabel said softly. Yang looked into her eyes.

"Listen, Aunt Isabel… I… I don't have many people to turn to, and I get that you need to be fair and junk but-"

"But?" Isabel prompted. Yang winced.

"I… Xia is…" She shrugged. "I don't know how to describe it, you know? Like I barely know her but…"

"But you'd do anything for her," Isabel said with a soft smile. Yang nodded. "No… I understand perfectly. It's what being a parent is."

"My mom didn't get the memo," Yang muttered. Isabel walked over and rested a hand on her shoulder. She looked up.

"She may have been your mother, but that doesn't make her your parent," Isabel said gently, "Summer was. And she loved you dearly, Yang. You and Ruby both. Just as much as you love Xia. Or Ruby. And your dad too… Despite everything."

Yang slowly nodded. She leaned in, and Isabel hugged her tightly. She sighed and stroked her back.

"Thank you," Yang murmured.

Isabel nodded. Yang then slowly raised her head. She bit her lower lip.

"So um… I mean… We've all got dates with Jaune coming up. I just… There's nobody else to… If you could-?"

"I will help you as much as I can, Yang," Isabel said with a soft, warm smile. Yang smiled back, blushing lightly.

"Truth is… Between Ruby and my dad, I… I didn't get out much. I mean yeah I went to dance clubs, danced, but I mostly wrecked up the places, never… Ya know… With guys? I couldn't afford to."

"Between my siblings and the bills, I didn't either," Isabel agreed. "Though I did at least have Nana to teach me some things, and Nick and I kind of made it up as we went along. So I will help you. I'll help the others too. It's only fair… But I will help you."

Yang sniffled and nodded.

"Thank you," she whispered, leaning into her embrace. Isabel tightened her hug.

Nora poked her head up from a nearby stone fountain. Upon seeing this, she walked up and hugged Yang from the other side. Yang started.

"Ah, Nora, wha-?"

"We are family now, right? This is what family does," Nora insisted. She looked to Isabel in some worry. "R-Right?"

Isabel, initially startled, slowly smiled lovingly at her newly adopted daughter.

"It is," she said, "Don't worry, Nora. You don't need my approval. This is all new and…"

"Bazonkerinos?" Nora asked. Yang and Isabel stared. Isabel nodded.

"Yup," the doctor stated, "But we'll get through it together. Promise."

"Promise!" Nora beamed, hugging on Yang's other side. Yang again smiled, and discreetly wiped her eyes.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"So," Nora asked, "Where'd your daughter go?"

Yang shook her head.

"She said she had some business to take care of with Theodore, the Ash Twins, the Kitty Twins, and Julian," she said. "The other kids are meeting with Weena again to do some more testing. Cept for Amythest, she's with Emerald, and Cereal Girl and Xander are with her mom. Blake's off with her parents, too."

Isabel frowned.

"We really need to stay together better," she said, "Given Cinder was able to infiltrate the school and-"

"Come on, we'd drive eachother crazy otherwise!" Yang snorted. "I mean, I get it. Safety in numbers but geez. After a while you need some space."

"And besides," Nora said cheerfully, "What's the worst that could happen?"

Yang immediately began looking around. Isabel sighed.

"You're just taunting fate at this point."

"Yup!"

- - -

The interior of the Yak and Yeti was very on theme-Blue and White paintings of the Atman mountains on the walls, with Pandavan figures in their ancient art style depicted doing everything from fighting Grimm to drinking with the mythical Yeti. It was a noisy, festival atmosphere filled with the aromas of Pandavan spices and meats. The hostess immediately spotted them and took them to the back of the restaurant, where several private booths shrouded in dark wine colored curtains awaited. Inside one such booth was a single table that looked like it was carved from a single block of wood with a single, elegant candle in the middle of a round couch-like seat.

"Enjoy!" The hostess said cheerfully, letting the two teenagers slip and sit down on opposite ends of the table and couch. The hostess shut the curtain, and Jaune looked around, impressed with the constellation-shaped patterns on the interior of the curtains and Penny's insight.

Penny picked well. We're at a restaurant but we're hidden from view. Perfect for May!

He turned and smiled at May. The shy sniper smiled back, even as she tried to hide in her small black jacket.

"It… It's nice," she said quietly. "I've-I've never been someplace so nice, if-if I'm being honest."

"Oh?" Jaune asked. May nodded, bright red.

"Um… I-I was lucky to eat at a Burger Jester's, if I'm being honest. The food the orphanage and Academy makes was great, r-really! I didn't starve!"

That was for sure, Jaune's libido supplied. Jaune ignored it.

"I'm glad," Jaune said with a nod. "I mean that you didn't starve! Not the-I mean-You know what I mean."

"Y-Yes, I think so," May managed. She flushed and looked down.

"Sorry," she whispered, "I… This is all so overwhelming." She looked up at him. "N-Not that I'm saying you're not under a lot of pressure too! You are! I-I just-!"

"May," Jaune said, quiet but firm. It was the tone his father used when he really needed his mother to listen to him. "It's okay. We're… We're in this together."

May slowly nodded. She was squeezing her hands together under her chest.

"I-I know," she admitted. "It's just… It's really hard, y-you know? In battle, I know how to do things. With people… With parents..."

She sighed. She shut her eyes tightly.

"It's like a dream come true," she admitted, "I mean… I'm not an orphan. I have a mom and dad… Th-They love me. They really do! Even if my mom is… A little pushy. And I have a-a family. And friends. And you… It just… It doesn't seem real. Or like… Like I deserve any of it. Like it's all going to be ripped away like…"

She trailed off. She looked at him nervously. Jaune reached out, very slowly, like he was dealing with an easily startled rabbit. May stared at his hand. She swallowed a large breath, and reached out to let him rest his palm over hers.

"Like?" Jaune asked.

May slowly shook her head.

"My… My kidnappers… My foster parents…" May shut her eyes tightly. "G-Geez… Now my feelings are complicated over them-!"

"It's okay," Jaune said gently, "It's okay! I get it. This is… Crazy."

"I know, but… I-I mean… I never thought they were anything but my biological parents!" May insisted. "I truly loved them! The night I lost them I…" Tears filled her beautiful eyes. Jaune squeezed her hand tightly. She sniffled and sobbed quietly, her head bowed.

The hostess peeked in… And then silently shut the curtains, moving away. Jaune let out a soft breath, and scooted around the couch. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned in, sobbing softly.

"I… I promised I would live, for them," May admitted, "That… That they didn't die for nothing… But they kidnapped me! F-From my real parents! And I… I-I don't know…" She sniffled. "August says that… That I forgave them. I named him for m-my… My father… But my real father and mother…"

Jaune sighed quietly.

"… The future is… I mean…" He shrugged. "My dad says that… That just because we have a great future doesn't mean we have to be that… Right now. We can't be."

"N-No, no," May whispered. "But I'm… I'm so ashamed at being angry at my parents again. After they…" She shook her head.

Jaune leaned in, his head resting against hers.

"I know," Jaune murmured. "I… I was angry with my mom for a while. She denied me any way to realize my dream. Always insisting I become a doctor. I tried everything, like… To join the militia. To join a Paladin Order of the church. She forbade Dad from training me, from anyone training me…" He wet his lower lip.

"For a while… I-I think I might have hated her. Hated Dad too, for-for not letting me train. For not even unlocking my Aura."

May sniffled, but she did manage to look up at him. He shrugged.

"I… Talking with them these past few days? Learning everything that happens? I guess… I mean, it feels kind of stupid and silly now. My mom was wrong, but… She did it out of love. And she admitted she… She shouldn't have done that. But I get why she did it."

May stared at him. She slowly nodded.

"I… I guess I get that," she admitted. "August said that their orders were to kill me. But… But they couldn't kill me. They ran off, hid with me, gave up everything for me… Even their lives."

She turned away and stared at the small, glowing candle.

"Still… Part of me is angry with them again. I was angry with them because they died… That's so awful."

"No!" Jaune insisted quietly. "No… It's natural. That's what my dad says. He was angry with his mentor for dying, even though he was really old. All the pain and grief… The anger is natural. Anger at them for dying, anger at the world for not… Not being fair."

"No," May murmured, "No, it's not fair." She sniffled. "It's not fair to my… My actual parents. To think their daughter was dead for so long. It's not fair we're in this ridiculous situation and a war with some evil goddess and-and all that. None of it's fair…"

"No," Jaune said. May hummed.

"But… Father Marcus of the orphanage, he… He said it was good that the universe was so unfair."

Jaune blinked.

"Oh?"

May nodded, a small, nostalgic smile emerging on her face.

"Yes. How much worse would life be if it were fair, and if we deserved all the terrible things that happened to us. If it was fair we suffered so much. So he said we should take comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."

Jaune laughed.

"I think my Father Percival would get along well with him," he said. May winced and bowed her head. "What is it?"

"I… I-I mean… I stayed at the orphanage and it was a Tablebreaker one. But I still follow Dharmism because my parents did… Both sets, I-I guess. I mean… How is that supposed to work? We get married but eventually-" She rested her hand over his chest. They were silent for a while, processing it.

I guess when you're able to know your future, you can't help but think about the end of it… And beyond, Jaune thought.

Jaune again took her hand and squeezed it.

"I think," he said, "We should let that kind of stuff go. We shouldn't try to drive ourselves crazy with worry… But I think I can only say that because I'm all worried out."

May looked up at him, and softly giggled.

"I… I guess so," she admitted. "I wish I could stop worrying. I had to worry over everything. My team didn't really do any of that. They just thought if they hit something hard enough, and I shot it enough, we'd get through anything."

"Heh," Jaune chuckled, "Nora is like that. I can't imagine handling a team of three of her."

"Hee," May giggled, "She's not so bad. At least she didn't try to build a bridge over a river by blowing up a bunch of trees and expecting them to pile up just right."

"No," Jaune agreed, "Not trees, anyway."

It took a bit of patience, but they soon began to talk about their teams, their training missions, and eventually their lives. The hostess came, took their orders, and brought back rich Pandavan food. They enjoyed, but still they talked. And surrounded by stars in the warm booth, their worries seemed very far away.

- - -

"You're pretty good to escape my sight, grandson. But you still have a lot to learn."

August winced. He lowered his menu in the booth on the far side of the Yak and Yeti restaurant, revealing his lightly glowing eyes. Arjun and Saia were sitting across from him, both looking lightly stern.

"I just… Want to make sure everything went okay," August said, "It is my future we're talking about! All the other kids are gonna do it!"

"He has a point, Arjun," Saia said gently, resting a hand on his forearm. "If we just… Meddled a little-!"

"No," Arjun stated firmly, "We can't just force these things. It has to happen naturally, just like in the original timelines."

"But those are… Well…" Saia shrugged, wincing. "I mean knowing the future-!"

"And it coming true are different things, and you know it," Arjun uttered. "Besides… As much as I love May? Eliminating any of the other futures is out of the question."

"I wasn't thinking of eliminating the others," Saia pouted, "But helping Maia become First Wife at least! She needs out help!"

Arjun stared intently into the booth. He slowly shook his head.

"She needs our help in many ways. I'm not sure this is one of them," he admitted. He grunted and looked back to his wife and queen. "Besides-Would you have appreciated our parents hounding us on our dates if they had lived?"

Saia opened her mouth to protest, a bit incensed… Before she deflated.

"I suppose not," she murmured. "Still… I do hope we sort out some solution to this. Something to allow all these families to exist. I don't think Jaune could survive a full on harem."

"Ozpin seems to think he could," Arjun observed.

"Yeah, but he's completely nuts!" August insisted. He blushed. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. But he is! Heck, in my time he and his wife blow eachother up for fun!"

"They are both immortal, sweetie," Saia pointed out.

"Still doesn't make it any less freaky," August muttered. "Poor Moses sometimes doesn't know if it's a weird sex thing or actual science!"

"That would explain a lot about Ozpin, actually," Arjun mused, as Saia giggled softly.

- - -

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

Raven heard the door open. She looked up and saw a tall, hulking figure enter the basement. She saw him head towards her, and greeted her visitor with an angry scowl.

"Hey Raven!" Nick said cheerfully. He set down a plastic container of cake and pushed it through the food flap. He produced his own cake in another package, and opened it up. Raven's glare remained the same, as Nick munched on his cake.

"Mmmm... Chocolate with strawberry frosting. Love it," he said. "I think it was your favorite back at Beacon, right? They still make it just right."

"Why are you here?" Raven asked. Nick shrugged.

"Jaune's off on a date. Izzy's chilling out. Arjun and Saia are watching their daughter on their date with Jaune. Everyone else is busy... Didn't want you to feel left out."

Raven snorted.

"I have never cared about that."

"Sure you do," Nick said, "You have a tribe, after all. You fight together. You fought with us, too."

Raven scoffed. Nick munched on the cake thoughtfully. He pulled out a small bottle of milk and drank it happily.

"Mmm... Still good," he said happily. "Come on. You still like sweets, right?"

She shot him an angry glare. Nick didn't so much as flinch.

"We have fought together, you know," Nick pointed out. "Even saved eachother's lives. Remember the fight against that Chimera Grimm around Edge? Hoo... I must have hit its tail nine times before I took it off."

"I took it off!" Raven spat. "And you hit it ten times!"

Nick beamed.

"Huh! I guess you're right." He licked his fingers clean. "But I loosened it up for you."

"You did not!" Raven growled.

"Come on," Nick huffed, "I took the hits for you to get in close enough to take it down!"

"I didn't need you to-!" Raven huffed. "I know what this is!"

Nick blinked.

"Hm? What?"

"You-You're trying to make me trust you!" Raven spat, leaning forward against the bars. "You're trying to change me! Domesticate me! Turn me into a little pet, just like Ozpin did to Qrow!"

Nick chewed his cake. He swallowed.

"Hm? Me?"

"Yes you!" Raven hissed. "He sent in the idiot to try and make me lower my defenses!"

Nick rolled his eyes.

"I don't know why you want to get mad over this. I just wanted to talk about old times and keep you company. You were always fun to fight, Raven. It was fantastic! You were so savage, holding nothing back! It was always great!"

He grinned happily... Before he shook his head.

"Except when you were fighting us at the airfield. I mean, that was actually pretty fun in parts. But I saw how you fought. It was all just... Sad."

"Sad?!" Raven demanded. Nick nodded.

"Like, you were just so sloppy. Like you hadn't even fought properly in years. Just throwing around lightning bolts and wind. So..." He made a face. "Boring."

"I'm not boring!" Raven snarled. "You don't know anything about me! I don't believe any of this-this nonsense! We can't save this world!"

Silence fell. Nick stared back at her. She glared, and turned away.

"... We failed," she whispered.

"We win in eleven futures, Raven," Nick said gently. "Why is that so hard to accept?"

Raven remained silent. Nick stood up, brushing his pants off.

"Well. I'm gonna keep visiting you. I actually missed you, you know. You and Qrow and Tai... Summer too. Ruby's really grown up like her. She's just so much fun to fight!" He grinned. "And I bet you can be fun to fight again too. One day."

He turned and headed upstairs, the door shutting behind him. Raven stared at the wall, fists clenched.

She sucked in a breath. She reached back, and took the plastic container full of cake. She opened it up, and dragged her finger over the top. She held it up to her lips, and licked it. She shook her head.

"... Still good," she mumbled.

- - -

Winter had just disembarked from her airship onto the tarmac. The sun was setting and the city lights were starting to come on. She stared at the skyline for a time, her mind far away.

She'd never been so daring before. Not with any boy she'd dated in the past! Was it simply the mad situation they found themselves in?

Maybe I should be less harsh on Weiss for her own crazy activities, she thought to herself, especially given what I got up to.

Oh. Weiss. Her sister and… Sort of rival. She sighed and rubbed her temples.

"What a mess," she murmured. Still, maybe she could rest, sort things out. There was a lot of work left to do in regards to the festival, her mother, her son-

"Hey Mom!" Theodore appeared in front of her via one of his Glyphs. Winter scowled at him.

"Theodore! That was completely irresponsible and-"

"And you're the one who told me that forgiveness is easier to obtain than permission if the stakes are high enough," Theodore pointed out. He adjusted his stylish sunglasses. "Honestly, if anything, you should be thanking me! Something like this happened in the future between you two! I just speed ran it a little!"

Winter paused in her outrage. She blushed deeply. She noted the smug look on Theodore's face, and her scowl returned.

"B-Be that as it may," she managed, "You shouldn't have been that blunt!"

"I could have been more subtle, yes," Theodore admitted. He shrugged. "But again: If I was going to learn that, I wasn't gonna learn it from you two."

Winter flushed, and glared at him. Theodore flinched a little, but held his ground. The silence became a bit tense.

Finally, Winter sighed and closed her eyes.

"True," she admitted. "Still, would you mind slowing down a bit? Just because we're in the past doesn't mean you have to go off… Half-cocked!"

"You're right Mom," Theodore agreed, "I should probably be more judicious in my actions, given time travel and all. I will start on that tomorrow. Promise. Also, I'm sorry."

"Tomorrow? Why tomorrow? And sorry for what?" Winter asked. Her Scroll beeped. She held it up to her ear, noting the overly innocent expression on her son's face.

"Schnee here, sir…"

Her jaw dropped.

"HE DID WHAT?!"

"That's what," Theodore said with a smile and shrug.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

"So you've actually worked with these guys before?" Taiyang asked as they moved through different back alleys on their approach to Haven Academy.

"Yeah, I've actually worked with them a lot," Qrow answered as he saw their destination ahead, one of the few skyscrapers in Mistral that had a view overlooking Academy grounds.

"Basically every time I've done something in Anima without letting Lionheart know about it. So that's like, a quarter of the jobs I've done on this continent. They do solid work."

"That wasn't in question," Tai replied as they strolled down the street in an inconspicuous manner. "What is in question is how two members of Fuujin's Secret Mobility Unit were willing to put up with you."

Qrow rolled his eyes at Tai's ribbing. "It isn't complicated. We ran into each other on a few different missions where our objectives overlapped more than they clashed, we begrudgingly agreed to work together, I saved their bacon a few times and then they saved mine one other time, we agree to swap intel every once in a while, they eventually want to know my sources so I get them in contact with Oz and then bada bing bada boom they owe the old wizard a bunch of favors and that makes us friends."

"I guess trying to keep up with Ozpin's whims is a good enough foundation for a friendship," Tai allowed as he scanned the lobby of the building in front of them through the windows. "So are we meeting them inside or—?"

"Oi! BLACKBIRD! OVER HERE!" A loud and pretentious-sounding voice called out to them.

"Hey Omaeda," Qrow casually waved to the shouting man approaching them. "What's up?"

Taiyang turned around and beheld a man that was frankly, kinda ugly. Only an inch short of seven feet and carrying at least three-hundred pounds in a manner that looked more like fat than muscle, the man had a broad nose and fat lips that looked out of place on someone so pale. His hair was black with a hairline that was both receding and a pronounced widow's peak at the same time. He wore an expensive-looking black suit with a purple button-up shirt and a large purple boa. Two giant golden wristwatches rested on both of his arms, and he had two gaudy golden rings on both hands. Completing this ensemble was a weapon; a spiked ball on a chain hanging from his waist.

"What's up can wait till we're away from listening ears," Omaeda answered. He then gestured to the building. "Follow me; we have a room set up."

Qrow and Tai followed the massive man in, who stomped to the elevator, stomped in when it arrived, and stomped off when it reached the top floor. They followed him as he stomped to a specific door that opened up to a room whose window overlooked Haven Academy with a telescope pointed at the headmaster's office. A mobile computer and some other spy-looking equipment were set up on a table in the center of the room between two couches.

"Alright, we can talk now," Omaeda announced as he closed and locked the door behind them. "I believe introductions are in order."

"Right, Omaeda, this is Taiyang Xiao Long," Qrow began. "He's the father of my nieces and was one of my teammates back at Beacon. Tai, this is Omaeda, a lieutenant in the SMU."

"How are you with the Secret Mobility Unit?" Taiyang couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Hmm?" Omaeda raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Taiyang gave an embarrassed chuckle, then figuring if Qrow considered the man a friend he could just be direct and continued, "It's just you were walking loud enough to wake the dead. I'd expect a professional ninja to stay light on their feet even when they aren't sneaking around, for practice's sake if nothing else."

"Rest assured I can be sneaky when it's required of me, Mr. Long." Omaeda took a seat on the couch the little mobile spy computer was facing. "The captain just doesn't require it of me that often. She normally requires other things from me."

"Like what?" Taiyang questioned as he sat down on the couch opposite Omaeda. Qrow headed over to the window.

"The quartermaster isn't willing to pay for all the toys the captain wants for her missions," Omaeda answered as he typed something into the computer, an almost aristocratic pride beaming from every syllable. "However, my family is one of the wealthiest in Fuujin! A mere pittance of my weekly boyhood allowance would have been enough to get everything my captain needs, so I take care of it. It's the prerogative of the wealthy to help out the less fortunate, you see."

"Oooooh, that makes sense," Taiyang allowed. The guy was support and probably didn't see action all that often.

"He's also willing to keep his mouth shut about the dumpster fire that is his boss's love life," Qrow joked as he looked through the telescope into Lionheart's office. He could see Leonardo pacing about his desk arguing passionately with Haven's chief combat instructor Audrey Androtrix, a mouse faunus with a long tail. He was still here. Good.

"Why is her love life a dumpster fire?" Tai inquired with mirth in his voice.

"I don't have to keep my mouth shut about it because her love life isn't a dumpster fire!" Omaeda protested with a scowl.

"You're right, she doesn't need your silence because she hasn't spent the last decade pining after the woman who used to be Menagerie's most skilled assassin," Qrow sarcastically drawled. "And I definitely didn't see her spill a bunch of spaghetti from her pockets when trying to talk to the younger brother of said assassin. She definitely doesn't need a subordinate who won't tell her superiors about that because she certainly won't fold like paper the instant either of those two ask her for something."

"Who used to be Menagerie's most skilled assassin?" Tai grinned as Omaeda sputtered, unable to find the words that could move the conversation to another topic.

"You've seen a couple of videos of her," Qrow shrugged unashamedly. "She's one of the martial artists that let me record her katas and other training routines back when we were trying to get Yang to branch out and experiment more with her fighting style."

"Really? Which one?"

"The cat faunus that's more than good friends with my shopkeep contact in Oda. You know, the one that sells the lollipops the girls always want me to buy a bunch of whenever I'm in that area."

"Let's see, that was... Yoruichi, right?" Taiyang guessed. When Qrow nodded in confirmation, Tai let out a low and appreciative whistle. "I can understand pining after that. What's the brother like?"

"Basically a younger femboy Yoruichi," Qrow turned back to the telescope to take another look at Lionheart's office. Leonardo was still pacing, and still arguing with Audrey.

"Can we focus on the matter at hand?" Omaeda pleaded. "You know, the job Ozpin asked us to do?"

"You're right, there's no point in teasing Soi Fong when she's not here to throw stuff at me," Qrow turned away from the window. "I'm guessing she's out there right now? How close is she to the headmaster's office?"

"Close enough for our listening equipment to work," Omaeda struck a key on the spy computer's keyboard. "I sent the captain a message letting her know you're here. She'll either text or call depending on the situation out there."

"So you know what the Headmaster and Combat Instructor are talking about?" Qrow asked.

"Yeah, they've been arguing about the school's budget for the last few hours," Omaeda spun the spy computer around so they could see the monitor. Three cameras were filming through the office windows and a speech-to-text program was transcribing their words in real time. He spun the monitor to face himself again.

"When we got here it looked like Headmaster Lionheart was packing to leave in a hurry, but then Professor Androtrix came in complaining about Dust procurement, and that morphed into how money's been split between the different departments over the last semester. Fascinating stuff really. How do people run an entire school with a budget smaller than my little sister's tea parties?"

Sounded like Leonardo was preparing to flee only for one of the few teachers he couldn't casually dismiss to show up and demand his time, and if he wanted a quiet getaway instead of a dramatic exit he had to give it to them.

"Alright, let her know that King Arjun of Pandu is sending his best guy to help out and he should be getting here soonish," Qrow requested as he turned back to the telescope. "The capture will be a lot easier with Karna on hand so if we can wait for him to plan out our attack—"

The little spy radio on the table next to the computer crackled to life, and Soi Fong's voice cut through the air in a sharp whisper.

"Omaeda. Qrow's there? Can he hear me now?"

"He's here," Omaeda answered after he flipped a switch on the spy radio.

"And I can hear you loud and clear," Qrow added.

"My location, now," she instructed. "Something's off."

With a quick look to Taiyang and a nod to Omaeda, Qrow slid open the window and jumped out, transforming into his avian form as soon as he cleared the frame. He swooped down towards Haven's main office, keeping his senses on high enough alert to spot the place Soi Fong had concealed herself.

He zeroed in on a tree that seemed like the best place for her to have set up, and as he dove into the foliage he found her within the thickest part of the bramble with her listening setup propped up against the tree's trunk. Qrow perched on a branch near her and braced himself for what he was about to do.

Crows and some other corvids could imitate human speech with practice and effort. As a man in a crow's body Qrow had a leg up over most other corvids in figuring out how to do that, as he already knew what sounds had real meaning. So after some practice he had become proficient enough to have a stilted yet comprehensible conversation in his bird form. He hated doing it though. His words were uncomfortably rough and the skill was niche enough in its application that he never really got the chance to practice, so it wouldn't get better anytime soon.

"wHaT wRoNg?" He cawed, flinching internally at the grating tone of his words.

Soi Fong glanced his way before looking back to the headmaster's office windows, her left hand holding the earpiece of her listening equipment tightly against her ear.

"Lionheart just repeated something he said fifteen minutes ago, and it sounded like a pitch-perfect, no-variation repetition."

That was unusual. Qrow turned his bird eyes to peer into the headmaster's office, and blinked. Things that had looked normal to his human eyes seemed slightly off now that he was a bird. His gaze intensified as he tried to place exactly what didn't feel right...

The doors to the office were flung open and Haven's chief Grimm Studies teacher, the fox faunus Rena Aurum, stormed in. Qrow wasn't able to hear what was going on in there since Soi Fong was the one with the equipment to her ear, but he was decent at reading lips.

"Have you two been in here all day?!" is what it looked like Rena was yelling. "Audrey! Your students came to me saying you haven't shown up to teach any of your classes! Why have you... Hello...?"

Neither Audrey nor Lionheart had reacted to Rena's arrival or outburst, both of them arguing as if she hadn't just barged in.

"AUDREY! LEONARDO!" Rena looked like she yelled while snapping her fingers. That didn't elicit a reaction. The fox faunus frowned as she stormed forward. "Real mature you two! Are you seriously going to ignore me and—" Rena tried to grab Audrey by the shoulder, but her hand just went through the mouse faunus lady like she was nothing but air.

"What in Charn's Wastes..."

"hOlOgRaMs!" Qrow squawked as he watched a startled Rena gather her wits again and walk around Lionheart's desk. She examined the headmaster's workspace closely, looking for a remote or something like it.

"She's going to unintentionally disrupt evidence," Soi Fong concluded. "Move in?"

"mOvE iN," Qrow agreed as he launched himself from his branch. Soi Fong followed after him with an aura-powered leap, landing on the outer wall next to a window frame a few moments before Qrow reached it via wing-power. She jammed her blade into the gap where the window's latch was, forcing it open in one smooth motion. She jumped into the office the split second after Qrow flew through the window, both of their feet hitting the ground at the same time as Qrow returned to his human form.

Rena spun about to face them with shock on her face, having apparently found a holoprojector remote that she tightly clutched in her right hand.

"Qrow?! What are you doing here?! Who's she?!" Rena shouted even as the Leonardo hologram yelled a rebuttal to the Audrey hologram's last point. The Grimm Studies teacher scowled at the loud hologram and hit the power button of the remote.

CLICK. CLUNK.

All three of them turned towards that ominous sound. As the holograms faded away it showed that the holoprojector was doing more work than displaying two arguing people; for the disappearance of the holograms made an absolutely massive Fire Dust bomb fully visible.

By the Stone Table, The Breaker who broke that table, His Father the Emperor Above, the Horns of the Animal God, The Brothers of Light and Darkness and every other being of power man and faunus had ever called a god from the dawn of history to the present day, that was a terrifying-looking bomb.

For a long moment none of them moved, not even to breathe. Then Soi Fong took a slow and experimental step towards the massive explosive, and then she took another, and another. The woman carefully knelt before it to take a look at the controlling mechanism of the deadly device.

"Qrow..." Soi Fong began after a long and hard look. "I think your semblance damaged the ignition. I can't think of any other reason this thing hasn't gone off."

She reached for the com unit in her ear.

"Omaeda? I need the bomb disposal kit in the Headmaster's office yesterday. I'm looking at a big enough Dust explosive to level this building and all the buildings surrounding it."

"Oh. Oh no." Rena managed before looking down at the remote in her hands, her mind connecting the timing of things. "Turning the holoprojector off was supposed to trigger that bomb. I... I almost killed everyone here in the building..."

Her face grew pale as her shaking hands slowly placed the remote back on the desk.

"I... I'm the only... I'm the only person that would have come in here and turned that thing off..." Her face turned green. "Oh God! They... They... Someone planned for me to die right then..."

Rena stumbled to the open window, and with her hands gripping the windowsill her last meal saw the light of day again.

"Yeah, I'm going to stand as far away from that thing as possible," Qrow muttered as he headed to the far side of the office, hoping his semblance didn't trigger again for any reason.

Tai and Omaeda rushed into the office only a few moments later with the bomb disposal kit, their dead sprints coming to a complete and sudden stop at the sight of the bomb the disposal kit was for.

"Holy..." Tai started and stopped, his face becoming pale. "...That's..." His eyes became unfocused for a moment. "I still have so much to do in life; that library book won't turn itself in..."

"Is... Is that what ate the school's budget...?"

Omaeda managed as he grappled with the scale of the thing, even as his feet moved him closer to deliver the bomb disposal kit to Soi Fong not out of conscious effort but rather reflexive loyalty...

- - -

Karna frowned as he strode into the headmaster's office of Haven Academy and took stock of the situation in front of him. Along the wall of the office's left side were all the parts one would need to make a truly impressive bomb, having clearly just been disassembled and strewn about in a manner that left them harmless.

At the headmaster's desk working over its built-in computer and arguing over the meaning of the files on display were Ozpin's personal problem solver Qrow Branwen and Soi Fong of Fuujin's Secret Mobility Unit. Karna had worked with both of them before on separate occasions, Qrow on a hunt for a particularly rare and disturbingly cunning alpha Grimm and Soi Fong while dismantling a smuggling ring. Both of them did good work, and he wouldn't be surprised if they had already found a plethora of useful things from the computer's documents.

Along the right wall he saw Soi Fong's primary assistant Omaeda and a man that matched the description of Qrow's brother-in-law Taiyang Xiao Long. The two of them were doing their best to comfort a clearly shell-shocked faunus woman Karna recognized as Haven's Grimm Studies teacher, Rena Aurum. Taiyang was doing most of the comforting, rubbing circles along the woman's back while whispering soothing platitudes in her ear. Omaeda in turn was awkwardly patting her shoulder while looking like he wanted to say something yet was at a loss as to what his words should be.

He returned his gaze to the headmaster's desk and announced himself to the room. "Qrow, Soi Fong."

"Karna," Qrow greeted back as he looked up from the computer's screens.

"Karna," Soi Fong acknowledged as she glared at one screen in particular, as if the data displayed had offended her personally.

"Lionheart isn't here," he observed the obvious with no heat or malice before asking without accusing, "How did he slip past you?"

"His computer has a highly sophisticated LLM program," Soi Fong began with disgust evident in her voice. "He fed it recordings of every budget discussion he had with Professor Androtrix and the school's financial information from this year, and then instructed it to simulate a debate between himself and Androtrix about the school's budget and to project holograms of that debate here in the office. It was convincing enough that it kept my eyes here while he and Professor Androtrix were actually somewhere else."

"The holograms also hid that bomb," Qrow gestured to the disassembled contraption. "Which was set up to go boom when somebody shut down the holoprojector, destroying the building and any evidence the two of them didn't have the time to take or dispose of."

Qrow frowned as he looked towards the pile of Fire Dust crystals that would have fueled the bomb.

"Some of the bomb's components were designed to survive the explosion, stuff that would have implicated a couple of radical separatist groups... separatist groups strong enough to try fighting back in the face of a major crackdown. That bomb going off could have easily plunged Mistral into a civil war, especially since we found a couple of bot accounts set up to start posting twenty-four hours after the blast hit the news cycle claiming credit for assassinating the top three members of Haven's staff..."

Karna and Qrow's eyes drifted to Professor Aurum, who was staring forward into the middle distance. However she was still with them enough in this moment to add her haunted voice to things.

"I... I'm the faculty member that everyone turns to when Leonardo and Audrey are too busy to be disturbed... and that makes me the one person who would have come in here and blown myself up..."

She fell silent again, lost in her own thoughts.

"The good news," Qrow looked back to Karna, "is that Lionheart and Androtrix expected the bomb to do most of the cleanup here for them, so we still have plenty of clues to work with."

"Yes, we do," Soi Fong agreed as she pulled up the receipts of several different train and airship tickets as well as fake IDs and passports. "We have a solid list of possible destinations they could be headed to, the methods of transport they are most likely to use and the most likely identities they'll use as cover. From the look of things we have two trails to follow... unfortunately we can't narrow things down further so we'll have to investigate both of them at the same time if we don't want them to get away."

"I see," Karna mused. "It's fortunate that there are enough of us here to do that then."

"It is," Qrow agreed. "How do you want—"
"Do, do you know why this happened?" Rena interrupted, her voice taking on the determined edge of someone who had just pulled themselves together again. "Why would Leonardo and Audrey do this?"

"I'll admit I'm also curious," Soi Fong added as she looked away from the computer screens to Qrow. "When Headmaster Ozpin called in his favor he didn't have time to explain why he wanted me to watch Lionheart and keep him from leaving Haven, but he did say you'd be at liberty to explain everything once you got here."

"My brother's explanation was also sparse on details thanks to the encryptions he had to use for security," Karna allowed curiosity to color his tone. The message Arjun had sent made it clear that his brother had proof Lionheart had a connection with Duryodhana during those dark days, and that he wanted Haven's headmaster brought in alive for questioning before Arjun would personally administer justice for his crimes; while that was enough for Karna he was sure the further context Qrow could add would be enlightening.

Qrow and Taiyang locked eyes and had a quick and silent conversation where they agreed which of them would share what and how.

"You're the acting Headmistress of Haven Academy in the absence of Headmaster Lionheart and Professor Androtrix?" Qrow directed his attention to Rena.

"I... Yes. Yes I am." Rena answered with conviction.

"And you're the most likely person to become the true Headmistress when it's time to officially replace Leonardo?" Qrow pressed on.

"I am," Rena confirmed.

"And you're fully willing to commit to the burdens and responsibilities that position entails?"

Rena took a deep breath and steeled her nerves, before looking to Qrow with unwavering eyes.

"I am."

"Well then, the first thing you need to know to understand what's going on is that the Headmasters of the Big Four Huntsman Academies are all part of a secret society," Qrow began. "A secret society whose aim is to combat the influence of Grimm cults in society and to stamp them out whenever possible. We recently discovered that Lionheart betrayed this society to the woman who's both the de jure and de facto leader of every Grimm cult on Remnant, from the dawn of recorded history to the present..."

With that pronouncement he had a firm grasp on everyone's attention, and he and Taiyang spent the next few hours explaining everything they knew about the ultimate enemy of human and faunus kind...

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

They'd moved to another safehouse. This one was beneath one of Vale's abandoned steel foundries, but despite this it was fairly comfortable: White walls, decent furniture, some art Roman had stolen. At the moment, the small underground room hummed with tension, the air thick with the acrid scent of Dust residue and stale cigar smoke from Roman Torchwick's ever-present habit.

Holographic screens flickered, displaying news feeds and drone imagery of Mount Glenn: a massive crater was smoking at the base of the mountain/former underground metropolis, where the White Fang base and the hijacked train had once been. Shockingly, reports confirmed all White Fang operatives had escaped—warned away just in time, then captured by the Valean Defense Force and Atlasian troops.

Cinder Fall sat rigidly in her chair, her amber eyes fixed on the black void where her meticulously laid plan now lay in ruins.

Mercury Black leaned over her shoulder, whistling low.

"Well… that's not good."

Roman paced, his cane tapping furiously against the concrete floor nearby, as Neo licked an ice cream cone on a loveseat across the cheap coffee table. Iridescent was lounging on the old couch nearby, typing on her Scroll in silence, her eyes down at her screen. Roman looked at the crater and cursed loudly.

"FUCK! Are you kidding me?! You know how much that Dust cost?! Do you?!"

Neo, silent as ever, signed a large sum with exaggerated gestures.

"AT LEAST!" Roman roared, throwing his hands up.

Cinder's fists clenched, flames flickering at her fingertips, but her voice remained cold.

"Enough," Cinder stated, "This isn't helping."

"And neither are you!" Roman raged, too angry to be afraid. Roman whirled on Iridescent next, as she continued to ignore him.

"And the new girl isn't paying any attention! Big help you fucking are! Brought in a lot of mercenaries who haven't done jack shit—!"

Iridescent's hand shot up, phasing through Roman's chest like mist. Roman choked, his face going pale. Iridescent looked up, all smiles, even as Neo drew her knife in a blur. Mercury tensed, glancing at Cinder for a moment.

"Now now. All that anger's not good for your heart, is it?" Iridescent purred, her grip intangible yet threatening.

Roman gurgled. "Urk… I-I didn't mean anything—!"

"Of course you didn't," Iridescent went on. "And your friend doesn't mean anything either! But surely she should know that even if she got a shot on me-You'd still be dead."

"IRIDESCENT! Enough! Let him go!" Cinder barked.

The dark skinned white haired woman stared into Roman's desperate eyes for another moment, before she nodded.

"As you wish." Iridescent yanked her hand free. Roman staggered back, gasping. Neo's knife remained poised, her mismatched eyes glaring.

"Neo… stand down," Cinder ordered.

Neo scowled, glanced at Roman—he grimaced but nodded—and lowered her blade.

Mercury relaxed slightly. He snorted, rolling his eyes, as he looked to his master.

"So I'm assuming you still have a backup plan then?"

Cinder's gaze returned to the crater imagery, her eyes narrowed but otherwise her face was unreadable.

"I do have a backup."

Iridescent's smile widened.

"Yes… please, tell them, Lady Cinder! Does it involve your twins?"

Silence fell, thick and heavy. Cinder's voice was steel.

"…Yes. We're going to take Arc hostage-using them."

Roman's eyes widened. "You'd use your own children…"

"Yes," Cinder said flatly. "To accomplish the mission. They have escalated. Our original plans are no longer workable, so we need to adapt."

Iridescent clapped softly.

"Oh, splendid! But if I may, Lady Cinder? I have a suggestion."

Cinder slowly looked over at Iridescent, and slowly nodded. Iridescent beamed.

"From what I can see, while the base and train were destroyed… the special Grimm in the mountain were not disturbed." She gestured to a screen, pulling up seismic data and old schematics. "They're still there. Dormant."

Mercury leaned in.

"…Wait, back up. How are we using the kids?"

Iridescent's eyes gleamed.

"It's quite simple! Lady Cinder did say she wanted to meet with Arc at some point, yes? We use them to arrange the meeting. No doubt Ozpin's forces will be there, ready to spring into action…"

Cinder frowned deeply at Iridescent.

She knew what Salem told me...

"Yes. That's what the mercenaries are for."

"Of course! But the enemy has revealed a means for us to accomplish all our goals at once!" Iridescent continued smoothly. "You see… the camera network in Vale is still ours. They keep forcing us out, but I'm still getting data."

She pulled up footage: Jaune Arc and Winter Schnee in a café, their tall son appearing via glyph. "Here, his son asks for a boost of Arc's Semblance. It increases Aura—and massively increases the power of your Semblance, based on their lips. It's probably what let him blow up Mount Glenn."

Roman crossed his arms. "So? How does that help us?"

Iridescent's smile turned predatory.

"Very simple. We're going to try to kill ourselves."

Mercury blinked.

"…Say what?"

Cinder's eyes narrowed.

"You'll have to run that by me again."

"It's very simple!" Iridescent repeated, delighted, "Arc clearly cares about you. About your children. His Semblance can heal any injury and supercharge our powers. If both of us are nearly fatally wounded while meeting with him, he will heal us… and supercharge our powers." She spread her hands.

"After that? We can take care of the rest of our plans."

Roman rubbed his temples.

"And our mercenaries? What are they gonna be doing?"

"All in good time, my dear Roman," Iridescent purred. "All in good time."

She turned to Cinder.

"After all… your reactions need to be genuine for the plan to work. Wouldn't you agree, Lady Cinder? The director gets the best reactions out of their actors when they don't know everything that's going to happen."

Cinder's gaze was distant, calculating.

"…Yes. We all have our roles we must play out," she murmured. With a nod, she looked to Roman. "We will need to time this carefully."

Roman groaned. "Still, ya know, if they know the future—"

"The future, clearly, can be changed," Cinder said coldly. "Which means we are now more unpredictable."

Mercury whistled. "Hey, um… small problem. A) We don't know if the others would let him heal any of us—kids' opinion be damned, since we're trying to destroy everyone and everything they love. It'd be stupid of them to heal us just so some kids don't cry. B) Even if he cares about her, that doesn't extend to any of us. What's stopping them from healing Cinder with loads of terms and conditions, then leaving us to die?"

Iridescent's smile didn't waver.

"Because I've looked at Arc's eyes. Look at them closely."

She pulled up a close-up still of Jaune with his son. "See what's in his eyes when he looks at his child."

Silence fell for a few moments. Mercury snorted.

"He's staring at him. His eyes are weird and gooey. So what?"

Cinder's voice was soft but dangerous. "Explain it, Iridescent."

Neo stared at her intently, but Cinder gave nothing away. Iridescent nodded eagerly.

"It's love," Iridescent said. "which is far more dangerous. He loves his son. He looked at you like that, didn't he, Lady Cinder? Didn't you see it yourself, Neo?"

Neo scowled at the homicidal girl, but nodded briefly.

Cinder swallowed. "…Yes," she confirmed quietly.

"Love is his strength," Iridescent continued, "and his weakness. And we'll use it to get him. And of course, Lord Zaroff will provide fire support for the next phase of the plan."

Roman raised an eyebrow.

"And… that is?"

"Kill the Maiden," Iridescent said simply. "Get her power. Get Raven under our control… and let loose the Wyvern on Vale."

She smiled widely at Roman, her eyes disturbingly alight.

"When this is done, we will have the powers of two Maidens—and the most powerful Grimm in Vale under our control. After that? I believe you will have no further questions. Just demands of the authorities who jailed you and dismissed you as a mere thug. How does 'King' Roman Torchwick sound, hm?"

Roman exhaled slowly, his hand on his chest.

"I'll think about that when I get the crown… What about Arc?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Iridescent said. "With him as our prisoner, Ozpin won't be able to move against us. We'll have all the power… Isn't that right, Lady Cinder?"

Cinder's eyes burned into the holographic image of Jaune, into his eyes.

"…Yes. Yes it is."

"Ooh! This will be so much fun!" Iridescent squealed. "The final act is going to really bring the house down!" Her grin shined like so many knives. "Can you imagine the screams?"

"Yes," Cinder murmured again, nodding, "Yes I can."

She ignored Mercury's stare. Ignored the daggers from Neo's eyes, and the nervousness on Roman's face. All she could see were Jaune's eyes. Eyes that the twins both had.

Eyes she had stared into when she…

She took a deep breath. She pulled out her Scroll.

Hello children. This is your

She paused for a long moment.

Mother.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Radian, Gallia, Vale
Six years after Salem's Defeat
- - -

Emerald Arc stood over the crib in the softly lit nursery, one hand resting on the rail as she gazed down at their daughter. Baby Amethyst slept peacefully, tiny fists curled near her cheeks, rosebud mouth pursed in dreams. She was so precious, so sweet, so impossibly cute that sometimes Emerald's chest ached just looking at her.

And yet, tonight, the ache had twisted into something darker. A fleeting, horrifying impulse had flashed through her mind. A vision of her little girl going out the window into the dark night... By her own hand.

Tears slipped silently down Emerald's cheeks as she stared at the innocent little face, wondering where that came from.

A happy ending... I don't...

The front door opened and closed with a familiar quiet click. Jaune's voice drifted through the house, low and careful so as not to wake the baby. "Em, I'm back."

He hung his coat by the door and padded through the rooms until he found her. The sight of his wife crying softly over their daughter's crib made his heart clench, though it wasn't the first time he'd come home to this.

Without a word, he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her from behind, nuzzling the back of her mint-green hair. She stiffened for a moment, then melted into him.

"J-Jaune…" she whispered, voice thick.

He held her tighter. "What's wrong?"

Emerald bowed her head, shoulders shaking. "I… I'm sorry…"

A sob broke free. "I just… for a moment… when I looked at her…? I wanted to throw her out the window!" The confession tumbled out in a horrified rush. "I… I'm still a monster… even after everything…!"

Jaune's arms didn't loosen. He turned her gently until she faced him, cupping her tear-streaked cheek and guiding her eyes to his.

"A monster?" He gave a soft, fond huff. "You're no monster." His thumb stroked her skin tenderly. "A monster wouldn't have hesitated. A monster would not cry over what they thought. Monsters don't feel remorse, and they certainly don't regret." He rested his forehead against hers. "So no—you are Emerald Arc. My wife, my love, my greatest treasure, and the mother of our child. You found your way back from being lost. You redeemed yourself. You became a hero the world will always be grateful for."

A watery laugh escaped her through the tears. "You… you always have to sound so… so corny?"

Jaune's smile widened, warmth lighting his tired blue eyes. "I'm a knight, a doctor, and—according to reliable sources—the world's greatest thief. I think I'm allowed to be a little corny."

Emerald sniffed, indignation cutting through the sadness. "Hey! I'm the world's greatest thief, thank you very much."

He looked away with exaggerated thoughtfulness, then turned back with a Cheshire grin. "Eh, I don't know about that. I did manage to steal your heart, didn't I? Pretty sure that makes me the better thief."

"You… you dork," she muttered, but she was laughing now, soft and genuine.

Jaune simply held her closer, resting his head atop hers as they stood in the quiet nursery. Amethyst slept on, undisturbed.

After a long moment, Emerald murmured against his chest, "…I stole your heart first, idiot."

He chuckled. "You can't steal what was already yours, Em. No matter how many times you say otherwise."

She flushed, burying her face in his shirt. "You… ugh. Why do you frustrate me so much? I was sad and depressed and you just… interrupt me…"

"If I can't get my wife out of a funk, then I'm clearly not doing my job right," he teased gently.

Emerald leaned into him with a quiet sigh. "…Part of me still doesn't think I deserve any of this. A happy ending. I keep waiting for something to take it all away."

Jaune nodded slowly, gaze distant for a moment. "Waiting for the other shoe to drop. I get it."

She licked her lips, eyes drifting back to the crib. "When I look at her… I want to kill anything that tries to hurt her." A pause. "Is… is that normal?"

"Yeah," he said without hesitation. "I'd say so. Just thinking about someone trying makes me want to bury them so deep not even tree roots would remember them."

"Good," she whispered. "Good."

She reached into the crib and gently stroked Amethyst's soft cheek. The baby whined faintly, then settled again under her mother's touch.

"She's so beautiful," Emerald breathed.

Jaune's smile softened as he watched them both. "Gets it from her mother."

Emerald snorted, but leaned in to nuzzle his jaw. Then, quieter: "…Take me to bed."

She pressed a tender kiss to his cheek.

"Of course," he murmured, brushing his lips against her forehead before scooping her up in a bridal carry. She wrapped her arms around his neck without protest as he carried her down the hall to their bedroom.

The room was humble, but warm—filled with wedding gifts they hadn't had the heart to pack away, and walls covered in photographs: Amethyst's first days, the two of them exhausted and glowing in the hospital, family portraits with Jaune's sprawling clan and the friends who had become chosen family.

Jaune whistled appreciatively as he stepped inside. "You know, looking at all this again, I'm starting to worry we'll run out of wall space for the rest of the kids."

Emerald arched a brow, lightly scolding. "Hm? Rest of the kids? You're already planning on more?"

He flushed, glancing away. "W-well—I mean, given my family's track record, I wouldn't be surprised if we somehow beat my parents."

"And when exactly were you going to ask me?" she pressed, but the familiar sly smirk tugged at her lips.

Jaune's embarrassment melted into a sly grin of his own. "Yes, but you never know. These things do just… happen."

Emerald paused, expression softening. She took a slow breath. "Jaune… I grew up all alone. I don't want that for Amethyst."

His cheeks colored deeper, but his eyes were steady and warm. "Then we'd better make sure she never has to feel that way, shouldn't we?"

She smiled—small, hopeful, real. Then her gaze flicked down to her post-baby body in the simple T-shirt and jeans. "Though… um… I know I'm… chubbier than I was—"

Jaune cut her off gently. "I'm gonna stop you right there, Em. If you think a few extra curves are going to turn me away, you must be mistaking me for someone else." His hand slid to her thigh and gave a playful squeeze. "Newsflash—I'm very into that."

Emerald's breath hitched, a slow, heated smile spreading across her face as she pulled him down toward the bed.

- - -

Written with RedDragonEmpress's help.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

After the meal, May and Jaune walked out of the restaurant. The sun had set and the stars and moon were shining overhead as the sun slowly slipped behind the mountains. They held hands, walking together along the street. They wandered into a nearby park, May shivering a bit. Jaune, concerned, looked at her and made to remove his jacket. She shook her head and smiled warmly back at him.

"This… This was great," she murmured. "I-I'm really happy right now."

"So am I," Jaune admitted. He sighed softly, as May looked at him in concern.

"Are you all right, Jaune?"

"Just…" He shook his head. "Just tired, I guess. Like I can't be scared or nervous, so… I'm just tired. Not because of you!" He added quickly, holding up his hands. "Not you. Just…"

May slowly nodded, smiling gently.

"I know what you mean," she said softly. "This was fun though. I-I've never had fun like this before."

"Yeah," Jaune smiled warmly. "It's a good tired."

A mugger popped up, brandishing a knife.

"Hey! Hand over your money and nobody gets hurt!" He growled.

The two teens passed by him. The thief blinked.

"Huh?"

"And well, even with all this craziness," May chirped, "I'm glad of everything. Still… Ten children?!"

"HEY!" The thief shouted, running after them. He got in front of them again, "Give me your damn money!"

"My mom had eight," Jaune reminded her, absent mindedly handing the thief a few lien, "She's just fine."

"True," May hummed, "And she became a doctor too! That's really impressive!"

"She did cheat with her Semblance a bit," Jaune said.

The thief, outraged, ran up in front of the couple and waved his knife under their noses.

"HEY! Are you not getting this?! If you don't give me all of your money, I'm going to stab you!"

"Hm? Oh, do you need more money?" May asked, concerned. "You poor man! You're so dirty and thin! You must need some food!"

"I don't need food! I need to rob you both!" The thief snarled. He thrust his knife at Jaune's chest… And Jaune caught it in his bare hand. He tightened his fist, and the blade snapped in half. He let his hand open, the blade falling and clattering on the sidewalk.

The thief blinked. His mind slowly put the dots together, far, far too late.

Oh, they're Hunters in training… From Beac-

May's fist impacted the side of his head, and he stopped thinking entirely as he slammed into the grass, out cold. May scowled down at him.

"That's no reason to try to stab someone! In Vacuo you need to declare a duel first at least!" She sniffed. "So rude!"

"Uh, yeah," Jaune nodded. May flushed.

"Oh um… Did you want to knock him out? I'm sorry…"

"No! No, that's fine," Jaune said quickly. "Honestly, it's been a while since someone tried to mug me. Now that my Aura's unlocked, it's like, I don't even notice it."

Maybe that said something about his ability to register threats? Was he getting better or worse? Honestly though, someone without Aura trying to mug people in Vale was probably more of a danger to himself than anyone else.

"I know right?" May said with a smile. "Despite everything… That part of our lives is pretty amazing."

"It is," Jaune agreed with a nod. He squeezed her hand tightly. She beamed, blushing brightly. She leaned in, trembling a bit, trying to keep her eyes on his.

"May?" Jaune asked softly. May shook her head rapidly and pulled back.

"S-Sorry," she mumbles, "I'm… I'm trying to… I'm trying to…!"

"Hey, it's okay," Jaune said quietly. "I mean… I'm pretty freaked out too."

May looked up from under the brim of her hat.

"Am… Am I… Am I not attractive?" May asked gently. "I-I mean… When Winter kissed you and all, I… Um…"

Jaune shook his head. He leaned in, reaching up to cup her chin. May's face turned an even brighter red.

"No! No… May, I swear," he whispered, "You're absolutely gorgeous. I just… I'm afraid of starting this war up all over again."

May slowly nodded.

"I… I get that," she murmured. "It's all very complicated. But I… I don't think we have much of a choice. And…" She looked determined, and leaned in, "And I… I-I want everyone to win… But I want to really win…!"

"Win?" Jaune murmured… As May leaned in and pressed her lips against his. Her warmth flowed into him, and his arms went around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

Winter's kiss was more experienced, strategic, almost machine like in its power and efficiency-Not in a bad way though! Just very aggressive, like a soldier staking her claim. May's was inexperienced, gentle, and shy, but sweet. Jaune held his hand up to cup her cheek, and she leaned in. The warmth was so comforting, and so electrifying...

Jaune's Scroll went off with a loud, fast paced tune from a Fuujin anime series he loved. He pulled back from the kiss and winced, as May jumped back and tried to hide in her hat again. He sighed, and pulled out his Scroll. His eyes widened a bit at the ID name, and he opened it up.

"Professor Goodwitch-I mean, um, Glynda? What is it?"

Glynda heaved a soft sigh.

"It's actually policy to contact the parents of students who severely misbehave," Glynda said. Jaune frowned.

"Oh? Uh, I guess that makes sense… So… Um… Who misbehaved? And how?"

"All of them, save for Mister Arc-Sarkara," Glynda said. Jaune's eyes widened in disbelief.

"And… What did they do?" Jaune asked slowly.

"Blew up Mount Glenn," Glynda stated, sounding exasperated. Jaune blinked several times.

"… Even Dorothy was in on it?"

"She helped cover for the others," Glynda stated flatly. "We're gathering everyone in the headmaster's office."

Jaune sighed.

"I'll be there soon," he said, looking regretfully at May. She was still blushing and shy, but she nodded.

"Thank you," Glynda said quietly. "See you soon."

The call ended. Jaune looked over at May and shrugged.

"Sorry."

"I suppose that's, um, how it is to be a parent," May admitted, her eyes lightly glowing. She shook her head. "August! You can come out now!"

August dropped down from a tree, sighing heavily. He stood up and held his hands up.

"Sorry Mom, Dad," he apologized, "But you know… I wanted to make sure everything went well."

"I get it," Jaune said, only slightly annoyed. "Still, did you know anything about Mount Glenn?"

"Not about Theodore's plan to blow it up!" August said quickly. May and Jaune stared at him intently. He coughed. "I probably shouldn't have said that. Or that Grandpa and Grandma are watching us too!"

Arjun and Saia emerged from behind a tree behind Jaune and May. Jaune flushed as May turned bright red.

"M-Mother! Father!" May squeaked.

"Now now, we're just keeping an eye on you," Arjun said kindly, holding up his hands with a small grin. Saia nodded.

"Just to keep you safe," she added.

"And you didn't interfere with the mugger because?" Jaune posed. Saia shrugged.

"Violence can help bring couples together. Worked for Isabel and Nick, after all!"

"And us," Arjun chuckled.

May blushed brightly.

"I… I guess I can't argue with that," she mumbled. Jaune sighed.

"Let's get back to Beacon."

"Quickly," August emphasized.

"And where's Penny?" Jaune asked, scanning around.

Arjun's eyes glowed as he swept around.

"Ah. She's distracted," he observed.

"By what?"

- - -

On the rooftop overlooking the park, Penny Polendinia was looking through coding by a certain Schnee heir. She sighed happily.

"So sublime, the way he writes his functions," she shook her head. "Maybe I could let him look at my basecode? At some point..."

"PENNY!" Jaune bellowed.

Penny yelped. She looked down at the park. She flew down, landing nearby Jaune with a smile.

"Salutations friends! Apologies: Did I miss anything?" She looked down at the unconscious mugger. "Who is that?"

"Never you mind," Arjun chuckled. "Let's get back to Beacon, shall we?"

Penny hummed thoughtfully, but nodded.

"If you say so!"

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Evernight Castle, The Grimmlands



- - -



Arthur Watts generally considered himself quite focused, calm, and rational. That others with inferior intellects disagreed was of no matter: He knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. He knew what was real and what was unreal. He was a scientist for God's sake, not some nattering philosopher!



So what if he had faked his death? Through his false death, his true life had begun. One free of ethical restraints or budgetary meetings! Free to pursue his art!



Yet even he had found a need for some like minded conversation to ease his nerves from time to time. And while Victor Merlot wasn't quite on his intellectual level (though he was polite enough not to rib him over it too much), he was certainly superior company to the other dregs in this shadowy enterprise.



And it seemed Merlot also valued the company of a fellow scientific genius. So they had come together for tea in one of the castle's many libraries, looking out upon the marvelous desolation of the Grimmlands. Fee Clochett, his lab assistant, fluttered about on her wings as she replaced books and filed things. She was a sweet girl, blonde with a pixie cut, dressed in greens and golds. Her insect-like wings caught the faint light from the windows, as she flitted about like a butterfly pollinating.



She flew down low and dropped some volumes into both their laps in a single pass. Merlot picked it up and glanced through it. He smiled through his gray whiskers.



"Ah, thank you dear! This will be most helpful," he said. The blonde Faunus beamed and bowed.



"Of course Doctor! Do you two need anything else?"



"Not at the moment Fee, thank you," Watts said, short but not unkind. She turned and flew out of the library, the double doors shut behind her. "Honestly, if I'd had her for my grad student I could have gotten a lot more done."



"Absolutely," Merlot chuckled, sipping his tea. "How did she come into Salem's service?"



Watts grinned.



"The usual: She was jealous of a girl her crush-Peter I think? Piers?-was enamored with. She murdered her, she was found out, she went on the run, and Salem picked her up. She was hoping to become an engineering support Huntress, but, well, there went those plans."



"Typical story, really," Merlot said with a nod, "She gathers the lost and the outcast to her."



"Who else would want to change the world? And be willing to push the boundaries necessary to do it?" Watts queried, putting more honey in his cup, "Honestly, she should have been the one chosen for the Vale mission, not Fall."



Merlot hummed, sipping his tea.



"You think so? Iridescent would have been my first choice. She's not as scientifically inclined but she was always very helpful to me when I was setting up. And she ripped the hearts out of my test subjects so neatly!"



Watts nodded, smirking a bit.



"She was quite good at that, yes. Never hesitated to dispatch a test subject, or get me supplies. Fee is far more organized but Iri's enthusiasm is endearing." He snorted. "Far better than that arrogant little brat Fall. Always going on and on about how she desires power, how she will be supreme."



Merlot snickered.



"And that dress? Acting like some femme fatale from an old movie!"



Both scientists laughed.



"One wonders why our Queen puts up with her," Watts sighed, pouring himself a fresh pot, "Or puts her on this vital mission. She only got half the Maiden powers after all."



"Mm," Merlot nodded, "Sloppy, sloppy. Typical of her, really. I'm still rather new at this... Taking over the world thing, but this Fall seems so overbearing. Trying too hard. Unhappy childhood?"



"One she blames for all her mistakes," Watts sniffed, "Naturally."



"Naturally," Merlot rolls his eyes, "I had a wonderful relationship with my parents until they died! Regrettable, that. I devoted my life to trying to make their lives better and they'll never know."



"Unusually altruistic for one in the service of a Dark Queen," Watts observed wryly. Merlot chuckled.



"Well, what has she promised you?"



"To allow me to explore and learn science, to unlock the mysteries of the universe in ways I was never permitted to before," Watts said eagerly, "An entire world, nay, a universe to explore and experiment with!"



"Well, what is the use of that knowledge if it can't be put to good use?" Merlot asked. "After all, what good is it to be the greatest scientist in history if there is no history? No one to remember or speak of your name in the same sentence as Sir Jacob Fig, Adelbert Spengler, or Edmund Falconer?"



"That last one is a bit suspect," Watts sniffed, "His work on Falconer Radiation is intriguing but we've never detected it. That and his work never became widely known until he got stuck in that wheelchair."



"But you see my point, yes?" Merlot pressed, "What good is being the greatest scientific genius in existence if there is no one to appreciate it? Or people to use your discoveries to feed more data back into future experiments?"



Watts paused. He tapped his chin.



"You may have a point there," he allowed. "That said, harnessing the Grimm for the good of mankind seems counterproductive to Our Queen's goals."



"Our Queen's goals are nebulous, perhaps," Merlot allowed himself, "But think of it! A true merging of man and Grimm, just like her! A society where Death is abolished! Where no one grows old, sick, or dies! Where the Grimm are our servants!" Merlot sighed happily, his eyes glowing with an almost childlike delight. "Wouldn't it be beautiful? A world where flesh is perfected by bound shadows? Magic is unraveled as a science and applied to all!"



Watts chuckled, leaning back in his chair.



"You don't think small, do you?"



"Of course not. Why else would I be here?" Merlot said. "I respect your work too, Watts, but flesh, machine and shadow all coming together! Imagine what we could accomplish? Enough to challenge the gods themselves!"



"If any are still around," Watts snorted. He nodded. "It is an intriguing enterprise. I do believe I see why our Queen selected you."



"And I you, Arthur," Merlot said with a respectful nod.



He made a face.



"Yet leaving the Vale operation in Fall's hands..."



"Pfft. Please," Watts snorted, "Ultimately her entire plan hinges on my work. She is just a puppet, a guinea pig who will push the button for the treat. The only real obstacles are her ego. As long as she follows what we've laid out for her, it will succeed."



"Hopefully," Merlot hummed. Watts raised an eyebrow.



"You have concerns?"



Merlot looked around, scanning the room with his artificial eye. He then leaned in closer to Watts, speaking softly.



"My old sources in Vale speak of some unusual things happening," he said, "At Beacon. The Chieftains of Menagerie, Willow Schnee, the King and Queen of Pandu, General Ironwood himself... And an incredible medical professional: Doctor Isabel Arc."



"Indeed?" Watts asked, raising an eyebrow. "I've heard of her skills in neonatal regeneration therapies."



"As have I! Even used some of her work in my studies!" Merlot laughed. "Met her at a seminar once. Brilliant woman! Eight children!"



"She used her own children as test subjects?" Watts guessed. Merlot nodded.



"Why else would she have so many? Her husband was bored to tears at the convention. Made up some excuse about having to jump out a window! What she sees in him, I'll never know." He shook his head. "Nevertheless, it seems unusual for all of those people to be gathered in the same place."



"True," Watts nodded, "But tactical decisions are not really my forte. Our Queen is no doubt aware. Fall will have to adapt. I've heard she's called in The Four Generals through Lionheart."



"Then she's taking this seriously," Merlot hummed. He frowned. "Why are they called the Four Generals, anyway? They've never worked together before."



"Lionheart's fascination with Mistralian mythology, I believe," Watts huffed, "He was always such a pansy-"



A Scryer Grimm dropped down from the ceiling, and projected an image of Salem herself. She scrutinized the two scientists with a queenly expression.



"Gentlemen, I have some work for you both," she said.



"Your Majesty," they both intoned respectfully. Merlot asked more first:



"What is thy bidding?"



Suck up, Watts thought dryly. Salem looked over at Watts.



"My dear Arthur... How long would it take you to create a new cybervirus to take down Atlas and the CCTnet?"



Watts nearly dropped his tea. He stared up at Salem in disbelief.



"At-At least a full year, Your Majesty. Why?"



"Tell me, gentlemen," Salem said seriously, "What do you know about time travel?"



Merlot and Watts exchanged looks. Both of confusion, then realization... Then grins.



"Less than I should," Watts admitted.



"But we're willing and eager to learn!" Merlot gushed.



Salem smirked.



"I thought you might..."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

"Alright, now Xander can step away from the book, and Petra can pick it up," Weena instructed as she took notes and observed through a computer's screen, watching the experiment happening in the same room right behind her through a camera instead of her own eyes.

The camera was something she had cobbled together early in the day with her son's input. Its function? To separate her observations from causality anomalies, allowing her to observe things shifting in real time... Real time? Real time. Allowing her to observe things shifting in real time instead of painstaking looking through recordings or asking Moses to point things out after they happened. The notes she was making while watching the experiments through the camera weren't changing when the child participating in the experiment changed; while the notes she took without watching through the camera changed to match the child actively participating in the experiment.

It rankled her sensibilities to make a piece of equipment she didn't fully understand the functions and limitations of a central part of her experiments. At the moment she understood 85% of the what, 52% of the how, and perhaps 15% of the why when it came to the camera's capabilities. Or perhaps one of her current operating assumptions was off, which would decrease those estimates substantially.

In short she didn't know why or how the camera she put together worked; just that it did so long as she layered lenses carved with astronomical runes from a forgotten civilization in the right order, ran power from the right mixture of dust through circuits shaped like the seasonal symbols of another forgotten civilization in the proper sequence, all while compiling things with a program that had been set up to use a numbering scheme that alternated between base twelve and base sixty that had been devised by a third forgotten civilization. For best results muter 'as it is written, so shall it be' in three different sacred languages before hitting the power button.

She was skipping decades of learning and progress to stand atop scaffolding of unknown construction, not knowing what steps could be taken without unbalancing the whole thing.

Not ideal.

But it is what it is. If she was going to get any kind of results within a useful timeframe it's what she'd have to do.

She just hoped she wasn't souring her future research when she finally had a chance to step back and figure out the first principles of what was actually going on under the hood.

Petra picked the book up. Weena watched reality change in acknowledgment of that action.

"The first edition reprint of The Girl Who Fell Through The Wold has become noticeably thicker," Weena narrated aloud as she wrote down another note. "I'm currently estimating around two hundred and fifty additional pages... From what Moses can recall this is the second longest version of the story, we will confirm if the version from Julian's timeline is the actual longest once Julian comes down for testing. Petra, could you show us the cover of the book and describe the illustration for the people that will read the transcription of this experiment?"

"Yes Doctor Nebogipfel," Petra nodded as she turned the book in her hands towards the camera. "The cover art features Alyx when she first arrived in the Ever After looking up to the Great Tree in the distance, the eyes of either the Jabberwalker or the Curious Cat are background elements in the sky."

"And after the cover image, what would you say is the most famous illustration in the book, the one that that's seen the most recreations and homages?" Weena asked.

"Probably the twin illustrations that share the title Alyx's Disgrace," Petra flipped through the pages and showed off the two illustrations found in the middle of the book, "Within the first illustration Alyx spies upon The Rusted Knight and The Wise Lion to learn what secret words they whisper that accompany the secret handshakes they greet each other with after being apart. In the second Alyx shares what she learned with the Curious Cat, who in turn shares the secret with everyone else which leads to The Rusted Knight and The Wise Lion becoming grievously wounded and dooming an entire acre of the Ever After to a watery grave. This is the turning point of the book's narrative, as Alyx is no longer able to pretend her actions have no real consequences. She spends the next few chapters nursing The Rusted Knight and Wise Lion back to health, and the rest of the book looking for some way to make up for her sin."

"Thank you for the synopsis Petra," Weena brought a thoughtful hand to her chin before making another note. It was a fascinating thing, knowing that if she hadn't watched this through the camera the synopsis would have been unnecessary. Without the camera running interference her memories would have shifted beneath her feet to match up with Petra's version of the story.

With the camera acting as a filter that shifting wasn't happening, the children's existence wasn't asserting their timeline as the correct one upon her personal part of reality.

This was making comparing and contrasting the timelines significantly easier. It wasn't clear yet what relevant data she'd find by comparing and contrasting the different timelines, but more data was more data and she was sure she'd find something helpful.

Back when they got the camera up and running and confirmed it worked the way Moses thought it would part of Weena had wondered if she could use it to figure out which, if any, of the eleven timelines were the original timeline. After all if the filter kept her memories from changing to match the child she was speaking with then her memory should reflect the timeline everyone was currently experiencing, and from there it'd be a simple matter of seeing which child's version of the story lined up with her own memories of The Girl Who Fell Through The World...

Weena abandoned that line of thought very quickly for reasons she was trying not to think about. She could remember watching the animated adaptation of the story dozens of times with her siblings growing up. She could remember editing a character study one of her high-school friends had written about Alyx for their literature class. She could remember a tremendous argument she had with her college literature professor about the finer details of Alyx's character arc. She regularly listened to the soundtracks of three different musicals based off of the original book.

Suffice to say Weena was quite familiar with The Girl Who Fell Through The World and she could converse with a truly obsessive fan of the work without feeling out of her depth. And yet..

...And yet...

...And yet...

...And yet as Weena looked through the camera she could only recall the story in its' broadest possible strokes. She knew the story was about a girl named Alyx, who was frequently menaced by a monster known as the Jabberwalker, had a complicated relationship with a being known as the Curious Cat, and that a man known as the Rusted Knight acted as Alex's guardian and guide through the strange land she had found herself in. Weena couldn't recall any details more specific than those.

Beyond the story itself? She knew that the Rusted Knight was the codifier of the pop-culture's current understanding of the classic hero, with several later writers admitting they took direct inspiration from the Rusted Knight as they crafted the protagonists of their own stories.

That was it.

She ought to know more. She remembered knowing more. She could distinctly recall an airship ride to a conference in Atlas form only a month ago where she had discussed the differences between the original book and its various adaptations in depth with her fellow passengers. She remembered having so much to say and learning a lot in turn. She remembered sharing some of the things she had learned with one of her sisters only a week ago, and yet she could not recall a single word she had said in that conversation nor a single idea that had been shared.

It was like there was a The Girl Who Fell Through The World shaped hole in her memory, with its edges clearly highlighting everything that was absent.

The implications... concerning.

And so she tried not to think about them too hard while she was still gathering data. Perhaps some new piece to the puzzle would provide context that could make the whole thing less alarming, and she'd feel rather silly for agonizing over nothing.

Yes. Best to avoid jumping to conclusions before she had all the facts.

And so Weena took plenty of notes as Petra continued to explain the themes and messages of the story as she knew it, every single detail large or small jotted down in Weena's shorthand for later scrutiny. Soon Petra's spiel drew to a close, and Weena placed her pen down with a frown.

"That's as far as we can go with the book until the others finally show up," Weena turned away from the screen to look at the children properly. "Do any of you have suggestions for other materials we can use to study this phenomenon?"

"The Nectar Dew series?" Dorothy suggested.

"Never heard of it," Leandra interjected as she pulled out her scroll and typed in a search, "And a quick search isn't pulling anything up."

"What?" Dorothy pulled out her own scroll and quickly pulled up her own search engine, "Here it is, by Karolyn Ceene."

"Weird," Leandra looked from her own scroll to Dorothy's. They were using the same search engine, and had both typed in Nectar Dew.

"Alright, that's something to look into later," Weena looked to Moses, who made a note Weena could trust wouldn't change without using the camera as a filter. "Any other suggestions?"

"How about newspapers?" Leander stepped forward from where he had been learning against the wall, "We all have grandparents who were in the news more than once; we could look up some important events they were involved in, see if the press had the same things to say about them in each timeline."

"That's not a bad idea," Weena smiled encouragingly. "It should be easy to get our hands on physical copies of all the major publications. Anything else?"

"Well, we should probably compare our grandmothers' filmographies," Xander looked to Petra with a contemplative crease in his brow. "I mean The Girl Who Fell Through The World has more radical differences between our two timelines than I was expecting; with changes that big that far back..."

"It'd be more surprising if their filmographies were consistent between our two timelines," Petra surmised with her own contemplative brow crease. "Tell me, in your timeline is Roaring Lion Swooping Wyvern the first film they co-starred in?"

"It is," Xander confirmed before asking his own question, "What about Way Of The Mantis? I know they were competing for the lead role in that one."

"My grandmother got the lead in my timeline, did she get it in yours?" Petra answered then inquired.

"No, my grandmother got the lead in my timeline," Xander brought his hand to his chin in thought. "I know they were both in The Red Gun, does that sound right to you?"

"The Red Gun," Petra muttered as she wracked her brain for a moment. "The Red Gun... I think that was a working title for a sword and sorcery film they were both in; The Sands Of Sorrow. Does that line up with your's?"

"No, The Red Gun of my timeline was a murder mystery," Xander shook his head.

"I see..." Petra looked down in thought, "In any case when we do find things that line up we're going to have to make sure they're actually the same movie instead of different films that just so happen to share the same title."

"This is going to take us the rest of our day, isn't it?" Xander observed.

"Probably," Petra agreed before looking to Weena. "We'll try to have something ready for you sometime tomorrow, Doctor Nebogipfel."

"Thank you, every bit could help," Weena gave Petra an appreciative smile. Her scroll ringed before she could go on, and so she pulled it out and answered via video chat, holding the camera a little too close to her face as the screen showed her a familiar face. "Hey Ozpin, what do you need?"

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything important," Ozpin apologized, "But could you give me a headcount of the children that are with you?"

"Right, I have Moses," Weena began, "Dorothy, Xander, Petra, Leander and Leandra. The rest are supposed to be showing up any minute now. They said something about a milk run they needed to take care of first, so they went off to take care of that while I started the experiment with everyone that's here."

Weena glanced to the kids and noticed that everyone except for her son were shifting about somewhat uncomfortably. Strange.

"I see," Ozpin sighed. "Well the fallout of that 'milk run' is something the whole Arc family needs to discuss, so could you send them to my office when you don't need them for the experiment anymore?"

"Well I've gotten as far as I can get today with these five, I'll bring them up right now," Weena stood up from her chair. "Just send the rest down when you finish your discussion."

"Thank you," Ozpin gave her a small smile. "Though I should warn you this discussion might take a while. You should get yourself something to eat while you're waiting for the rest of them."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The airship ride to Beacon was pretty short-Though Saia protested at Arjun's piloting.

"We're not flying through an air battle, you can follow the speed limit!"

"The speed limit is for people who aren't ace pilots!"

All the while Jaune was glad he'd taken his anti-air sickness pills. And that May was holding his hand in the backseats.

Finally, they arrived back at Beacon, and made their way to the Headmaster's office. The elevator ride was fairly short, and even before the doors opened, he could hear yelling. The doors slid open and the sound was clear as he, Arjun, Saia, May, August, and Penny entered into the large clockwork filled office.

"-How could you be so irresponsible-So reckless-!"

Glynda was scolding the children fervently as she stood in front of the desk. All of his future children were sitting in chairs in front of the Deputy Headmistress as she ranted, her face flushed. Blake stood behind her twins, frowning deeply and resting her hands on their shoulders-Leander and Leander grinned nervously, torn between pride and fear. Yang and Ruby stood behind Xia and Julian, all four glaring back at Glynda. Winter stood nearby Glynda, looking incensed, while Dorothy looked guilty and Theodore looked bored. Nicholas stood at attention, trying not to look irritated or scared, while Weiss shot him a look of pure disbelief.

Xander was cringing next to his disappointed looking mother, while Petra was solemn and Arslan tense. Ash and Ashley were grinning defiantly, though they winced when they saw Jaune. Amethyst was trying to shrink into the background, while Emerald held her shoulders and glared back.

Kali and Ghira, both looking somewhat bemused, stood behind Ozpin's desk with the Headmaster, General Ironwood, Doctor Nebogipfel and his parents. Isabel was scowling as though she was holding in her own blistering diatribe, Ironwood and Ozpin were stoic, the Doctor looked concerned and Nick grinned and waved.

"Hey son! Hey guys!"

"DAD/FATHER/PAPA/JAUNE!" Chorused his children and potential future wives. Jaune felt his heart thumping so hard it threatened to leap out of his chest. Still, seeing the situation, he forced himself to stay calm. He cleared his throat and walked up, May alongside.

"So… What happened?" He asked.

Winter glared at their son.

"Theodore? Would you like to tell your father what you did?"

"Certainly!" Theodore said cheerfully, standing up with a bright grin, "Basically, the White Fang and Cinder were going to send a train full of Dust bombs along the old Mount Glenn underground railroad. It seems this happens in almost every timeline, except for Amethyst's."

"M-My mom prevented it," Amethyst mumbled.

"And it went off like a wet firecracker in ours because Mom was holding back," Ash added. Glynda's glare barely made her shrink back, and she glared right back.

"Okay," Jaune said, "And you did what?"

Theodore grinned.

"Well, I had Leander and Leandra teleport in to pull the alarm to get everyone outside," he said.

"Mount Glenn's been restored in our timeline," Leander stated, scowling a bit at Glynda, "It was easy to find the old systems."

"And get all the White Fang members out and to a safe distance with a false poison gas and radiation alarm!" Leandra added.

"Once that was done," Theodore said, "I had them teleport back to Beacon to cover for myself, Xia, Julian, Ash and Ashley. I got the Aura boost from you, got more Aura power from Xia via Ash and Ashley, and fired off Empty Purple-"

"Combining your Glyphs together," Jaune said, for the benefit of anyone who wasn't aware. Theodore nodded.

"Exactly! And Julian added a blast of Silver Eyed Energy to it to clear out any Grimm around the area! Which leaves us with no threat and nearly a hundred White Fang prisoners, alive, for intel and for Uncle Ghira and Aunt Kali to bring home as political leverage against the pro-White Fang elements in Menagerie!"

"And has changed the timeline completely!" Glynda growled. "For all you know you could have ensured one of you gets erased!"

"If it didn't happen when we had a massive brawl," Petra pointed out, "In public no less, it probably won't happen under these circumstances."

Everyone looked at Weena. She sighed and adjusted her glasses.

"She's... Probably right? But everything is in flux, so it was still risky."

"Risky is the best word I can say!" Winter raged. "You did it without any authorization! You didn't tell anyone! What if something had gone wrong?!"

"It was a calculated risk," Theodore defended himself, "But it paid off. Sure, now the bad guys have to come up with a new plan-But their options are more limited. After all," he looked to Jaune, "You told me that one of your biggest problems in the future was Ozpin not being proactive enough."

"Did I?" Jaune asked.

"How do we know that for certain?!" Glynda demanded. Winter turned a glare on Glynda.

"I don't like the insinuation that he's lying, Professor Goodwitch," she stated firmly.

"He already admitted to getting the other children to all lie with him!" Glynda shot back, holding her ground.

"No, I didn't have them lie," Theodore said, "I just had them obfuscate and not tell you what we were doing."

"That's still a lie of omission," Arslan pointed out. Petra winced.

"I will do penance for it, Mother," Petra said quietly.

"You'd better."

"You're an officer in the Atlasian military!" Winter resumed her rant, "How could you be so reckless, disregard the regulations-?!"

"I learned it from you and Dad, actually," Theodore replied calmly. "Better to ask forgiveness than permission is what saved the world! I saw a threat, and we took it out! Now it's neutralized and things are better!"

"Possibly," Nicholas pointed out, "But we also don't know if it's changed the timeline for the better or worse."

"I think we left that question behind a long time ago," Emerald snorted. "Besides, it got the job done."

"You don't know what job has been done!" Winter growled. "We don't know the consequences!"

"We don't know the consequences for anything we do!" Emerald shot back.

"Yeah!" Ruby added, "And I think doing good things even though you don't know the consequences is better than sitting around doing nothing!"

Isabel opened her mouth to speak, but Nick rested a hand on her forearm. She glared furiously at him and they had an argument with their eyes and sign language. General Ironwood, ever calm, looked over at Ghira and Kali, before his eyes went back to Theodore.

"I'll admit this is a massive boon for our intelligence services," he said. "And our relations with Menagerie."

"If you release them all to us," Ghira stated firmly. Ironwood scowled.

"Many of them do have warrants for their arrest in Atlas-"

"And they will have warrants for their arrest issued by Menagerie," Kali smoothly interjected, "And will be tried in Menagerie. And I assure you, they will receive no special treatment."

The cat-like smile on her face, her fangs exposed, suggested nothing good for the prisoners. Jaune felt a bit of sympathy for them.

"Punishing your subordinate for such a successful operation seems wrong, don't you think?" Ghira added. Winter flushed and scowled at her son.

"That it was successful doesn't change the fact you were reckless, insubordinate, disrespectful-!"

"Mother," Theodore said, his voice quiet, "If you had the chance to fix things in the past, wouldn't you take it? To save lives?"

He tried not to look towards Isabel and Nick. Jaune saw it, and tensed. His mother and father ceased their silent argument, both looking stricken. Ironwood's frown deepened. The tension of the room increased. Winter gave her son a small, sad smile.

"Yes, I would," Winter said, more gently this time, "And I understand your desire. I respect that part. I'm not angry about your desire to do good, and yes, this went well." Her frown returned. "But doing it this way, the inconvenient reckless way-That's very dangerous! What if we'd lost one of you?"

"Nah, we'd win," Theodore said confidently, grinning softly. He looked over at Jaune. "Right Dad?"

Jaune worked his lower jaw. Winter scoffed.

"That attitude isn't helping."

"No," Ironwood spoke. "While I do want my officers to take initiative, Captain Schnee, I would have preferred that you brought this to me first."

"Yeah," Julian interjected, "But you might have said no!"

Jaune felt his wives staring intently at him, along with his kids. He took a deep breath.

Well… You said you'd take responsibility, Jaune Arc, he thought to himself, maybe it's time you did.

"He might have also said yes," Jaune pointed out. "You could have tried to convince him first."

Theodore stared at him. Ironwood nodded.

"I was hoping to launch an operation to deal with Mount Glenn anyway. We could have worked together." He raised an eyebrow.

"You instead did it yourself without any input from us, and conspired with your siblings to hide it. So if the operation had gone awry, you could have been outnumbered and outgunned."

"You might not have to worry about anything, Theodore," Jaune pointed out, "But a lot of people do. Your siblings included. I don't… I don't want to lose any of you."

The words were so natural. The thought of losing any of his future kids settled on his heart as heavily as a Goliath Grimm. It must have come through his voice and face as Theodore looked shaken. He slowly nodded.

"You're right," he said quietly. "Maybe I… Went a little overboard. It was my idea."

"It was our idea," Nicholas pointed out. Theodore shook his head.

"Yeah, but I'm the captain so I take responsibility."

"I did coordinate our cover," Nicholas said sharply.

"And I'm the eldest, so I take the blame!" Theodore insisted.

"Come on!" Ashley scoffed. "We're all in this together!"

"Agreed," Petra intoned.

"Still, it turned out well. This time," Ghira rumbled, "You should take that into account when disciplining a child."

"And it's clear who his role model is," Arjun observed dryly. "And his role models, too." He gave a significant glance to Isabel and Nick. Isabel flushed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she muttered, "Overthrowing a tyrannical government under an internationally sanctioned task force is hardly the same thing!"

"A sanction we received after the fact," Saia added with a wry look at Arjun, Nick and Isabel. Nick nodded as Isabel muttered some more.

"True," she admitted.

"Also it was really cool and it helped a lot of people!" Nick said cheerfully. He then looked a bit down. "But it also nearly got us all killed… So yeah! Punishment is good!"

"Though it must fit the crime," Kali said softly, "Or he won't learn anything. Save to be angry with himself."

Blake flushed. Ozpin looked to Jaune.

"Well Jaune, Winter? You are the parents. What do you say for punishment?"

Winter frowned, her confidence lowered.

"I… Is it appropriate for us to…?" Winter looked at Ironwood. The general shook his head.

"I believe in this case, his parents will be deferred to," Ironwood stated. "That and I have no need for more paperwork."

Jaune stared at his son. Theodore stared back, fidgeting. Jaune slowly nodded.

"I think you should be confined to Beacon, except in case of emergency, for the rest of the week," he said, "Train hard with your grandparents. And write an essay on what you did wrong. I mean…" He flushed. "You're a little big for spanking." He looked over at Winter, who nodded.

"That sounds fair," she agreed.

Theodore nodded.

"That works…" He opened a Glyph and pulled out a stack of papers. He handed it to Winter with a grin.

"Essay done," he said.

"Wha-That doesn't count!" Winter flustered.

"No offense Mom, Dad, but you're a little predictable," Theodore pointed out. Winter glared. She looked to Nick and Isabel.

"We are going to train you into the ground young man!" She growled. "If you want to act like you're invincible, we'll make you invincible!"

"Yes Mother," Theodore said quickly. Jaune looked at the rest of the kids and scowled.

"You're not off the hook either," he said, "Essays on what you did wrong too, and extra training!"

"Yours can be super short," Yang muttered to Xia. She grinned.

"No they can't!" Weiss cried.

"Yes they can," Blake said defensively.

"Of course the ex-terrorist would agree with such-such anti-social behavior!" Weiss huffed.

"Says the girl who's also been an illegal vigilante with us," Yang pointed out. Weiss blushed.

"Sh-Shut up!"

"I barely did anything," Amethyst pouted.

"Same," Dorothy sighed.

"Well, that's a little disappointing," Emerald observed.

"You have no idea," Glynda grumbled.

"Heck, I did the most," Xander said, "I disabled the monitoring devices."

"Xander!" Pyrrha gasped. Xander coughed.

"Well I did!"

May flushed, and gave her son a stern look. He shrugged.

"I mean… I did tell you what was going on… After it went down-"

"Snitches get stitches!" Leandra shouted.

The meeting devolved into bedlam. Jaune sighed.

Things were only going to get more complicated.

Still, his kids and his future brides shot him approving looks from time to time amidst the bickering. So maybe it wasn't going to be all bad.

Maybe he wasn't such a terrible dad… Or would be… Or was…?

Meanwhile, Doctor Nebogipfel and Ozpin were having a quiet conversation. He couldn't hear them, but they both looked a bit tense.

Well… It wasn't his concern for now.

"You okay?" May murmured to him.

"Just… Really wanna go to bed," he murmured back. "Want to join me?"

May fainted, her face red, and a smile on her face. Jaune caught her around her waist, and looked up at his brides. All glaring. Winter especially.

"Ah… I can explain…!"

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

The party split up then. Penny ushered Jaune away from the crowd, which he was kind of thankful for. He'd never had a real issue with crowds before, but growing up with seven siblings meant that time by yourself was at a premium. Something he cherished.

Something he wasn't going to get tonight, clearly, as he walked into the dormroom he'd been sharing with Penny, Nora and Ren and saw Theodore standing there.

"Hey," Jaune said quietly. Theodore shrugged.

"Hey Dad," he said. He scratched the back of his head. "Thought it would be good to be in private, get stuff off my chest. You know? I mean... Away from prying eyes. Gotta think about the morale of the troops and all."

Jaune stared at his son, whose easy going grin had a bit of edge to it. He slowly nodded.

"I get it," he said. "Penny?"

"I can trust Aunt Penny," Theodore said. He sighed, his hands in his pockets. For a moment he resembled a moody teenager, before he looked back at his father.

"It's just... You don't win wars by following the rules. You both taught me that," he said. "Some things are worth more than the rules. And hell, you got into Beacon breaking all the rules."

Jaune sucked in a breath.

"You're right, I did," Jaune agreed, "In my case though... I guess I was lucky to have people see my potential and bend the rules for me." He winced.

"Several times," he muttered. Theodore chuckled.

"Yeah... I dunno. When you're the son of the heroes who saved the world... It's different."

Jaune slowly nodded.

"I know," he murmured. "You grow up hearing about all the amazing things your folks did. That your grandparents and great-grandparents and so on all did."

"You're born with incredible power and talent and..." Theodore shrugged, "You don't want it to go to waste. You don't want to be-"

"A loser," Jaune nodded, "I know... But you also don't want to let your pride make you do stupid crap. I almost got myself killed over my pride, Theodore. I don't... I don't want to lose you to it."

Theodore slowly nodded.

"I know... But you won't." He smirked. "We're the sons and daughters of Jaune Arc, after all. The Hero of Remnant... And the Rusted Knight."

Jaune choked.

"W-Wait... The Rusted Knight?! Me?! How?!"

Theodore winced and rubbed the back of his head.

"Whoops! Should've let August handle the spoilers. Uh, we'll talk more about it later, Dad!"

And he vanished via Glyph. Jaune groaned, and planted his hands on his face.

"What in the hell...? I'm starting to agree with Winter," he muttered. "And May..."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The throne room of Evernight Castle was vast and lightless, its black stone walls swallowing every torch-flame and spell-glow until only the pale, terrible radiance of Salem herself remained. She sat upon her obsidian throne as though she had always belonged there—immortal, untouchable, inevitable.

Below her, the spearhead of Remnant's last hope stood in a ragged semicircle: Ruby Rose, silver eyes blazing with defiance; Weiss Schnee, glyphs flickering at her fingertips; Yang Xiao Long, hair already burning gold; Blake Belladonna, Gambol Shroud drawn; Nora Valkyrie, Magnhild crackling with lightning; Lie Ren, StormFlower steady; Jaune Arc, Crocea Mors raised; Qrow Branwen, Harbinger in scythe form; and Oscar Pine, small and trembling but standing tallest of all.

Outside, the roar of battle shook the castle—friends and armies buying them minutes with their lives.

Salem's voice drifted down like smoke.

"You bring me all four Maidens. You have slain every last servant I raised. And still you come here, clutching your fragile hope." Her lips curved in something that might once have been a smile. "I cannot be killed. I cannot be overpowered. I have outlasted kingdoms, gods, lovers, children. I will outlast you."

Oscar took one step forward.

"Salem," he said, Ozma's ancient voice threading through his young one. "Please. Stop this."

The room stilled.

"This doesn't have to be your prison," Oscar continued, voice shaking but unbroken. "Immortality doesn't have to be loneliness. There's another—Weena Nebogipfel. She's still out there. You could find her. You could have a friend again. A family. Whatever you want, whatever you need—I know I failed you. I know I didn't love you enough. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

His knees hit the stone as he bowed his head.

"I'm begging you. Let me make it right. Let us find love again. Let us find hope."

For one impossible heartbeat, Salem's expression softened. She rose from her throne, gliding down the steps with a grace that belonged to a different woman in a different life. She extended a pale hand toward Oscar's bowed head.

Then she drove her fist into his stomach.

Oscar folded with a choked gasp, crumpling to the floor.

The others exploded into motion—steel and fire and lightning and ice and shadow all converging on Salem at once.

She flicked her wrist.

Black crystalline prisons erupted from the floor, snapping shut around each of them like iron traps. Jaune's shield cracked against his cage. Nora's hammer rebounded uselessly. Ruby's scream echoed inside her cell.

Salem stepped over Oscar's gasping form.

"Your sentimentality comes too late, Ozma," she said coldly. "I gave up being human when you forced me to. We both did." She turned toward the trapped heroes. "I will kill them slowly. One by one. And you will watch."

She reached for the other Relics, all on Oscar's person... But they vanished. She gasped.

"What?!"

A shimmer of illusion dissolved at the edge of the dais. Neo Politan stood there, smirking, the Sword and Crown in her hands. Beside her, Emerald Sustrai grinned with wicked satisfaction, holding the staff and the lamp.

Neo gave a mocking little wave.

Then they tossed the Relics to Jaune.

His black prison shattered outward as residual Ever After energy flared around him like white-gold fire. His reforged Crocea Mors sang as he caught all four mid-air.

Salem's eyes widened.

Jaune landed between her and his friends, the Relics blazing in his grip.

"You thought we came here to beat you with swords and Maidens," he said, voice low, steady, older than it had any right to be. "We didn't."

The prisons around the others cracked and fell away as the Ever After energy rippled outward from him, supercharging every aura, every Maiden spark, every Relic in the room.

Ruby stepped forward, silver eyes igniting until they burned like twin moons.

"We're not calling the Brothers," she said. "We're going over their heads."

"Wh-What?!" Salem gasped. "But-They said-!"

"They lied, Salem," Oscar wheezed, "They didn't create anything, just ruined our lives. This... Is the true Divine."

The four Relics—Knowledge, Creation, Choice, and now Destruction—rose from their bearers hands, orbiting slowly around Ruby. The Maiden powers flared in answer: Penny, Raven, Emerald (Taken from Cinder's fallen corpse outside), and Winter (Who bore the Summer Maiden's powers after Vacuo). The souls of everyone gathered lit up in their chests, all thanks to Jaune's Semblance working overtime.

Weena's magical runes, an intricate equation of magical power, wove through it all, a thread of pure Ever After possibility.

Ruby spread her arms, and ascended into the air.

Light poured from her eyes—not a blast, but a conduit. A direct line to the Source that had created even the Brothers. Silver wings spread from her back, ethereal, a symbol of something true and primal and eternal.

Salem staggered back, genuine fear flickering across her immortal face for the first time in millennia.

"No—no! You're summoning them! You're giving me what I—!"

"We're not," Ruby said quietly. "We're asking for Judgement."

Salem tried to run, tried to flee-But Oscar seized her from behind. She struggled, but even her immortal strength did not avail her.

"Whatever-Happens to me-Happens to you too-!"

"That is how it should be," Oscar said quietly, "We started this, we end it-together!"

The light became a pillar, vast and soundless, enveloping Salem and Oscar.

Within it, every deed, every grief, every crime and every sliver of lost humanity was laid bare before something far older and greater than the God of Light or Darkness.

Salem screamed—not in rage, but in terror—as the Source looked upon her. Oscar closed his eyes, and held her, more of a hug than a lock.

The pillar pulsed once, and spread out across the Evernight Castle and all the lands beyond.

When it receded, like the setting sun, every dark surface of the castle was now pure white, tan, and warm blue brick.

Salem still stood there... But as white stone, frozen in shock... And yet, almost relieved from her expression. Oscar fell back, panting softly. He fell to his knees. Qrow was the first to get to his side, while everyone else stared at the statue.

Then... The cheers broke out. Yang whooped, Blake cheered, Weiss broke into tears. Ren held Nora as the orangette sobbed happily, while Neo and Emerald beamed together. Despite this, Qrow's focus was on his old friend and mentor.

"Oz? You okay? What happened?" Qrow asked.

Ruby and Jaune knelt down in front of him, both looking worried.

"Oscar?" Ruby asked.

"What is it?" Jaune asked.

Oscar slowly looked up. There were tears in his eyes.

"I... I don't understand... Why didn't I...?" He looked at the statue that was his former wife. He stared at his hands.

"... I got a glimpse of... Something incredible," he whispered. "Something... Beyond me. I thought... It was the end. But it's not... Why isn't it?"

Ruby worried her lower lip. She reached out to Jaune. He took her hand. He smiled at her.

"Speaking as two people who got a tiny glimpse into eternity too," Jaune said, "I don't think the answers... Are ever easy."

"But maybe," Ruby suggested, "It's a sign. A sign that you shouldn't stop living... Until you find the answers."

Oscar stared at them both. He chuckled softly, sounding like an unsure young man.

"I guess... I'll have to do just that," he murmured.

"As for us?" Ruby pulled Jaune up with her, and kissed him. "Mmm... We are going to have the biggest party in the universe... And then sleep for like ten years."

Jaune chuckled, and held her tightly.

"And happily ever after... For a lot longer."

- - -

And that's how things went in the Ruby timeline... Possibly. I do rather enjoy the idea of our heroes basically calling on the Brother's Mom/Dad/Creator to sort things out, but it's up to Sift if it stays.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Solitas, Atlas, Schnee Manor

Nine Years After Salem's Defeat

- - -

The Schnee Manor glowed with warm lights and the scent of pine and cinnamon on this, yet another Aslanmas since the world had finally known peace. Nine years after Salem's fall, the scars of war had faded into stories told softly by firelight, and the great hall rang instead with children's laughter.

Weiss knelt on a thick Indrikan wool rug, surrounded by discarded ribbons and glittering paper, making silly faces at one-year-olds James and Isabel, while four-year-old Pyrrha triumphantly claimed an entire sheet of wrapping paper as her own and three-year old Andres played obliviously with a intricately detailed train set. James wailed in protest until Weiss scooped him up, bouncing him gently.

"There, there, little one," she cooed. "Auntie Weiss has you."

Across the room, five-year-old Theodore zipped in proud circles around the enormous tree in his new electric car—a sleek white model with sky-blue racing stripes—shouting "Vroom! Vroom!" every time he passed the couch where his parents sat.

Winter Schnee-Arc, hair still militarily neat even in retirement, leaned into her husband's side. The crisp lines of her old uniform had been traded long ago for soft cashmere, and the weight of Supreme Commander no longer rested on her shoulders. Jaune, comfortably domestic in a thick sweater, had one arm draped along the back of the couch, fingers idly tracing patterns on Winter's sleeve as they watched their children with quiet, exhausted joy.

On the coffee table before them sat their gifts: a new set of tactical history volumes for Winter (because old habits died hard), and for Jaune a hand-carved wooden chess set from Winter herself.

"I still can't believe I'm retired," Winter murmured, sipping spiced cider. "Three years ago I was signing reconstruction orders at three in the morning."

Jaune smiled, warm and easy. "Worth it, though. Atlas is whole again. Peace is holding."

Winter snorted softly. "It was considerably harder while pregnant with the twins, I'll have you know."

"Tell me about it," Jaune laughed. "I was the one holding your hair back after staff meetings."

She grinned, a rare, unguarded thing. "Still worth it." Her gaze drifted to the children, softening further. "And I wouldn't mind a few more."

Jaune's eyebrows shot up, then he chuckled low in his chest. "Give me a few months to recover from the last round, General."

Winter smirked and nuzzled him. "Now now... One should always be ready to serve their commanding officer, hmm?"

Weiss, overhearing, glanced over with a faintly wistful look before Isabel tugged her braid and demanded attention again.

Theodore suddenly braked his little car in front of the couch.

"Papa! Race me to the gardens!"

Jaune unfolded his long frame from the couch, stretching. "You're on, kid."

Winter set her mug down with mock gravity. "On your marks… get set… go!"

Theodore floored the tiny accelerator. Jaune jogged after him, keeping pace just behind the car as they headed for the glass doors leading to the snow-dusted gardens.

Halfway there, Theodore slammed on the brakes again.

"Papa, wait! Come here!"

Jaune slowed, bending down with an indulgent smile. "What is it, bud?"

The boy leaned forward, cupped a hand around his mouth as if sharing a secret—and then gunned the throttle, shooting out the door with a triumphant cackle.

"LOSER!"

Jaune straightened, hands on his hips, watching the little car shoot into the winter sunlight. He shook his head, laughing.

"Where on Remnant did he learn that?"

From the couch, Winter and Weiss answered in perfect unison: "No idea."

Their eyes met—sharp blue on sharper blue—and both women scowled at each other in instinctive Schnee fashion.

From his armchair by the fire, Klein Sieben, retired butler and eternal family fixture, chuckled into his teacup.

"Oh, I haven't the faintest notion either, sir," he said, voice warm with amusement. "Not the foggiest."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The JNPR common room had been commandeered for the evening, its usual clutter of books and snack wrappers cleared away in favor of a sprawling map of Vale pinned to one wall, color-coded index cards scattered across the coffee table, and a whiteboard covered in arrows, timelines, and dramatic notes like "ROMANTIC LIGHTING CUE!" and "IMPROV CONTINGENCY: RAIN PLAN = COZY UMBRELLA SHARE."

Athena Nikos stood at the center of it all like a director on opening night, arms flung wide, crimson capelet swirling with every gesture. Her green eye sparkled with manic enthusiasm.

"Picture it, darling!" she proclaimed, voice soaring into theatrical heights. "A secluded restaurant-ours alone. Every patron, every waiter, every passerby outside the window: actors. Professionals. I've already contacted the Vale Repertory Ensemble; they owe me favors from three blockbuster romances I consulted on. We'll script the ambiance-soft violin from a 'street musician,' a 'chance' encounter with an old friend who gushes about young love—but with perfect timing so nothing feels forced!"

Pyrrha sat on the edge of the couch, hands clasped tightly in her lap, bronze armor traded for a simple green sweater that still couldn't hide her tension. Beside her, Xander patted her arm reassuringly.

"It's okay, let her get it out of her system first," Xander murmured. Pyrrha grit her teeth but nodded.

Athena pressed on, undeterred. "And the theater! Reserved screening, surround-sound romance epic: something sweeping, tragic, perfect for hand-holding in the dark. No interruptions. No awkward strangers coughing or kicking seats. Just you and Jaune, bathed in silver screen glow, fate guiding every moment—"

"Mother," Pyrrha interrupted, voice tight. "This… this is too much."

Athena faltered mid-gesture, arms lowering.

"But sweetheart, it's vital! Dates are fragile things—one wrong glance from a stranger, one spilled drink, and the magic shatters! I've seen it on set a hundred times. We must control the variables!"

Old hurts rose, turning into anger in her chest. Pyrrha opened her mouth but again, her son held her hand.

Xander leaned closer to Pyrrha, voice soft but steady. "Granny Athena means well. Best way to handle her is direct—firm, but calm. Like you taught me when I was nervous about my first spar."

Pyrrha exhaled slowly, managing a small smile for her future son. She turned back to her mother.

"I appreciate the help. Truly. But Mother-this feels… overwhelming. Like another production."

Athena's face crumpled. "I'm trying to make amends, Pyrrha! For all the years I gaslit you, play-acted my way through motherhood, made you miserable with my… episodes." Her voice cracked, the melodrama giving way to raw regret. "This is how I show love: grand gestures, perfect scenes. Let me give you one perfect night."

"How is this different from before?" Pyrrha demanded. "Controlling everything? Scripting my life like one of your films?"

Athena flinched as if struck.

Pyrrha's anger faltered. She saw her mother wilt—shoulders curling inward, eyes glistening—and something in her chest twisted.

Xander nudged Pyrrha gently. "Mom… she's trying. Go to her."

Pyrrha rose, crossing the room in three hesitant steps. She wrapped her arms around her mother.

Slowly, trembling, Athena hugged back. Her arms were tentative, like she'd forgotten how.

"I… I don't know how to do this normally," Athena whispered into Pyrrha's hair. "My romance with your father: it was whirlwind. Peleus pursued me, swept me into adventure. I never... I never thought about what was happening and never realized what it was until it was too late. I never learned the quiet parts. The real parts. I only know how to make things… cinematic."

Pyrrha held tighter. "I know. And I appreciate that you're trying. But this is too far. Too much."

Athena pulled back just enough to meet her daughter's eyes, tears streaking makeup.

"Then… what's your plan, darling?"

Pyrrha's cheeks flushed scarlet.

"I… I thought dinner. And a movie. Something normal. Quiet." She glanced away. "Though I'll admit… I'm not sure how to do 'normal' either."

Athena's lip trembled. A soft sob escaped. "Oh, my brave girl…"

Pyrrha hugged her again, fierce and protective this time. "It's all right, Mother. We'll figure it out."

Xander smiled from the couch, fists pumping in quiet victory.

After a moment, Athena straightened, wiping her eyes with dramatic flair that couldn't quite hide the genuine sniffle.

"Normal," she repeated, tasting the word. "Like improv! Yes! The best scenes are unscripted: actors reacting in the moment, finding truth in chaos. I can help you practice that! Relaxing, being present, letting the scene breathe!"

"Please Mother," Pyrrha pleaded, "Let's try subtle, please?"

Athena clasped her hands to her chest. "I shall be the soul of subtlety!"

"Mother," Pyrrha sighed. Again, she looked to Xander. He smiled encouragingly. She nodded, and looked back. Athena smiled gently.

"I was... I was hoping to make you laugh," she said softly. "That was one of my favorite things, you growing up... I mean it."

Pyrrha slowly nodded.

"All right. But if I say it's too much-?"

"Then yes, bring the energy back to... To normal. I promise," Athena said softly. The tension in Pyrrha's shoulders eased up a bit, and she nodded.

"All right Mother. Let's begin."

"I'll handle Jaune, of course." Athena adopted a comically deep voice. "Ahem. Hello, fair maiden. Might I say you look… radiant this evening?"

Pyrrha snorted despite herself. "Jaune doesn't talk like that."

"Details, darling! Improv! Respond in character!"

Pyrrha took a breath, cheeks burning. "Um… thank you? You… clean up nicely too."

Athena beamed. "Perfect! Natural! Now, spilled drink contingency. React!"

She mimed knocking over an invisible glass. Pyrrha had to admit, it was something Jaune did do a lot.

Pyrrha froze, then laughed. "Oh no-quick, napkins!"

"Excellent recovery! Remember-Bend this way to show off your cleavage!"

"MOTHER!"

"What?"

Across the room, Orestes with his impeccable black suit and butterfly knife flicking idly between gloved fingers, leaned against the wall behind Xander.

"This," he muttered, "is the most insane thing I've witnessed in thirty years of service. And I once extracted a diplomat from a burning airship using only a garrote wire and a bottle of champagne."

Xander grinned up at him. "You said the exact same thing in my timeline. Word for word."

Orestes paused mid-flick, knife glinting. He reached into his jacket, produced a cigarette, and lit it with a silver lighter.

"Good to know I'm consistent," he said, exhaling smoke toward the ceiling.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The Beacon infirmary's recovery wing had never felt so crowded.

Jaune Arc emerged first from the swirling portal of light—older, harder, eyes carrying the weight of the Ever After's impossible years. Ruby followed, Crescent Rose collapsed on her back, silver eyes wide with the disorientation of time lost. Then Weiss, Blake, Yang—each stepping through with the weary grace of survivors who'd stared down gods and curiosity and come out changed.

Cinder Fall came last, amber eyes wary, hand tight in Jaune's as the portal sealed behind them with a final shimmer.

Ozpin stood waiting with Qrow Branwen at his side, along with Nora and Ren (who hugged them all). The headmaster's expression was calm, but his grip on his mug tightened fractionally.

Qrow's flask paused halfway to his lips. "Well. Look what the cat dragged in. Literally, in some cases."

Ruby managed a tired laugh, launching herself at Qrow for a hug he returned with surprised stiffness. "We're back! And we stopped them from getting the Relic—but Iridescent—she got away with it and Fria—"

Ozpin raised a hand gently. "Slowly. You've been gone months in linear time. Start from the beginning."

They did—voices overlapping, hands gesturing, the story tumbling out in fragments: the ambush at the Winter Maiden transfer, the desperate fight, the fall into the Ever After's endless tree. Jaune's years there—decades of trials, growth, alliances forged in madness. Cinder's growth, and their acceptance of her truly.

Cinder stayed close to Jaune, fingers laced through his, her usual arrogance tempered by something softer.

Ozpin listened without interruption, face grave.

When they finished, Qrow whistled low. "So Atlas fell anyway but you saved everyone-Got them all to Vale. That's… something."

Ruby's smile faltered. "But Penny—she's being rebuilt, right? They said the core was recoverable—"

Ozpin nodded. "Yes. Pietro and Weena are overseeing it personally. She'll return."

Ruby's relief was visible, shoulders sagging. "Good. That's… good."

Yang frowned deeply. "Raven?"

Qrow's expression darkened. "Gone. Vanished right after Atlas. No sign of the Spring Maiden either. Just… disappeared. Winter's leading the search."

Cinder's grip on Jaune's hand tightened. "Three Maidens missing or dead..."

Jaune squeezed back. "Except for you," he said quietly.

Cinder's eyes flickered with old fire, but softer now. "One Fall Maiden. Against Salem's entire court."

The room fell heavy.

Then Goodwitch's voice crackled over the intercom—sharp, urgent.

"Headmaster! Turn on the holoscreen—now!"

Ozpin flicked his scroll. The infirmary's wall projector flared to life, tuning to VNN's emergency broadcast from Lutetia.

The reporter stammered: "And as you can see, every dog has its-!"

A news studio—normally polished, professional—was chaos. The anchor, a nervous human reporter mid-sentence, froze as a figure stepped into frame.

Iridescent.

Dark skin gleaming under studio lights, white hair cascading like moonlight, red Grimm-like eyes glowing with manic glee. She wore flowing black and violet robes that shifted like liquid shadow, beauty twisted into something predatory.

"Ah, miss-URK!"

Iridescent's hand clamped around his throat. Bones cracked. Blood sprayed.

Nora, let out a low whistle. "Whoa-ho-ho-ho, brutal!"

Iridescent grinned straight into the camera—perfect teeth, perfect madness.

"The following contains violence, coarse language, and adult situations not suitable for minors. Viewer discretion is advised."

She crushed the reporter's head in her fist—casual, effortless. Gore splattered the lens.

The room went ice-cold.

Iridescent wiped the camera lens clean, then her hand on her robe, all smiles.

"Ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls, and that technicolor rainbow in-between—I am Iridescent, the Herald of Salem. You may remember me from such hits as…"

Whimsical music played—cheerful flutes over footage of burning cities: Atlas's fall, Mistral's ruins, Kuroyuri's ashes scrolling across the screen.

"Especially if I missed you!" she chirped. "But that's not why I'm here today. Today… I'm making an announcement!"

Ruby's voice was small. "Huh?!"

Iridescent leaned closer to the camera, eyes wide with glee.

"I and my queen are ending the war against life on Remnant!"

Relief flickered—then died.

"After we level it and kill everyone!"

Ruby's shout echoed: "OH NO!!"

Iridescent held up a finger, playful. "Unless…"

Tension strangled the room.

"One of your planet's 'champions' can best me in one on one combat!"

She spread her arms grandly.

"I am officially hosting a once-in-your-lifetime event! A tournament so grand, it'll leave you breathless! I hereby dub it: THE IRIDESCENT TOURNAMENT! Be part of the conversation on Scroll at hashtag IRIDESCENTTOURNAMENT!"

Ren glanced at his device. "Aaaand she's already trending."

Iridescent continued, voice syrupy. "For those familiar with your adorable little Vytal Tournament, I'll borrow the rules. No brackets this time—yours truly will be your only opponent. And much like Blake's mother, I will accept all comers."

Blake's face went white with rage. "How dare—"

Iridescent winked. "Location: Beacon itself, atop my darling Monstro Grimm! Games start at noon, one week from today. Plenty of time to prepare—or for non-participants, time to connect with loved ones, get affairs in order, maybe kill your boss! Start a purge! Live a little!"

She chuckled, low and dark.

"Because in one week's time… well, to give you an idea—"

She turned, raising one hand toward the studio's back wall.

A blast of raw, violet-black magic erupted—annihilating the wall, the buildings beyond, the distant mountain in a cataclysmic beam that carved a smoking scar across Vale's horizon.

Iridescent faced the camera again, blowing a kiss.

"So, keep that in mind, and see you next Sunday! And feel free to pray to your god—but spoilers…I won't be listening."

The feed cut to static.

Silence.

Then chaos.

"We gotta stop her!" Ruby cried.

Weiss's glyphs flared instinctively. "We stop her. Now."

Blake's ears flattened. "A tournament… on a Monstro Grimm…"

Yang cracked her knuckles, hair igniting. "I've got a gauntlet with her name on it."

Cinder's grip on Jaune's hand was iron. "She's toying with us. But we have no choice."

Ozpin's face was grim. "One week. We prepare."

Jaune pulled Cinder closer, eyes hard.

"Then we end this."

The war for Remnant had just been given a deadline.

And the clock was ticking.

- - -

Maybe a bit too TeamFourStar but damnit, I had to make it. Because Iridescent with Three Maidens' powers would definitely be feeling Perfect.


View: https://youtu.be/SALrHYcFKzs

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The empty dorm room near Team RWBY's quarters had become Blake Belladonna's war room.

Scrolls and datapads littered every surface, screens glowing with paused erogame cutscenes, dog-eared romance novels splayed open to particularly steamy passages, and handwritten notes in Blake's precise script. Along with half a dozen romance mangas from Fuujin.

Blake paced like a caged panther, ears twitching with frantic energy, amber eyes darting between options.

"Honey-Poppop approach: cute, clumsy, high affection stats through constant physical contact," she muttered, tapping a frozen frame of a blushing protagonist spilling coffee on her senpai. "Pros: builds synergy fast. Cons: might come off too forward if Jaune's affection meter isn't high enough yet."

She flipped to a well-worn copy of The Sangaran Family: Forbidden Desires Volume 7. "Alternative: Sangaran route—mysterious, brooding, slow-burn tension with high jealousy triggers. Pros: intense emotional payoff. Cons: risk of blue-screening if he thinks I'm actually mad at him for looking at another girl."

She picked up a manga.

"Or... Rose + Vampire, where I hit him with a bike...? No, no, ugh...!"

Blake groaned, ears twitching. "Why is dating harder than infiltrating a White Fang cell?!"

The door creaked open.

Leandra and Leander slipped inside, looking sheepish. They'd been avoiding her since the meeting in Ozpin's office.

"Mom," Leandra started softly, "we wanted to say—we're sorry. About Mount Glenn. We didn't want anyone to get hurt. Especially not the Faunus trapped there. We just… wanted to fix things."

Leander nodded, ears drooping. "We just didn't want innocent people to die. Promise."

Blake's frantic pacing stopped. She looked at them—really looked—and the storm in her eyes quieted.

"I know," she said, voice gentle. "I understand. And you succeeded. I... I'm proud of you both."

She crossed the room and pulled them both into a fierce hug. They melted into it, small arms wrapping around her.

After a long moment, Blake pulled back, managing a wry smile.

"After all... Given everything I've done? I'm glad you two broke the rules for good."

The twins beamed back at her. Blake hummed.

"Now… I need your help with something far more terrifying than timeline paradoxes."

The twins blinked.

"…Dad?" Leander guessed.

Blake's cheeks darkened. "Your father's very existence is making me question my sanity. I'm torn between multiple approaches! Intense, forbidden love? Warm and cutesy? Clumsy and innocently seductive?"

Leandra and Leander turned scarlet, ears flattening in perfect sync.

Leander recovered first, coughing. "Mom. You're overthinking this. Hard."

Leandra nodded vigorously. "Just… take Dad to a book cafe! He loves those. There's one in Vale—The Half Crescent. Cozy, quiet, tons of old novels. It's
where you two went on, like, one of your first real dates in our timeline!"

Leander grinned. "Yeah! You went together because you wanted to talk, you bonded over manga and books, and then you talked for hours."

Blake's eyes lit up like she'd just unlocked a secret ending.

"Yes!" she breathed, already scribbling furiously. "Perfect setup! We'll 'bump' into each other at the cafe—he'll knock me down reaching for a rare Ninjas of Love edition—I'll play coy—he'll apologize with coffee and a book—then we'll retreat to the back room for 'privacy'—oh! Do we have enough synergy yet? I should sit in his lap first! Build affection points! And the outfit—sexy librarian look! Glasses, tight sweater, skirt with easy access—"

Leandra and Leander exchanged horrified glances.

"Mom," Leandra tried, "maybe keep it simple?"

Blake was too deep in the zone, muttering about "leg entanglement mechanics" and "subtle purring for bonus points."

The twins sighed in unison.

The door opened again—this time admitting Ghira and Kali Belladonna.

Ghira took one look at the chaos, chuckled, and gently herded the twins out with a massive hand on each shoulder.

"Come on, kids. Let your mother plot in peace."

Kali-elegant as ever, settled beside her daughter. Blake looked at her, biting her lower lip.

"Mom, I-I want to-"

"Now, sweetie," she purred, picking up a particularly spicy manga, "let's plan this out properly-Like true kunoichi!"

Blake's ears perked, eyes shining with renewed frenzy.

"Perfect! You understand romance! We'll need contingency plans for if he's shy about public affection—maybe a private booth? Or should I
'accidentally' trip into his arms first?"

Kali's smile turned appropriately feline.

As the door closed, the twins looked up at their grandfather.

"Granny Kali's gonna help?" Leandra asked worriedly. "Mom's gonna overthink herself into a total disaster."

Ghira's deep laugh rumbled like thunder.

"That's the plan. Sometimes, you must work with the madness rather than against it."

Leander facepalmed.

"We're doomed."

Leandra nodded solemnly.

"All of space and time will collapse around us."

Ghira just chuckled again, guiding them down the hall.

"Oh, I think we'll be just fine..."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Pyrrha Nikos woke to the faint strains of piano music drifting through the dorm like morning mist.

The notes were soft, melancholy—each one lingering just long enough to tug at something deep in her chest. She lay still for a moment, green eyes adjusting to the dim light filtering through the curtains. Emerald Sustrai slept soundly in the bunk across from hers, one arm dangling off the edge, green hair splayed across the pillow in peaceful disarray. Her daughter, Amethyst, slept peacefully in a bunk shoved against hers.

Pyrrha smiled faintly. Strange bedfellows, time made.

The music continued—beautiful, haunting, and impossible to ignore.

Curiosity won. She slipped out of bed with the silent grace of a champion, bare feet cool against the floorboards. Her red hair fell loose over her shoulders as she padded to the door, easing it open without a creak.

Halfway down the hall, a tall figure fell into step with her: Xander. His red hair was tousled from sleep, his blue eyes bright with the same curiosity on her face.

"Mom," he whispered, matching her stealthy pace. "Couldn't sleep either?"

Pyrrha ruffled his hair gently. "The music woke me. It's… beautiful."

Xander nodded solemnly. Together, mother and son ghosted down the stairs like shadows.

The larger common room below opened into a spacious lounge—couches arranged in cozy clusters, bookshelves lining the walls, and in the center, a grand piano bathed in moonlight from the tall windows. It was seldom used by teams RWBY and JNPR.

Nicholas Arc-Schnee sat at the keys.

His white-blond hair caught the silver light, blue eyes distant as his fingers coaxed the final, lingering notes from the ivory. The melody resolved into silence, heavy and bittersweet.

He sensed them before they spoke, hands pausing above the keys. Turning, he offered a sheepish smile.

"Sorry if I woke you."

Pyrrha stepped into the room, Xander one step behind. "Not at all. That was… beautiful. What's the piece called?"

Nicholas's cheeks colored faintly. He glanced away, fingers brushing the keys without pressing them.

"My mother wrote it," he said quietly. "Champion's Sonata."

Xander tilted his head. "It sounds a lot like a song Aunt Weiss wrote in my timeline." He walked up and hopped onto the bench beside Nicholas, his nimble fingers picking out a brighter variation—same melody, but in major key, lighter, hopeful.

Nicholas listened, then nodded slowly. "Yeah… it does."

Pyrrha settled on the edge of a nearby couch, watching them. "What did she write it for?"

Nicholas coughed, suddenly fascinated by the piano's fallboard.

"It was… in memory of you," he said, voice barely above a whisper. "A memorial. To express her feelings about your loss."

The words landed soft but heavy.

Pyrrha's breath caught. She knew—she'd glimpsed enough futures, heard enough stories from the children who shouldn't exist yet. She knew... Yet, it always hit hard.

Xander's hand found hers again, squeezing gently.

"In my future," he said brightly, "Aunt Weiss wrote it for your wedding to Dad. Same melody, but happy. Like this." He played a few more notes of the major-key version, cheerful and warm.

Nicholas managed a faint smile. "I like the major key better."

Xander shrugged. "I like the sad one. It feels… deeper." He started, then glanced up at Pyrrha, worried. "Sorry, Mom."

Pyrrha laughed—soft, genuine, a little watery.

"Don't apologize," she said, pulling him into a sideways hug. "I like melancholy music too. Sometimes it's… comforting."

Nicholas watched them, something wistful in his eyes.

Xander leaned against her. "See? Not all bad in the future."

Pyrrha rested her chin atop his head, gazing at the piano.

"No," she agreed quietly. "Not all bad."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

When the disciplinary meeting split up Weena had be able to collect the remaining time displaced Arcs and conduct the rest of the day's experiments with them. Since Weena had opted to sit in on the meeting instead of using the break to get herself something to eat Ozpin had decided to prepare something for her and Moses once the experiments of the day had finished wrapping up.

Breakfast for dinner seemed like a safe bet, and so he pulled out his personal recipe for a pain perdu, better know as Gallian Toast. In addition to the usual nutmeg and cinnamon mixed into the beaten eggs Ozpin's recipe included something called an almond emulsion; an ingredient different enough from an almond extract to be noticeable, but unfortunately similar enough that most stores didn't bother carrying both. In fact there was only one store chain he knew of that that currently sold a proper almond emulsion, a regional chain based in the sub-kingdom of Arminus that didn't have any stores in Vale proper. The headmaster made sure to stock up whenever he had business in the region.

Judging from Moses' reaction Ozpin's choice for the evening meal had been a good one, and Weena had been suitably surprised by his old recipe for Ozpin to consider the endeavor a success. The conversation the three of them had shared over the meal had been light and avoided the most burning questions of the day, but now that the late dinner was over and the post-meal cleanup had begun those questions refused to stay in the background and moved to the forefront.

"How much did today's experiments illuminate about our situation?" Ozpin asked as he mixed dish soap and water in the sink.

"I have more than one hypothesis I'm considering right now," Weena answered as she familiarized herself with the kitchen space of Oz's little apartment, figuring out where to put things away once they were clean. "And all of them are too vague to be a proper scientific hypothesis I could put in a paper. In fact I'll need to coin several new terms to even properly describe things in a way the scientific community would be willing to digest, and the existing layman's terms are also ill-suited for the job..." Weena sighed before leaning against the counter, "But right now I'm leaning towards something I'm calling 'tangled snarled zippers' in my head."

"Zippers?" Ozpin quirked a brow as he placed the mixing bowl in the soap water and got his preferred washcloth wet.

"It's a metaphor," Weena elaborated with a shrug. "You have a bunch of different zipper halves that weren't designed to zip together, but something tried to zip them together anyways, and managed to get the slider a good ways up the zippers before the inevitable snag. And so you have a jagged mess that's holding together because the zipper teeth are jammed and bunched up in unnatural ways, but even though things are holding together it's putting stress on the zipper teeth because of how unnaturally things are bunched up."

"Hmm..." Ozpin finished washing the mixing bowl and rinsed it off. He placed it on the drying rack as he parsed out the various aspects of the metaphor Weena had spelled out. "So the different timelines are different zipper halves, the different teeth of the zippers are important events in the timelines..."

"Correct," Weena confirmed as she picked up a dry dishtowel and pulled the mixing bowl from the drying rack, rubbing it down as she continued; "The timelines are too contradictory to cleanly mesh together. Something must be done to unzip them before the inevitable snag... or before the teeth start breaking from the unnatural way they've been forced together... Which brings us to the other problem with our situation: I think we'll cease to exist if we unzip things."

Ozpin paused in his washing for a moment, rolled the words around in his head for a couple of heartbeats, and then resumed washing as he asked the obvious question:

"Why do you think that?"

"The timeline we are actively experiencing doesn't seem to be one of the eleven the children are from," Weena explained as she placed the mixing bowl in what she was fairly certain was the right cabinet. "In fact the timeline we're actively experiencing seems to be all of them overlapped, and if that overlapping stops so might this timeline."

"So you're saying this timeline we're actively experiencing is less real than any of the eleven, irregardless of if the eleven were separate parallels that had never interacted before or if all of them branched off from an original timeline..." Ozpin frowned as he washed the silverware.

"I fear the evidence is starting to point in that direction," Weena admitted as she put the plates and glasses away. "And as I said the timelines are too contradictory to mesh with each other permanently; and if we break one of them we might break them all. So the timelines must be unzipped from one another, but that leaves us in limbo..."

"Well, in that case we just need to find a way to make this timeline as real as the others before we figure out a way to unzip things," Ozpin concluded as he pulled the plug from the bottom of the sink and let the water drain.

"How can you say that so casually?" Weena looked to him with a somewhat bewildered expression. "You're talking about adding a twelfth eternity on top of eleven different eternities."

"We know the problem exists and we have the operational space to try a thing or two," Ozpin gave her a small smile. "Besides, we've already learned about multiple impossibilities occurring within those eleven eternities; what's one more on the pile?"

"This is an order of magnitude bigger than solving your issues with your ex," Weena noted.

"That's true," Ozpin allowed, "But with what I've learned from those futures I can say that finding a true solution to Salem only became impossible because I convinced myself it was. I'm not going to convince myself this problem's impossible before I try."

"I suppose that's fair," Weena slowly smiled back at him, a tension leaving her shoulders she only noticed as it left. "Where do you think we should start?"

"The experiments should continue," Ozpin began, "We'll need to be a certain as we can that your 'tangled snarled zippers' hypothesis is the right one before we start mucking about with the machinery of the universe. Once we have the true shape of the problem and we know everything we can know we'll have a decent enough idea about what we don't know but need to know in order to solve things, letting us craft two perfect questions..."

"Two perfect questions?"

"Yes, Jinn can still answer two this century. Getting this right will be worth both of them. It'd be worth all three if the first one hadn't been wasted a decade ago."

"Who's Jinn?" Weena leaned in with curious eyes.

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know about her. I've shared so many deep secrets over the last few day's I'm starting to forget what I haven't shared with who," Ozpin chuckled bashfully before answering. "Jinn is the spirit of a divine artifact that can answer any question. The catches are she can only answer a set amount of questions within a certain timeframe, usually three per century, she can't give you any direct answers about the future and you have to ask the right questions to get the answers you need."

Weena considered that for a moment.

"The reason you thought Salem was an impossible problem is because you asked the wrong questions," The physicist concluded after she finished rolling that piece of information around in her mind.

"Yes," Ozpin admitted, "Though I only realized they were the wrong questions when the children arrived and spoke of Salem's true defeat. It's hard to fill gaps when you don't know the gaps are there, which is why we need to explore this problem as thoroughly as possible before we take our questions to her."

"Right, that makes sense." Weena agreed before asking, "So where is Jinn's artifact?"

"Underneath Haven Academy, in a vault that can only be accessed and opened by the Spring Maiden," Ozpin answered.

"That far away with a door you need someone else to open?" Weena quirked an eyebrow in surprise.

"Far enough away and complicated enough to get to that I won't be tempted to use a question on something I can figure out on my own, but not so far away or too difficult to access if there's a genuine need to go to Jinn for answers," Ozpin explained himself with a nonchalant shrug. "Admittedly not ideal when I'm at odds with the current Spring Maiden, but we should be dealing with a more cooperative Spring Maiden by the time we're ready to ask Jinn anything."

"So not that different from having a fire extinguisher in a glass case so nobody grabs it unless it's an actual emergency, or putting a little nest egg in a savings account the bank will only open under specific circumstances. I guess that's a sensible way to curb most temptations for an easy answer," Weena allowed. "But still, are you sure there isn't a way to increase the number of questions she can answer?"

"That was actually one of the first things I ever asked her," Ozpin admitted as he stepped out of the kitchen into the living room of his apartment, beckoning for Weena to follow after him. "She told me that I'd find any effort to directly circumvent her limits fruitless, but so long as I struck the right balance between specificity and open-endedness she'd stretch the questions as far as she could to give me the most comprehensive answers possible."

"That sounds like a tedious balance to strike," Weena noted as she took a seat on the living room's couch.

"Surprisingly, it isn't," Ozpin smiled as he also took a seat on the couch, "Or at least it isn't if Jinn actually likes you."

"Oh?" Weena quirked an inquisitive eyebrow in his direction.

"If she likes you she'll cram every bit of relevant information she can possibly justify including with your question," Ozpin elaborated. "If Jinn doesn't like you she'll only tell you the bare minimum of what her function compels her to share."

"I see," Weena brought a hand to her chin in thought. "Would she like me? And does she like you?"

"I don't see why she wouldn't like you; your head and heart are in the right place and that's enough for Jinn most of the time," Ozpin answered. "As for me? I'd like to think we're friends as far as a being like her in her circumstances is capable of having friends."

"Well that's good. That means we shouldn't have to worry about exact wording when we compose our two questions, right?" Weena asked.

"It shouldn't, so with that in mind let's focus on what we can figure out in the here and now," Ozpin replied before pulling out his scroll and opening a note taking program. "If your zipper idea turns out to be correct how would we avoid damaging the zipper teeth that are currently under strain from being forced to interlock with the wrong kind of teeth?"

"Let's see..." Weena scrunched her face together in thought. "Moses seems to be the epicenter of the paradox, so if something goes wrong with any of the timelines something would probably happen to him. We'll need to keep a close eye on our boy to be sure things aren't falling apart... after our son the person we need to focus on is probably Jaune."

"Focus on in what way?"

"Well as far as we know the things differentiating the eleven timelines are the choices Jaune Arc makes. That means his choices in the here and now might have the potential to either stabilize or destabilize the status quo we're currently operating under," Weena reasoned aloud. "My first thought is that our best option for maintaining the status quo without damaging anything is to have Jaune keep doing what he's doing and juggle the different timelines. The other option would be to have him pursue none of them, but time stops for no-one and I don't want to see what would happen if he doesn't progress any of the timelines while we're figuring this out. So long as he doesn't favor any singular timeline so it doesn't become dominant and force the others out, thereby ripping out zipper teeth..."

Weena nodded decisively as she became more confident in her musings, "We're early enough in the timelines for most major relationship milestones to still be a ways down the road, so he can progress all eleven timelines without making any of them the dominant timeline..."

"It'd also make a solid foundation for a potential twelfth timeline," Ozpin noted.

Weena stopped her musing to look his way with mild surprise, "You're thinking Jaune can handle all of them at once?"

"I've seen men do it before, and some of them were even Arcs," Ozpin reasoned. "Jaune's cut from a similar enough cloth to those ancestors that it's a real possibility."

"Huh," Weena brought a hand to her chin, "Well, if nothing else it'd make the timeline we might end up having to make distinct from the eleven..."

"Now let's say this gambit works and we can unzip this mess without unraveling the timeline we're currently experiencing," Ozpin pressed on. "How difficult would it be for Moses to unzip each timeline from the tangle?"

"That's a good question, and I'm not sure," Weena admitted. "We'll have to figure out a lot more about this paradox before I can give you anything approaching a concrete answer. Like if the eleven timelines were unrelated parallels before they got zipped together we could have some radically different power requirements than if one of the timelines was the original timeline all of the others branched off of. On top of that the zipping up was a complete accident, and I don't know if the accident gave Moses enough context for him to even know how to start with an unzipping..."

Further musings were cut off as Ozpin's scroll rang with the tune the headmaster had set aside for Qrow. With a few taps on the screen his personal encryption program was up and running. Satisfied their communications would be secure he answered the call.

"Hello Qrow. Do you have Leonardo?"

"We're about to play a game of good news and bad news," was Qrow's semi-apologetic reply.

"Alright then, bad news first," Ozpin braced himself.

"So the quick and dirty summary is Leonardo had a solid plan to slip away from the eyes and ears you were able to send to put on him after we found out he was a traitor. Fortunately my semblance came in clutch for once and his plan to destroy all evidence was a dud, so we have a very solid lead as to where he's running off to. It won't be more than a week."

"That summary is less disappointing than I feared when you said bad news," Ozpin relaxed slightly. "What's the none summarized version?"

"It starts with me and Tai meeting up with Omaeda, and heading to the stake out position he and Soi Fong had set up..."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

The Vacuo safehouse was a tomb of silence in the dead of night: Sand whispering against the windows, the distant howl of wind the only company. Jaune Arc couldn't sleep. The Ever After clung to him like a second skin. Yang had reverted after, but him?

Maybe he was in a young man's body again, but his soul still felt old.

He wandered the halls barefoot, humming under his breath—a restless melody that had haunted him since their return.

"There must be some way out of here…"

"Said the joker to the thief," a familiar voice sang back, soft and almost bitter, from the kitchen.

The light glowed soft and golden. Jaune paused in the doorway.

"There's too much confusion..." Jaune sang.

Yang stood at the sink, back rigid, golden hair cascading loose like a waterfall of fire. Her hands gripped the counter's edge hard enough to dent metal. She sang the next verse: Low, frustrated, edged with pain.

"I can't get no relief," she grit out.

Jaune's heart twisted. "Couldn't sleep either?"

She didn't turn, but her shoulders hunched. "This stupid song. It's been looping in my head since we got back. Won't shut up."

He stepped closer, voice gentle. "Same here."

Yang finally faced him—lilac eyes shadowed, glistening with unshed tears she'd never let fall in daylight. The woman who burned bright enough to light up his entire world looked… small.

He reached out for her, but she pulled away. Hurt filled his eyes.

"Yang?" He whispered.

"I nearly killed you," she whispered, voice cracking like dry earth. "In that place… I was a monster. Mindless. And I almost—" Her fists clenched, nails biting palms. "I almost ended you. The man I love. And this damn song just keeps playing, like it's mocking me for failing you."

Jaune closed the distance slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal. "Yang… I forgive you. I forgave you-."

She laughed—wet, broken, furious. "You shouldn't. Damn it, Jaune, you shouldn't. I loved you—love you—and I hurt you. I could've taken everything from you. From us. And you just… let it go? Like it didn't rip your heart out?"

Her voice rose, trembling with the weight she'd carried alone.

'"Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth. None of them along the line know what any of it is worth-FUCK! Just... Stop it! STOP IT!"

Before he could reach for her, footsteps padded in.

Oscar Pine—eyes ancient with Ozma's weight—paused in the doorway, a sad chuckle escaping.

"I haven't heard that song in thousands of years," he said softly. "Curious how some things endure."

Jaune seized the brief reprieve. "You know it?"

Oscar nodded, moving to the window. Moonlight silvered his face as he sang-voice rich, layered with lifetimes of loss.

"There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief." There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief…"

Each verse carried centuries: weariness, defiance, the ache of inevitability.

"Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth. None of them along the line know what any of it is worth…"

"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke. "There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke…"

"But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate. So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late…"

The chorus rose—haunting, eternal.

"All along the watchtower, princes kept the view. While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too…"

"Outside in the distance, a wildcat did growl. Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl."

The final note faded.

Yang's voice was barely a breath. "What… does it mean?"

Oscar turned, eyes distant. "Even I don't fully know. It was ancient when I was young. Salem loved it—played it in quieter moments. There's confrontation in it. Destiny approaching. Ominous, terrible… yet beautiful. I've wondered if the divine wrote it—an eternal rhyme of humanity's pull toward conflict."

He gave them a weary smile and slipped away, leaving them alone.

The silence stretched, thick with everything unsaid.

Jaune stepped closer—close enough to feel the heat radiating from her. He broke the quiet first.

"The problem isn't that I can forgive you, Yang."

She looked up, eyes shimmering. "Then what is it?"

"It's that you can't forgive yourself."

Yang's breath hitched. Tears spilled over, tracing hot paths down her cheeks.

"I should've been stronger," she whispered, voice breaking. "Better. I've carried everything-kept Ruby safe, let her grow into this amazing person. We beat Cinder at Haven, stopped a whole damn war. Got everyone out of Atlas. Denied Salem everything she wanted. We survived that hell in the Ever After and… and still I turned into a monster and nearly took you from me."

Jaune didn't speak. He simply wrapped his arms around her-tight, unyielding, like he could hold all her broken pieces together.

She resisted for a heartbeat-then shattered.

Yang clung to him, face buried in his shoulder, sobs tearing free-raw, wrenching, the kind she'd never allowed anyone to see. Her fingers dug into his shirt like he was the only anchor in a storm.

"You were never a monster," he murmured into her hair, voice thick. "Not to me. You were fighting—always fighting. Even when you lost yourself, you came back. For me. For us."

Her body shook harder. "I was so scared I'd lost you forever."

"You didn't," he said fiercely. "You won't. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

Outside, the first rays of dawn crept over the dunes: Soft gold painting the desert, chasing away the long night.

Inside, Yang cried until there were no tears left. Until the song in her head quieted, until the guilt loosened its grip just enough to breathe.

Jaune held her through it all.

And when the sun finally rose, they faced it together.

- - -


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfaTEGGtVf8&list=RDxfaTEGGtVf8&start_radio=1

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Solitas, Atlas

- - -

The Schnee Dust Company's executive tower burned in the distance, Atlas's skyline fractured by the chaos of Salem's attempt to induce civil war. But in the abandoned sub-levels beneath the manor, the real betrayal unfolded.

Whitley Schnee—once the perfect heir, now hardened by months of quiet rebellion—stood beside Fafnir as Atlas authorities stormed Jacques's hidden vault. Evidence of embezzlement, worker exploitation, even ties to Watts's hacks—compiled by Whitley with Fafnir's silent aid and RWBY and JNOR's help securing the evidence—sealed Jacques's fate.

Jacques raged as cuffs clicked around his wrists. "You ungrateful whelp! And you—my own weapon—betraying me?"

Fafnir's red eyes were steady. "Debt's paid."

As the dragon turned to leave, his body locked. Eyes flickered unnatural green.

"Fafnir?!" Weiss cried.

"Override engaged," Watts's voice purred through hidden speakers. "Time to earn your keep, pet."

Fafnir's wings snapped open. His sword Knarra was unsheathed with the scream of high-frequency vibration.

Teams RWBY and JNOR charged into battle. Weiss hesitated.

"Fafnir—no!" She cried.

He didn't hear her. Watts's control was absolute.

The fight erupted in the manor's grand atrium—marble floors cracking under impacts, chandeliers shattering in Dust explosions.

Fafnir was a storm.

Wings buffeted hurricane winds. Knarra carved through Ruby's petals like paper and she barely evaded his strikes. His Terror Semblance rolled out in waves—Blake froze mid-shadow clone, Nora's hammer wavered, Ren's normally stoic face twisted in primal fear.

Even under mind control, he was merciless precision.

Yang charged first, gauntlets blazing. She was too angry to be afraid. "Snap out of it, you big lizard!"

Fafnir's claw caught her mid-punch, hurling her through a pillar. Weiss's glyphs shattered against his armor. Oscar used what little magic he had learned, but the spells barely slowed the cyborg down.

They were losing.

Jaune saw it—the way Fafnir's movements, though brutal, still carried that old warrior's economy. Watts was using him like a puppet, but the dragon's strength remained.

Jaune planted Crocea Mors point-down.

"Everyone—close in! I'm Amping!"

His Semblance flared gold, pouring into his teammates. Aura surged—wounds knitting, reserves refilling, fear blunted.

Fafnir sensed the shift. Watts's borrowed voice snarled through the mask's speakers.

"Priority target: the Amplifier."

Fafnir yanked Dust grenades from his belt—flash, smoke, concussive force-and unleashed them wildly. The blasts scattered the teams like leaves.

Jaune stood alone in the clearing smoke, coughing.

He'd counted on it.

Fafnir descended like judgment—wings flaring, Knarra screaming down in an overhead strike that could cleave a tank.

Jaune didn't dodge.

He stepped in, shield raised, and took the blow full-force. The impact drove him to one knee, Aura cracking—but he locked his arms around Fafnir's sword arm, holding the dragon in place.

Terror hit him like a tidal wave.

Every nightmare Jaune had ever buried—failing his team, watching them die, being too weak—flooded his mind in paralyzing clarity. His vision tunneled. His grip faltered.

Fafnir's free claw hammered down—once, twice—cracking ribs, splitting skin, even as Jaune's Aura flickered.

Jaune held on. He looked up into the eyes of the monster that had guarded Weiss most of her life.

Through blood in his mouth, he rasped, "You're… stronger… than this…"

The others recovered.

Yang and Weiss struck from the front—Ember Celica detonating against Fafnir's plating, Myrtenaster piercing and freezing joints with Ice Dust.

Ruby and Blake attacked from range—Crescent Rose's sniper rounds finding weak points, Blake using her Shadow clones to draw any attention while she fired on Fafnir with Gambol Shroud.

Ren slipped in close, Aura charged palms striking pressure points to disrupt motor control, while he fired shots from Stormflower to chip away at Fafnir's Aura.

Nora came from behind—Magnhild charged to maximum, hammer blow landing square between the wings.

The combined assault shattered Fafnir's defenses. His armor and knees buckled. His cybernetics sparked. Knarra fell from his nerveless fingers.

He dropped to his knees.

Watts's voice crackled, full of fury.

"Get up! Finish them!"

Fafnir's claw twitched toward the fallen sword.

"FAFNIR!" Weiss screamed.

His claw stopped.

"KILL THEM!" Watts bellowed.

With a roar of effort—pure will against the machines that made up his body—Fafnir seized Knarra's hilt...

And drove it through his own heart.

The blade punched clean through cybernetic chest plating, high-frequency edge cauterizing as it went.

He collapsed forward.

Weiss caught him—glyphs softening the fall, arms wrapping around the massive frame as he sagged. She kept him on his knees. She looked anxiously into his face, as Jaune struggled to get back up. Ruby was already applying Healing Dust.

"No, wait, I can help-!" Jaune gasped.

"You're coughing blood! Hold on!" Ruby shouted.

"Fafnir—!" Weiss cried.

His mask fell away. Watts's connection severed with a final electronic scream.

Red eyes met hers—clear, for the first time in a long time.

"I-I have Healing Dust, I can still-!" Weiss tried, but Fafnir shook his head.

"No... It's over..." he rasped, blood—real blood—bubbling at the corner of his ruined mouth.

Weiss's voice broke. "You idiot—why—"

Fafnir's eyes were almost soft.

"I swore... To protect you," he whispered. Whitley dropped down next to him, his eyes wide in disbelief. He glanced at Whitley, and nodded in approval.

"Always… remain strong." A claw—gentle now—brushed Weiss's cheek, careful of the metal tips, to wipe away her tears. "Apologize… for not being stronger. For not… ending him sooner."

His gaze drifted to the others—to Jaune, barely standing with Ruby's help. He nodded in respect to the blonde.

"At least… I die… a warrior. Not… a slave."

His hand fell.

The red glow faded.

Weiss held him as the massive body went still—tears cutting clean tracks through dust and blood on her face.

She didn't know what she felt.

Grief for the monster who'd protected her from childhood.

Rage at the father who'd forged him into a weapon.

Relief that the dragon had chosen his own end.

All of it tangled, raw and aching.

Yang laid a hand on her shoulder. Ruby knelt beside her, silent. Jaune joined her. Weiss looked into his eyes, the sobs breaking free. She leaned into his touch as he held her.

They stayed there until the authorities came—until the snow began to fall through the shattered skylight above.

Fafnir Volsung, last of his clan, died free.

And Weiss Schnee grieved for the complicated truth of it all.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Beacon, Vale

- - -

The party was in full swing, laughter and music spilling out from every corner of the common room like an overfilled punch bowl. Yang had to admit—it was fun. A bit overwhelming, sure, with the lights flashing and bodies packed in tighter than Grimm in a cage, but fun. Still, it was pushing the limits for her, and definitely too much for Ruby.

Which is why her blood ran hot when she spotted her little sister snagging a beer from the cooler, popping the tab with that innocent curiosity of hers.

Ruby lifted the can, sniffing it curiously. "Huh... Fruity and smells... Ugh! But...!"

Yang wasn't about to let that happen. She strode over, her hand shooting out to snatch the can just before it touched Ruby's lips. "Yeah, no."

Ruby's eyes widened in surprise. "What?! Hey!"

Yang glanced at the label, her eyebrows shooting up. "A 5% can, maybe, but not a 20% one! With your size, you'd be drunk before you even finished it."

Ruby scowled and grabbed it back. "I'm a Huntress in Training! I can have some!"

Yang reached for it again. "Ruby, you're not listening to me, that stuff is—"

"I don't care!" Ruby yanked it away, her glare sharp and defiant. "You can't just dump raising me the moment we get here and then keep pretending you're my MOM! You're NOT!"

The words hit like a sucker punch. Yang flinched, her growing anger snuffed out in an instant. She raised her hands, expression neutral, voice quiet.

"Okay, if that's how it is, then that's how it is." She turned away. "I'll be outside."

Ruby glared after her, then turned back to the can. She took a swig, making a face but forcing it down. "Gruhh...!"

Outside, the night air was a welcome relief, stars twinkling overhead like scattered jewels, the wind carrying just enough chill to cut through the haze in Yang's mind. She leaned against the railing, feeling... empty. Drained. Like the fight had taken more out of her than she'd expected.

"Uh... Oh, hey Yang."

Jaune stepped out beside her, a beer in hand, leaning on the railing next to her. He offered it with a small smile. "You okay?"

Yang took it, managing a half-hearted wave. "Hey VB, what brings you out here? Last I checked, Weiss-Queen and your partner were somewhere back in there."

Jaune shrugged. "Eh... I gave up on Weiss. Pyrrha is having fun with Nora. And uh... Well, it's nice out here. I wanted to see the stars and moon."

He wasn't fooling anyone, but Yang let it slide. She cracked open the beer—'Olive Branch's custom canned moonshine'—and chuckled at the irony. "I'm doing about as well as someone can be in my position."

Jaune nodded. "... I heard what happened with Ruby." He sighed. "I'm sorry."

Yang took a sip, the burn steadying her. "It's not your fault VB. Or is it?"

He panicked a little under her mock glare, and she laughed, easing up. "Honestly, this has been a long time coming."

"Yeah... Family, huh?" Jaune sighed, sipping his own beer before downing half in one go. "It's always complicated with them."

"Oh?" Yang turned to him, curious. "I didn't peg you for someone who's got familial trouble."

"Pfft... Trust me, I have plenty." He drank more, pulling out two extra cans from his pouches. He handed one to her, and she accepted it. "My mom wanted me to be a doctor, and bullied my dad into agreeing. Treated me like glass, basically planned out my entire life for me and never let me have any choice. We fought over it, and... I just had to leave."

He shook his head.

"Now? Now... I get why they tried to protect me but... It's still my choice."

Yang nodded. "So despite knowing why they did what they did, you're still angry with them."

Jaune nodded. Yang smirked.

"Good." At his confusion, she explained. "Look VB, just because they got a reason for doing all that doesn't mean you have to forgive'em. Understand it, sure, accept it, most definitely, but forgive it, nah. You have every right to not agree with what they did, and be upset with them because of it."

"But... I want to forgive them." He sighed. "I just... I don't like being angry with my parents."

Yang placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I'm not saying you have to be angry with them forever, I'm just saying it's okay to be upset with them. The same goes for forgiving them, if that's what you want to do then that's what you want to do, I'm just saying that it's okay not to. You're allowed to have those options, to feel those kinds of feelings, and make those kinds of choices."

Jaune squeezed her hand. "... Well... So are you. With Ruby."

Yang sighed and looked back out at the stars. "Yeah... I guess..." She shook her head. "She's growing up, like you said... And without her, well... I don't know what I'm going to do."

Jaune was silent, staring intently at her. Yang shrugged.

"I mean... I didn't plan on her being here, you know? I planned on being... Free."

Jaune opened his mouth, and Yang held up her hand.

"I-I don't mean that I dislike her or-or anything but-!"

"You just wanted to be yourself, rather than her mom," Jaune said softly. Yang flushed, and looked back out at the sky. She sipped her beer.

"... Yeah," she murmured. "So I tried to get her to fend for herself, first day... Then we ended up on the same team and, well..." She shrugged. "I can't get away... But now she's doing her own things and..."

Yang huffed.

"I've made my choice but..."

"Still hurts and sucks, huh?" Jaune asked. Yang nodded. "Yeah... I get it."

"Why do you think I'm telling you all this?" She smirked. "I already made those choices."

"So, you can make new ones," Jaune said, "And... You know, I can help you. Since I'm figuring this out, too."

Yang snickered.

"When did you get so wise?"

"Getting my ass kicked a lot either means you figure stuff out, or keep getting beat down," Jaune observed. Yang snickered.

"Yeah... Still..." Yang rested her head on her palm. "Considering some of the stuff I wanted to do, I'm not too sure about that."

"What did you want to do?"

Yang looked around to make sure they were alone, then turned beat red. "This doesn't leave this balcony, okay." When he didn't answer quick enough: "Okay?!"

"I swear, I swear!"

She sighed, resigned. "I wanted to go on a date with someone... maybe even finally kiss someone."

"... Oh?"

She pouted and half-buried herself in her arms as she leaned on the railing. "I just never had time for all that stuff, okay?"

"No no, I get it..." Jaune took a deep breath. "So... The Emerald Festival is happening next week."

"Yeah, what of it?"

"I was thinking of going to the dance pavilion since there are some good bands there... You... Want to go? With me?"

Yang's eyes widened. "Are you..." Disbelief colored her voice. "asking me out?"

Jaune laughed a little in disbelief, nodding. "Yeah. I am. This is probably the most we've talked, Yang. And... And I really liked it. I want to get to know you better, and have fun with you."

She blinked, then narrowed her eyes as her grin widened. "You're serious, aren't you? You really want to go out... with me."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Yang tried to come up with an answer, but couldn't. "Heh..." A fire lit inside her, and she turned to him with that adventurous smile. "Well, when you put it like that, how could I say no." Excitement built in her nod. "So yeah, let's do it!"

Jaune grinned, taking her hand. "Great!" She stepped forward to clap him on the shoulder.

Of course, with the alcohol they'd been nursing, her feet didn't cooperate as they should have.

"Oh shit." Yang stumbled, falling on top of him—or as much as one could on a small balcony.

"OOF!"

Silence. Then:

"Huh, you'd make for a surprisingly comfortable pillow, VB."

"Oof! I... Uh... You're... Better pillow material... I think..."

"Oh?~" She pressed her chest into his, making him realize just how on top she was. "Were you hoping we'd land the other way around, so you can get a face full of these?"

Jaune gulped. He looked her in the eyes, then at her nose.

"... Yes. Yes I was."

Yang's face exploded into dark red. She laughed nervously.

"Well aren't you bold today."

"I'm drunk with a hot girl who's going on a date with me... On top of me... Should I... Not be?"

"Depends." She leaned in close to his ear and whispered. "On whether you're a good boy or not.~" Leaning back, she kept her face close. "So, tell me, have you been a good boy?~"

Whether it was alcohol or his newfound confidence, he grinned nervously back at her.

"What if I'm bad?" He leaned in to breathe in her ear, softly running his hand through her hair.

She raised an eyebrow. "You know I've beaten up people for less, right?" She gestured to his hand.

"Yup. I know. But it's super soft and beautiful. You can kill me after the date?"

Yang smiled that mega-watt smile even through her blush.

"Sounds good to me, VB! Now..." She rested her head on his chest. "mind getting the both of us up? Pretty sure, not even you wanna be caught like this in front of everybody."

"Okay... Okay... Hang on..." He pushed himself up against her, wrapping an arm around her waist. He got them into a sitting position, her in his lap. "Okay... Okay... We're... Up... Sort of..."

"Oh yes, there's nothing quite like getting the girl who was laying on top of you into your lap, am I right, VB?" She asked sarcastically, but with amusement. "Especially, when said position gets you a face full of boobs and her straddling your waist."

"Well... I'd be a fool to disagree with you."

"Yes, yes you would."

- - -

First timeline's viewpoint of The Party! Go ahead and try to write your own! This one written with a lot of help from @RedDragonEmpress

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The sound of hammers striking anvils echoed in the distance.

"Hurry up Dad! The show is starting!" the ten year old Leandra and Leander squealed in tandem as they pulled Jaune along to the bigtop tent of the circus.

"Slow down, we still have plenty of time," Weiss chided her son as the three of them ascended the stairs of the opera house.

"Not if we want to get good seats," young Xander objected as he pulled the movie theater's doors open, "Half the people in this town don't respect the assigned seating on the ticket."

"It will be fine Petra," Jaune reassured his eldest as he accepted a program from one of the ushers that summarized the acts of the play.

"I hope the auditorium isn't too packed," May worried. "This is supposed to be the show of the century after all."

"Oh! Can we get something at the concessions stand?" Julian asked as he tried to pull Jaune in that direction.

"There's no need for that Xia," Yang placed her hand on her daughter's shoulder as she redirected the young girl back to the auditorium's doors. She then opened her jacket for a moment to show the half dozen bags of gummy worms she was smuggling into the venue, "We have all the refreshments we'll need for the show."

With that Jaune, Emerald and Amethyst entered the theater proper and found their seats. With that the curtains were pulled back, and the ballet began.

Sword clashed with sword up on the silver screen as the animated heroes tangled with the animated villains while in the distance hammers struck anvils to the beat of the music.

The animated visage of a Ronin and Knight clashed over a wounded Kunoichi during sunset at a freight train station, automated locomotives hauling massive loads of cargo barreling through on the tracks the two warriors dueled upon.

"Your story ends this day by my hand!" The Ronin screamed as the Knight weathered the furious flurry of strikes and slashes the Ronin sent his way, a new train looming in the distance even as it headed straight towards the two of them at unstoppable speeds.

A hammer strikes the anvil in the distance.

The stage crew truly outdid themselves on producing the set; it was the perfect blend of abandoned factory and demented laboratory. The Knight, his Snow Angel and their friends stood aghast as the Mad Scientist fluttered down from the catwalks on insectoid wings, flanked on both sides by soulless tin soldiers bearing the faces of heroes that died in the war.

"Can you not see?" The insect faunus sang as more and more soulless tin soldiers emerged from the shadows in choreographed dance, "Can you not see the future I bring? The Lost retuned! Their voices restored! The Maidens Four is all I require, and I shall give these shells true desires! All they are missing is one final piece! The power to rend the veil hiding what we seek! The meek reforged with bodies of steel, I just need to add souls to the deal! Will you not bring back what was lost to you? Or will I need to reforge you to?"

A hammer strikes the anvil in the distance.

The camera swooped through the sky towards the clocktower where two women of power were locked in a deadly clash. The Burning Warlock was wreathed in flames as her swords of glass raked across the War Goddess' shield. Their dance of death moved all about the clocktower's roof, the bells of the tower ringing out the hour even as The Knight and Sniper rushed as fast as they could up its steps.

The bells toll. The bells toll and there is no way they can get there before they stop.

A hammer strikes the anvil in the distance.

The puppets are exquisite works of ceramics and wood, moving about on strings pulled by true masters of the art of puppetry. The voice the puppeteer gives The Scorpion Assassin is chillingly accurate, the manic laughter truly capturing his madness as he chased The Good Witch and The Young Reaper through the caves.

"Leave me," The Good Witch instructed even as the Young Reaper supported most of her weight.

"NO!" The Young Reaper firmly objected, "I'm not going to let someone else die for me again!"

A hammer strikes the anvil in the distance.

A beautifully animated panorama of an abandoned temple complex of a culture lost to time filled the screen. These ruins had found a new use under new ownership. Lanky humanoid creatures that resemble Grimm yet aren't truly Grimm patrolled the halls and man the walls. A woman in a grey dress with a crimson belt that matches her curly hair made her way to the central chamber with black ichor flowing from her eyes like tears. As each black teardrop fell from her face and hit the ground it grew and coalesced into a miniature version of the lanky humanoid not-Grimm, with these small monsters scurrying off to join their more developed kin in protecting the perimeter.

The grey dressed woman frowned as she finally entered the sacrificial room of the dark temple, scowling ominously as she looked upon her guest.

Stripped of her cloak a silver eyed woman lay bound and gagged upon an altar. Those silver eyes glared with a mix of defiance, indignation and just a hint of fear.

"Your mother took my first home from me, then I was given a new one by my Queen. Then you! You took my Queen from me," The grey dressed woman accused the bound silver eyed woman. "And by taking her from me you took everything else. It's only fitting that you should be involved in bringing her back to me."

She looked off into the distance, sensing her minions engaging in combat with The White Knight and The Golden Woman who possessed the fury of a dragon.

"They won't get here before I'm done," The grey dressed woman mutters as she opened a box full of knives, carefully selecting the one she wished to start with.

A hammer strikes the anvil in the distance.

The fog machine rolled mist across the stage giving the impression of water flowing uphill. A Knight and Nun knelt next to this bizarre river even as muppets were used to simulate the unusual flora and fauna of the nonsensical jungle the two of them had found themselves in.

"So that was The Cat," The Nun was frowning in contemplation. "Did something seem... off... about him to you too?"

A hammer strikes the anvil in the distance.

The camera showed the Blinded Knight and his Spartan standing back to back, blades drawn as the Burning Warlock advanced on one flank while the Scorpion Assassin's understudy advanced on the other.

"Should we take her eyes too? Make them a matching pair?" The Understudy wondered aloud.

"No games," The Burning Warlock hissed, "We just take their lives!"

"Works for me!" The Understudy cheered before shooting forward weapons drawn.

A hammer strikes the anvil in the distance.

The Lady of War bellowed orders to her troops even as her Knight held the line against the servants of darkness.

The cultists had not worshipped the Grimm Queen at the hight of her powers, yet they were still drawn to her after those powers were gone for the hope of a dream unrealized. The secret of life, and conquering death. Secrets the Grimm Queen might trade for a reversal of fortune, a reversal The Unlicensed Ladybug and her acolytes are desperate enough to provide.

And so they've come for The Lady of War, with numbers and a plan her Knight and guards were not prepared for.

A hammer strikes the anvil in the distance.

It's a whale. A whale that's larger than any luxury cruise liner or cargo hauler that's ever been built by human hands. And yet it moves through the air as casually as a minnow swimming in a stream, coming towards the city with a psychopath standing proudly on its back somehow visible and imposing next to the Grimm that dwarfs her. The Penitent Warlock shifts next to The Knight, all of their companions behind them bracing for what's to come.

A hammer strikes the anvil in the distance.

The Burning Warlock staggers, locking eyes with the Viridian Thief even as the Thunder-child advanced for the finishing blow.

"People like us don't get happy endings," The Warlock spat her last breath so it would rattle about in the Thief's mind for years to come.

A hammer strikes the anvil in the distance.

The woman is a queen. The woman is a Grimm. The woman marches towards them leaving death in her wake, the head of an unrelenting tide against which no alliance of faunus and man could hope to prevail against.

She is coming.

She is coming.

She is here.

"This isn't how the story goes," Xander and Petra object.

"This is all wrong," Julian and Xia agree.

"Fix it Dad," Ash, Ashley and Amethyst all plea.

Jaune stood up to give the director a piece of his mind.

The chairs part before him allowing him to march right up to the stage. He steps up on the stage with the ease of a man taking a single step up the stairs. The performers kindly step out of his way and the stagehands kindly part the backdrop curtains for him to step backstage.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Jaune asked as he marched up to the director.

The director turns around; hunched over with age, his hair long and unwashed while his beard's an unkempt mess. His clothes is armor, rusted over and unsightly yet somehow familiar.

The old and haggard knight looks Jaune in the eyes with long-suffering tiredness.

"The children have made a right mess of her stewardship," He laments. "She's breaking her back right now to keep other things from breaking."

"How in The Creator's name can we fix this?" Jaune and the old knight echo one another.

The sounds of hammers striking anvils grow louder and louder like approaching thunder.

.......

Jaune rolled out of bed, blinking away sleep even as the details of the dream tried to slip away as the details of dreams were known to do. Yet some details remained fresh as he stumbled his way to the bathroom for his morning ablutions.

A face that looked like his own ravaged by age and the weight of the world, clad in rusted armor that was unsettlingly familiar.

He had seen himself as The Rusted Knight.

The reason why he had seen himself as The Rusted Knight was obvious: Theodore had made a joke about spoilers and had claimed Jaune was the storybook hero that all other literary heroes were either compared or contrasted to. The boy's smirk when he had said it... Theodore had to be joking. There was no other explanation.

In any case the joke had been enough for him to envision himself as The Rusted Knight in his dream. That in and of itself wasn't too unusual, most young men had dreamed about being the Rusted Knight at some point and Jaune was no exception. However Jaune could not remember having a Rusted Knight dream that had felt so dire before.

Something to think about later, he supposed as he finished shaving what stubble had grown across his chin overnight.

"Hey Jaune," Ren's calm voice came from the other side of the bathroom door. "Would you like to join my morning meditations? The landscapers finally finished their adjustments to the Billina Garden last night and I'd like to see if it's as good a meditation spot as the Jellia Garden."

"Sure, that sounds good," Jaune answered through the door.

And so the male half of Team JNPR found themselves sitting in the lotus position alongside a babbling brook as they watched the end of the sunrise.

"...Then breathe out slowly while counting to eight," Ren instructed as he guided Jaune through the breathing exercise meant to go with this kind of meditation.

The two of them spent the next ten minutes controlling their breathing, soaking in the early morning light while listening to the flow of the water and the rustling of the leaves in the wind.

For a blissful moment all of the tensions and worries that lingered in the back of Jaune's mind were lifted away with a feeling of pure serenity.

"Thanks Ren," Jaune looked to his teammate with a smile, "You're a lifesaver."

"I just wanted you to start your day on the right foot," Ren replied with a smile of his own. "You have a lot on your shoulders, and the women who are supposed to help ease your burdens aren't yet in a position to do so. I figured I could help until they're ready."

"Well, with this mediative stuff you're doing a pretty good job filling in for them." Jaune noted before joking, "You'd make a pretty good wife if you were a girl."

Ren quirked an eyebrow in response, which made Jaune think a bit more about his joke. Jaune's eyes widened a bit in panic as he suddenly looked around.

"What's wrong?" Ren asked.

"Okay, it's just, thinking about a girl version of you with time travel nonsense on the table suddenly made me worried that maybe history could change and make that true, and then we'd have another kid running around," Jaune admitted as he shrank on himself in embarrassment.

"I highly doubt that anything that's happening here could change the cosmos enough to alter moment of my conception," Ren serenely shrugged. "And if it had then Boy-Nora would be beating the snot out of you and we wouldn't have kids anyways."

"Right, that's a good point," Jaune relaxed again. "That reminds me, how are things going with Nora right now?"

"They're going well," Ren gazed off into the distance with a look of fond reminiscing. "Yesterday we did some casual hanging out at the festival. I believe most of what happened could qualify as a date. Today I'm planning on doing something a bit more formal and official with her; your father pointed me towards a restaurant he thinks we'll both like. I'll let her decide later which one was the actual first date."

"That's great man, I'm happy for you," Jaune grinned. "It's nice seeing someone's romance unfold in such a straightforward way. Give me hope things will work out on my end in spite of how complicated everything is."

"I'm sure things will get less complicated as your dates progresses," Ren reassured him. "Most of the girls are... capable... of cooperation. They just need to feel secure where they stand with you and each other. You'll have it all sorted out in a month or two."

"That quickly?" Jaune was the one who quirked an eyebrow this time.

"It's within the realm of possibility," Ren shrugged again.

"If you say so."

"I do."

A comfortable silence hung in the air between them. A songbird started singing in the distance, and what sounded like eleven other songbirds joined in weaving a beautiful chorus. Jaune pulled out his scroll and recorded the birdsong until it ended.

"Well, your optimistic timetable won't happen if we stay out here," Jaune sighed as he put his scroll away. "It's time to face this day."

With that the boys of JNPR stood up and made their way back to the dorms.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Anima, the Hellenic Confederation, Rhodopis

Six months after the Vytal Attacks

- - -

The train from Typhon rattled to a stop at the edge of Rhodopis—a walled village tucked off Anima's fractured main roads like a forgotten footnote in the civil war's chaos. Hellenic banners fluttered defiantly from the battlements, but the air carried the acrid tang of old smoke, a reminder that Salem's fingers—Iridescent's fingers—had stirred the pot of factional hatred here too.

Team RNRJYP, and their unlikely allies—Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury—stepped onto the dusty platform. The journey through Mistral had been a gauntlet: ambushes from raiders, getting in the middle of a firefight between militia troops and Grimm, and villages utterly destroyed by Grimm. Communications blacked out; Haven was still a distant, desperate goal: Stop the chaos. Secure the Relic. Protect the Maiden.

For the moment though, the group scattered around the vendor stands by the train station, seeking food on the way to the inn. Ruby was scrutinizing some blueberries while Yang argued with a merchant about chips. Nora was already begging for sweets, while Ren calmly paid for some tea. Emerald haggled over melons, while Mercury stood nearby in exasperation. Jaune, Pyrrha and Cinder ended up at a stand with some kabobs.

"Lamb meat, huh?" Jaune said, "Sounds good! What about you, Cinder? Pyrrha?"

Cinder frowned. Pyrrha took up the conversation.

"I love a good kabob cooked like this. Do you Cinder?" She tried.

Cinder shook her head, her usual frown deeper. Jaune picked up on this.

"Cinder?" He asked, concerned.

"Something about this place," Cinder said quietly. "Something I…" She shook her head.

A local woman—middle-aged, weathered by sun and strife by a fruit stand—gasped as her eyes landed on Cinder. She stepped out from behind the stand, walking up quickly.

"Ella?!" She cried.

Cinder froze mid-step, amber eyes narrowing to slits. Her hand twitched toward Midnight's hilt, flames flickering at her fingertips. Emerald and Mercury tensed as well.

"What did you call me?" Cinder demanded.

The woman clutched her basket tighter, tears welling. "You… you look just like her."

Jaune was at Cinder's side in an instant, his hand slipping into hers. The touch grounded her—flames dying, breath steadying. She scowled but didn't pull away.

"Who?" Cinder demanded, voice a low growl laced with confusion.

Sabine beamed through her tears. "Welcome to Rhodopis, strangers. I'm Sabine. Come—I'll explain."

Jaune glanced at Ruby. A silent conversation took place between them, before Ruby nodded reluctantly.

"We'll handle this," he said quietly. "You guys head to the inn. Get rooms, scout the place."

"Roger that, Fearless Leader!" Nora cried, saluting. Yang frowned, but nodded at Ruby's look. Ren raised an eyebrow but acquiesced, and they began heading towards the town interior.

Pyrrha lingered a beat longer, green eyes flicking between Jaune and Cinder with quiet concern. But Ruby agreed, herding the group away. Emerald and Mercury exchanged glances—Emerald's worried, Mercury's smirking—until Cinder shot them a scorching glare. They followed the other without a word.

Cinder turned back to Sabine, Jaune's hand still warm in hers.

"Explain. And make it quick."

She added, after Jaune's gentle, scolding look—eyebrows raised in silent reminder—"…Please."

Sabine, unminding of Cinder's rudeness, led them through the village's winding streets—modest stone homes patched from war damage, children playing in the dust, watchful guards on the walls. "You're the spitting image of Ilene Glass," she said softly. "Wife of Richard Glass. He was Jotun, a paladin knight—immigrated here nearly thirty years ago. Kind man. Strong. They were my friends. I even babysat their little Ella…"

Cinder's steps faltered. Jaune squeezed her hand tighter.

The old quarter lay on the village's edge. It was a scar of burnt-out ruins, some rebuilt into makeshift sheds, others left like skeletal warnings. Charred beams jutted like broken bones; weeds claimed the foundations.

Sabine stopped before one husk—a two-story shell, roof caved in, walls blackened.

Cinder stared. Something tugged at her—familiar, like a half-remembered dream.

"What happened?" she asked, voice quieter now.

Sabine's eyes misted.

"Richard and Ilene had Ella a year after they married. Sweet child—black hair, yellow eyes, just like her mother. Looked so much like you it hurts my heart." She sighed. "Then the attack. Bandits—slavers, we think. Came in the night when Ella was about three. Richard fought them off best he could, but… he and Ilene were killed. This whole quarter burned. We searched for days, but Ella's body was never found. We assumed she was taken or… gone in the flames. We tried to find her, but the Grimm surged after. There were villages hit all along the border. We never found her."

Cinder's breath hitched. Sabine stepped forward, arms open for a hug—tears flowing freely.

Cinder recoiled. "Don't."

Jaune murmured, "Cinder's… not sure about this."

Sabine nodded, wiping her eyes. "I understand. Explore if you want. The house is yours, in a way. I'll be at the inn if you need me."

She left them in the ruins.

Cinder stood frozen, staring at the charred doorway. Jaune waited patiently, hand still in hers.

"Why hesitate?" he asked softly.

"There's no guarantee this is real," she whispered. "It-It could be a lie. A trap. A-A mistake."

Jaune's thumb brushed her knuckles. "Do you believe that?"

Cinder closed her eyes. Flashes—vague, fragmented: a warm kitchen, laughter, a woman's voice singing.

"I… know nothing before the Glass Unicorn. Just images. Shadows. But…"

He squeezed gently. "What's the harm in exploring? We can leave anytime."

She took a deep breath—the scent of rusted steel and ash filling her nostrils—and stepped inside.

The ruins swallowed them. Charred floorboards creaked underfoot; sunlight pierced holes in the walls like spears. Cinder moved like a ghost—down a hallway that shouldn't feel familiar, but did. Past a collapsed staircase, down into the basement via stairs that groaned but held.

Jaune followed silently, hand on Crocea Mors just in case.

In the basement—cool, damp, foundations cracked but intact—Cinder's steps slowed. She knelt near a recess in the wall, fingers brushing stone as if guided by memory. A loose panel shifted. She pulled it free.

Behind: an old wooden chest, dust-caked but intact.

Cinder's hands trembled as she lifted the lid.

Inside: faded belongings. A silver locket. A man's pocket watch. A small, child-sized dress—once blue, now gray with age.

And photos.

She lifted one—fingers shaking so badly it nearly slipped.

Jaune sucked in a breath over her shoulder.

A family portrait: A woman with Cinder's face—amber eyes sparkling, black hair cascading in waves—smiling wide. Beside her, a black haired bearded man with kind grey eyes and a larger-than-life grin. Between them, a tiny girl—three, maybe—with yellow eyes and messy black hair, giggling at the camera.

Cinder stared.

Her hands shook harder. The photo dropped.

"No," she whispered. "I don't… I can't… this isn't…"

Denial cracked, shattered.

Tears burned hot trails down her cheeks.

Jaune wrapped his arms around her from behind—strong, steady, pulling her close as sobs tore free. She collapsed against him, clutching the chest like a lifeline, crying in the ashes of what might have been home.

He held her through it—silent, solid—until her tears soaked his shirt and the ruins echoed with her grief.

The world outside had moved on.

But in that basement, time stood still.

Cinder Fall—Ella Glass—had found her past.

And it hurt more than any flame ever could.

- - -

It's true, some things are better left as a mystery. So I'm not entirely sure if I should continue this and put it into the main story. But if you think it works, tell me and we can incorporate it.
Rhodopis is the name of the earliest version of the Cinderella fairy tale-In it, a poor Greek girl ends up marrying the King of Egypt. It was first recorded by the Greek historian Strabo in the late first century BC or early first century AD.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Just outside the Billina Garden...
- - -

"Good morning Isabel!"

Isabel looked up from her tea and breakfast, with a warm smile. Saia approached, a bright smile on her own face. She sat down across from her best friend in the cool morning air, the sun just poking up over the distant city skyline. Isabel handed over some toast, which Saia accepted gratefully. She sipped her tea.

"I take it Maia's date with Jaune went well?" She asked.

"Yes, though it was cut a bit short," Saia confirmed, "I think her confidence has improved. Arjun is going to spend the day training with her and Ruby."

"Good," Isabel sighed softly. Saia leaned in.

"Are you all right?"

"Just..." Isabel rubbed her cheeks. "How could these children be so-so irresponsible?! Going after terrorists, blowing up a mountain-!"

"Trying to save the future?" Saia asked, amused. "Determined to do the right thing no matter what? I can't imagine where they got that from."

Isabel flushed a bit and scowled at her best friend. Saia shrugged.

"I didn't teach Jaune to-to run off and blow things up... And he ended up doing it anyway," she sighed. Saia reached out and patted her palm.

"You really need to let go, Izzy," Saia said gently. "I know-It's a core part of you, the need to control things-But it's caused harm when you didn't need to use it."

Isabel sighed quietly, staring into her tea cup.

"Maybe," she said, "But given how insane the situation is... Can you blame me for wanting SOME kind of control?"

"Not at all," Saia said, "But at the same time, you need to be more flexible." She sighed happily. "I had no idea my daughter was alive... But I'm thankful that this insanity let me find her again."

Isabel nodded slowly... Then perked up. Kali Belladonna approached, along with Athena Nikos. Both waved, and Isabel and Saia scooted over to let their fellow mothers sit with them.

"Good morning!" Athena gushed. "It's so good to see you this morning! I've been coaching my little girl all night!"

"As have I," Kali said, her smile far more mischievous than usual.

"I see," Isabel managed. Saia rolled her eyes.

"It's not like you chose this table for any other reason than to keep an eye on Jaune," she scoffed.

"There were other reasons," Isabel said weakly.

- - -

Pyrrha approached the garden entrance, and stopped outside one of the many hedges. She took a deep breath, focusing on her inner calm.

I can do this, she thought, it's out in the open. We're all honest now... I can do this... I can do this...
"Good morning," Blake whispered in her ear.

"EEP!" Pyrrha yelped, swinging around to strike the catgirl. Blake narrowly dodged the strike, landing in a crouch. The Faunus girl stood up, raising an eyebrow at the redhead. Pyrrha flushed.

"Did-Did you have to do that?!" Pyrrha demanded. Blake nodded.

"Yes. Yes I did," she said, a small smile on her face. Pyrrha scowled, her hands going to her hips.

"I thought we agreed we weren't going to fight," she pointed out.

"Who is fighting?" Blake asked, "I just wanted to loosen you up."

Pyrrha frowned deeply. Blake shrugged.

"We're all in this together, Pyrrha," Blake said, "So we may as well try to... To reach out to one another. To be more friendly, given everything."

Pyrrha grimaced, but slowly nodded.

"I... Suppose you're right about that," she managed. Blake sighed with a little smile.

"Besides, today, we're going on our dates. We should both try not to be so... Tense. At least, that was my mother's advice."

Pyrrha nodded.

"You're absolutely right."

"So," Blake said, still a bit awkward, "Why are you out here?"

Pyrrha beamed.

"I... I want to set things up for our date. Set the mood, as my mother said," Pyrrha said carefully. Blake nodded.

"As do I."

"So you have a plan?" Pyrrha asked. Blake nodded quickly.

"Of course."

"Good."

"Good."

The silence fell again. Pyrrha smiled, a bit tensely.

"What is it?"

"You'll see when it happens," Blake said, her smile small and a bit challenging. Pyrrha took a deep breath.

Remember, you can't just beat them all senseless and take Jaune for your own, she thought to herself. She had a feeling she would have to remind herself of that a lot in the coming days.

"What are you going to do?" Pyrrha demanded. Blake smiled.

"Well..."

She ran around the corner, late for class, a piece of toast in her mouth! She ran into Jaune, and they both fell to the ground, his arms around her.
"Are you okay, Blake?" Jaune would ask in concern, his voice deep and shining stars around his head. Blake would demurely look up, biting her lower lip just right, her cheeks red, stars shining in her large eyes.
"Oh yes, I'm fine Jaune," she said, "I-I'm just so rushed! This situation is so overwhelming, and our date is tonight-I just want to be the best wife and mother of your children I can be~!"
"I understand, Blake," Jaune would intone, "I care for you deeply. I want the same."
"Oh Jaune~!"
Blake sighed happily in the fantasy. Pyrrha scowled.

"How could that work?" She demanded.

"Well... What is your plan?" Blake asked, a hint of challenge in her tone. Pyrrha sniffed.

"Very simple!"

Pyrrha would come around and throw a punch at Jaune. He would deflect it easily. His eyes would be wide in shock.
"Pyrrha-!"
"Just testing your reflexes, Jaune~!" Pyrrha said, sing-song. He would grin back and they would spar, before Pyrrha would 'accidentally' trip and fall into his arms.
"Oh dear," Pyrrha would swoon, "I suppose I'm out of practice, Jaune."
"We'll have to fix that tonight," Jaune agreed, smiling down on her.
Blake frowned.

"Have his skills improved enough he could handle that?" She asked.

"Of course they have!" Pyrrha insisted. "I'm his partner, after all. I know him best."
Blake's scowl deepened, and Pyrrha couldn't help but preen a bit. Normally, she would feel guilty over lording something over others... But this was Jaune. She just hoped she would keep control... When she was First Wife.

Blake's ears twitched. "Here he comes..."

She put the piece of toast in her mouth. She made to move, but Pyrrha got in her way.

"I was here first," Pyrrha stated firmly. Blake shook her head.

"Mmph nngh!"

"Uh, girls?" Jaune asked. Pyrrha turned and dashed towards him.

"Jaune-!"

Blake charged in too... Both of them slammed into Jaune and sent all three to the ground, as Ren easily stepped out of the way.

"GAH!"

"OOF!"
"MMPH!"

The three were in a pile of limbs on the grass. Jaune coughed.

"... Good morning?" He managed.

Penny landed, looking concerned.

"Good morning friends! Oh! Are we doing a dog pile? Can I join?"

"Wait, Penny-"

"YAY!"

"GAH!"

Ren covered his face with his hand and sighed... Hiding a smile.

- - -

Isabel raised an eyebrow from her table. Saia laughed softly. Kali snickered, while Athena groaned.

"She can be so rigid in her thinking," Athena lamented, "No capacity for improvisation! She gets so hyper focused on her goal to the exclusion of all else! I need to teach her better."

"Oh, I think everything is going perfectly," Kali laughed.

Isabel rubbed her temples with a sigh.

"And I thought Willow was going to be the strangest in-law," she muttered.

Saia shook her head.

"Not by half."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Beacon Academy, Vale

- - -

The party in the unused Beacon dorm was a full-throated rebellion against curfew, homework, and anything resembling adult supervision-Perfectly in tune with the upcoming Emerald Festival. Stolen festival lights twinkled overhead like captured stars, casting rainbow shadows over scavenged furniture and a dance floor packed tight with bodies moving to bass that rattled the windows. Upperclassmen had smuggled in the real stuff-bottles of hard cider, cheap beer, and a punch bowl glowing faintly blue that someone swore was "totally safe, probably."

Ruby Rose wove through the crowd like a red comet, cape still on because parties didn't count as "formal occasions." She was sixteen—almost seventeen, thank you very much-and tonight was proof night. No more baby sister. No more Yang's little shadow.

She spotted the table: a glorious shrine of forbidden adulthood.

Perfect.

With a quick burst of petals, Ruby zipped in, snatched a beer, and popped the cap before anyone blinked.

Victory tasted like… bitter, yeasty gym sock.

Ruby wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. Adults drink this for fun?"

But she was committed. Big girl mode: engaged.

She raised the bottle—

A blonde blur flashed.

Yang's hand plucked the beer away mid-tilt, not spilling a drop. She took a casual swig, wiped her mouth, and grinned down at her little sister.

Ruby's face scrunched into the ultimate pout slash glare. "Yaaaang!"

Yang slung an arm around her shoulders. "Nice try, Rubes. Still carded till twenty-one."

Ruby shoved out of the grip, cheeks burning hotter than the stolen lights. Anger surged through her, and hit her mouth before her brain could catch up.

"You can't just swing in and out of acting like my mom! You're not!"

The words hit harder than she meant. Yang's grin faltered-eyes widening like Ruby had slapped her. No anger, just... Hurt and sorrow.

Regret punched Ruby in the gut. The room felt too loud, too hot, too full of staring faces. She bolted—petals scattering as she blurred through the crowd and out to the balcony.

Cool night air hit her face. She reformed at the railing, gripping it tight, eyes stinging as she stared at the stars.

Stupid. So stupid.

"Crater Face? You okay?"

Ruby turned. Jaune stood in the doorway, beer in hand—his own, legal one—concern written all over his face.

She flushed, leaning harder on the railing. "Y-Yeah… No… I dunno."

Jaune joined her, setting a gentle hand on her shoulder. He sipped his drink, giving her space.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No," she muttered.

He nodded, leaning beside her in comfortable silence.

"That's okay."

The quiet stretched—city lights below, stars above. Ruby's anger ebbed into something heavier.

"Just… ugh," she groaned. "It's so frustrating. Yang was basically my mom most of my life. Then we get here and she either goes along with everything or makes decisions for me like I'm still ten!"

Jaune smiled softly. "I get it."

Ruby glanced up. "You do?"

"Yeah. How complicated it is. With parents."

Ruby frowned. "You haven't talked much about yours. They weren't… jerks, were they?"

Jaune sighed, staring at the horizon. "No. Not exactly. They love me. But they were Hunters—Mom a combat medic, Dad a paladin. And… they didn't want me to be one."

"What did they want?"

He snorted. "A doctor."

Ruby giggled despite herself. "Doctor Jaune?"

"Yeah." His smile turned wistful. "We fought a lot—me and Mom, mostly. Dad tried to keep peace, but he always sided with her. Treated me like I couldn't decide for myself or-or I was made of glass. So I took Crocea Mors, bought cheap armor, a ticket… and here I am."

Ruby's eyes softened. "So you feel guilty but… happy?"

"Yeah. Guilt's the worst part."

"Same," Ruby sighed, pouting at the sky. "I wanna be treated like an adult. I'm here two years early, leading a team, holding everything together—except when we're fighting, then they listen. I wish I had your team. They follow you, respect you—"

"It's a lot of work," Jaune said. "Nora's all my little sisters combined, with a grenade hammer. Ren and Pyrrha rely on me for direction. You're just in a different situation."

"Still… bet they'd take me seriously if I was older." Ruby huffed. "You treat me like an adult… mostly."

Jaune blinked. "Mostly?"

Ruby flushed crimson, covering her mouth. "I-uh-N-No, I didn't mean-!"

"What?" Jaune asked, worried. "Did I disrespect you? Tell me, Ruby-you're my best friend."

She grimaced, looking away. Stupid mouth.

"Do… do you think I'm pretty?" she managed, voice small.

Jaune stared.

"Like… like you thought Weiss was pretty?"

Silence.

Ruby's heart sank. She turned away. Still just the kid sister-

Jaune's hand gently turned her back. His face was bright red, but his eyes were steady.

"Yeah, Ruby," he murmured. "I do. I do think you're pretty. Very pretty."

Blood rushed to her cheeks. Her silver eyes darted everywhere but him.

"I… um… think you're pretty too." She squeaked, mortified. "I mean-handsome! That's pretty for boys!"

Jaune laughed-soft, warm. Ruby joined him, tension easing.

"So… why haven't you done anything about it?" she asked, braver now.

Jaune rubbed his neck. "First-you were younger." At her puffed up indignation, he continued quickly, "Second… Weiss was me trying to prove something. I had to get over myself. Third…" He met her eyes.

"You're my best friend. I couldn't imagine losing you if it ended badly."

Ruby bit her lip. "Well…"

She stepped closer, heart pounding.

"Maybe we don't have to worry about ending badly. Maybe… we just start?"

Jaune's breath caught.

The stars above seemed brighter.

And on the balcony, away from the party's noise, two best friends took the first, terrifying step toward something new.

- - -

@RedDragonEmpress Happy Birthday!

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Beacon, Vale

The "underground" party in the unused Beacon dorm had reached peak chaos-string lights twinkling like mischievous stars overhead, bass thumping hard enough to rattle the windows, bodies packed tight in a swirl of laughter, spilled drinks, and dancing that would've sent Ozpin into quiet despair. Upperclassmen had turned the place into a den of rebellion: hard booze flowing, beer bottles clinking, and that glowing punch bowl drawing crowds like moths to a very questionable flame.



Then the door exploded inward.



Not literally-though with the force behind it, it might as well have.



Glynda Goodwitch stood in the doorway like judgment incarnate-riding crop in hand, glasses glinting under the lights, green eyes narrowed to lethal slits.



The music scratched to a halt. Someone killed the lights. A collective "oh shit" rippled through the room.



"Detention," she said, voice cutting through the sudden silence like a whip crack. "All of you. Now."



Pandemonium.



Students bolted-petals, glyphs, shadows, hammers-scattering like roaches under a flashlight. Bottles clattered, cups spilled, furniture toppled in the mad dash for freedom.



Glynda's crop flicked-telekinetic waves corralling the slowest runners, pinning them gently but firmly against walls.



In the chaos, Jaune Arc-halfway through helping a tipsy Nora stand-stepped forward, hands raised.



"Professor! Wait-it was my idea! I planned the whole thing!"



Nora blinked at him from the floor. "Wha-? Jaune, you liar, it was my-"



He shot her a desperate look. Shut up, please.



Nora shut up, her eyes tearing up at her leader's bravery. She would sing songs of his sacrifice!



Glynda's eyes locked on him. "Mr. Arc."



Jaune swallowed. "Yeah. All me. Everyone else just… showed up. Punish me. Let them go."



The remaining students-frozen mid-escape-stared. Ruby mouthed "Jaune?!" from behind a couch.



Glynda surveyed the wreckage: spilled punch, overturned chairs, a suspicious puddle that might've been beer or worse.



Her crop lowered slightly.



"Very well. The rest of you-clean this up. Now. Mr. Arc… detention. My office. Every day for the next month. You'll assist me personally."



Jaune exhaled-relief for his friends, dread for himself. "Yes, ma'am."



The cleanup took hours. Glynda supervised with the efficiency of a general, students scrubbing under her watchful eye until the dorm gleamed (or at least didn't smell like booze and regret).



Jaune reported to her office the next afternoon-and every afternoon after.



At first, it was pure punishment: endless paperwork, grading stacks, filing reports. Glynda's office was a fortress of organization-files labeled, pens aligned, everything in its place.



Jaune, however, had a secret weapon.



His sister-in-law, Terra Cotta-Arc (Saphron's wife), was a tech wizard-former Atlas engineer turned CCTnet coder. She'd sent him a custom app: "Arc Family Admin Assistant"-a beast of a program that scanned, sorted, cross-referenced, and even predicted filing categories with scary accuracy.



Jaune plugged his scroll in on day three.



Glynda glanced over as a mountain of backlog vanished into digital order in minutes.



"…What is that?"



"Uh… family software? My sister-in-law made it. For farm records, mostly. But it works on anything."



Glynda's eyebrow arched. "Show me."



By the end of the week, half her paperwork was done. By week two, they were ahead.



Glynda-grudgingly-admitted it was efficient.



Conversations started small.



"You're surprisingly competent with administrative tools, Mr. Arc."



"Farm life. Lots of records-crops, livestock, taxes. Saph-my sister-married a computer genius."



Glynda's lips twitched. "I see."



They bonded over shared frustrations: bureaucracy, overly cryptic superiors, and the endless energy of students-Nora especially.



Jaune's earnestness wore down her walls. Glynda's dry wit made him laugh-really laugh.



She noticed his maturity-how he listened without interrupting, how he took criticism and improved.



He noticed her passion-how she cared fiercely for Beacon's students, even the troublemakers.



Weeks turned to months.



Detention became… routine. Comfortable.



Glynda found herself looking forward to the quiet hours with him.



Jaune caught himself smiling at her rare, genuine laughs.



But it stayed professional.



At least, that's what she told herself. All the way up to Vytal.



Which is when things began to change...

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Beacon, Vale

The unused dorm at Beacon had been hijacked into a full-blown underground rager-string lights pilfered from festival decorations twinkled overhead like mischievous fireflies, mismatched furniture formed makeshift dance floors, and the bass from the borrowed speakers thumped hard enough to make the windows vibrate. Upperclassmen had smuggled in the contraband: bottles of hard cider, cheap beer, and a glowing punch bowl that someone insisted was "totally safe, probably."

Bodies packed the space-dancing, laughing, grinding in ways that would've sent Professor Goodwitch into a meltdown.

Weiss Schnee stood near the edge of the chaos, a half-empty cup of that suspiciously glowing punch in hand. She hadn't meant to drink this much. One cup to loosen up. Two to drown the irritation. Three because… well, Neptune Vasilias was across the room, flirting shamelessly with a cluster of giggling third-years from Haven, one arm slung around a girl's waist like he owned the place.

Weiss's grip tightened on her cup. She'd dumped him-cleanly, decisively, with all the icy finality a Schnee could muster. He didn't deserve her time.
But watching him laugh, watching him not even glance her way-like she'd never mattered-hurt more than she'd admit.

Stupid. Pathetic.

She drained the cup, set it down harder than necessary, and slipped out the side door before anyone noticed the heiress fleeing her own humiliation.

The balcony air was cool, crisp-stars sharp overhead, the distant thump of music muffled. Weiss leaned on the railing, exhaling shakily, the buzz making her head light and her pride sting.

Footsteps approached.

She didn't turn. "If you're here to drag me back in, save it."

"Uh… no?" Jaune's voice was hesitant, surprised. "I was just getting some air. Too many people in there."

Weiss glanced over. Jaune stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets, looking awkwardly handsome in a simple button-up-hair tousled, cheeks flushed from the heat inside.

She huffed, turning back to the stars. "Fine. Stay if you want."

He joined her at the railing, leaving a polite distance. Silence stretched-comfortable, surprisingly.

Then the words tumbled out before she could stop them.

"He's such an idiot," she muttered. "Flirting with half the academy like I never existed. I ended it. I know I did the right thing. But it still… stings."

Jaune nodded slowly. "Neptune's… yeah. He's Neptune."

Weiss laughed-short, bitter. "Yang told me what you did. Made him dance with me at the ball. Why?"

Jaune rubbed his neck, cheeks pink. "I… just wanted you to be happy. You looked miserable, and he was being a jerk. Figured if he danced with you, at least you'd get one good moment out of it."

Weiss stared at him. Really stared.

All those months-flowers, terrible poetry, awkward serenades. She'd dismissed them as childish, desperate, beneath her.

But they'd been genuine.

Every clumsy gesture, every earnest word-he'd meant them. No games. No ulterior motives. Just… Jaune, wanting her to smile.

Like now.

Her chest tightened.

The buzz made her bold.

"Walk with me?" she asked quietly. "Under the moonlight?"

Jaune's eyes widened. Then he smiled-soft, real.

"Yeah. I'd like that."

A week later, Vale's finest café-reserved private booth, white roses on the table, soft string music in the background.

Their first real date.

Weiss arrived in a simple white dress-elegant but not too ostentatious. Jaune arrived in a jacket that actually fit, hair combed (mostly).

They talked-really talked. About family pressures, dreams, fears. Laughed over shared embarrassments. Held hands across the table when the conversation turned quiet.

No bravado. No ice.

Just them.

And under the café's soft lights, Weiss Schnee realized something simple and terrifying.

She was happy.

With Jaune Arc.

Of all people.

Oh no...

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Beacon, Vale

The unused dorm at Beacon had been hijacked into a full-blown underground party—string lights pilfered from festival decorations twinkled overhead like mischievous fireflies, mismatched furniture helped to form makeshift dance floors, and the bass from the borrowed speakers thumped hard enough to make the windows vibrate. Upperclassmen had smuggled in the contraband: bottles of hard cider, cheap beer, and a punch bowl glowing faintly blue that someone insisted was "totally safe, probably."

Probably.

Bodies packed the space—dancing, laughing, grinding in ways that would've sent Professor Goodwitch into a conniption. If she wasn't away at the moment.

Pyrrha Nikos—usually the picture of poised elegance—stood near the edge of the chaos, a cup of that suspiciously glowing punch in hand. She'd had one. Then two. Then… a few more. Liquid courage, she'd told herself. Just enough to loosen the knot in her chest that tightened every time Jaune Arc smiled at someone else.

Tonight, she'd decided, was the night.

No more watching from the sidelines. No more "he'll notice eventually" excuses. No more pretending her heart didn't race every time he smiled at her.

She spotted him across the room—talking to Ren, looking awkwardly handsome in a simple button-up, hair tousled from the heat. Her legs moved before her brain caught up.

Jaune noticed her approach mid-sentence. "Pyrrha! Hey, you okay? You look a little—"

She didn't let him finish.

Pyrrha stepped in close—too close—green eyes bright with alcohol and something fiercer. One hand braced on his chest, the other sliding up to his shoulder.

"Jaune," she said, voice low and earnest, "I've wanted to do this for so long."

Then she kissed him.

Not a gentle, tentative first kiss. A full, enthusiastic, "I've been pining for months" kiss—passionate, a little sloppy from the punch, and intense enough to make Jaune's eyes go wide as saucers.

The room didn't exactly stop, but a few nearby heads turned. Nora's whoop carried over the music.

Jaune's brain short-circuited. Pyrrha Nikos—the Invincible Girl, his partner, his friend—was kissing him like the world was ending.

He pulled back gently, hands on her shoulders, face flaming. "P-Pyrrha! Whoa—air—let's get some air—"

He guided her out to the balcony before she could dive in for round two, the cool night breeze hitting them like a splash of water.

Pyrrha swayed slightly, blinking as the fresh air hit. Then her face crumpled.

"Oh no," she whispered, sinking to sit on the balcony floor, back against the railing. "I ruined it. I'm sorry—I just—I love you, Jaune. I've loved you for so long and I never knew how to say it and now I've scared you and—"

Jaune dropped to his knees beside her, heart pounding. "Pyrrha—hey, hey, breathe. You didn't ruin anything."

She looked up, eyes glistening. "I did. I was too forward. Too much. You're scared of me now."

He laughed—soft, incredulous. "Scared? Pyrrha, I'm terrified because I thought you were way out of my league. Like… galaxies out of my league."

She blinked. "What?"

Jaune rubbed his neck, cheeks burning. "I care about you. A lot. More than a lot. But I always figured you were… above me. Too good. I didn't want to mess up what we have by being an idiot. And-And let's face it. I'm a massive idiot."

Pyrrha stared. Then laughed—wet, relieved. "You're not an idiot. You're wonderful. And I'm not above you. I'm right here. All... All you have to do is... Ask."

Jaune smiled—small, hopeful. "Then… maybe we take it slow? Both of us are kind of new to this."

Pyrrha's face lit up—radiant, even through the tears and buzz. "Yes. Slow. I'd like that."

She leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder.

Then her eyes fluttered shut.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.

A soft snore answered.

She'd passed out—peaceful, smiling, red hair spilling over his arm.

Jaune sighed fondly, scooping her up bridal-style without hesitation. She was heavier than she looked—all muscle—but he managed.

He carried her through the quiet halls, back to her dorm, tucking her in with careful gentleness.

As he pulled the blanket up, Pyrrha murmured in her sleep—content, happy.

Jaune brushed a strand of hair from her face, smiling.

"Slow it is," he whispered.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

No balcony in this one...

Beacon, Vale

- - -

The RWBY dorm room was a bit tense. Blake sat at the small vanity, carefully applying a touch of eyeliner—nothing dramatic, just enough to sharpen the amber of her eyes. Yang leaned against the bunk frame, arms crossed, a knowing grin plastered across her face.

"Come off it, Blake," Yang drawled. "This is your third 'outing' with Jaune. You're dating. Admit it."

Blake didn't look up from the mirror. "You've been on plenty of outings with the same guy. At least according to Ruby."

Yang's cheeks flashed pink. "Yeah, but come on—I didn't put on makeup for them. Not that much."

Weiss, perched on her own bed with a textbook balanced on her knees, sniffed. "This is all just a ploy so he can get to me, you know that, right?"

Ruby rolled her eyes from her spot on the floor, surrounded by scattered weapon schematics. "Weiss, you've been saying that since forever."

Blake capped the eyeliner and met Weiss's gaze in the mirror. "Actually, Weiss, you'll be happy to know you only came up in passing."

Weiss sputtered. "What?! Not… that I care!"

Blake's lips curved into a faint, satisfied smirk. "Besides, I've never been bowling. He offered to take me."

Yang snorted. "Pfft. Bowling? Lame."

Ruby's head snapped up. "I'd love to go bowling!"

Weiss rubbed the small of her back with a wince, remembering. "Actually, it can be quite a challenge to get the ball where you want on the second pass. Those lanes are…" She grimaced. "Slippery."

"Yes, we saw the video," Ruby said. Weiss' eyes widened.

"WHAT?! HOW?"

Yang and Ruby dissolved into laughter. Weiss's eyes narrowed.

"Whitley is behind this," she muttered. "I just know it."

Ruby grinned. "Bingo!"

Blake arched a brow, shifting the subject like a master fencer. "But to your original question, Yang—you were quite familiar with that police officer before Beacon, right?"

Ruby's eyes widened. "Eh-heh… I wouldn't call those encounters with Officer Lestrad dates, exactly."

Weiss sighed. "Why am I not surprised."

Yang flushed darker. "They weren't dates!"

Ruby chirped, "She got arrested!"

"RUBY!"

Blake tilted her head, voice mild. "And yet, using your logic…?"

Yang threw her hands up. "Pfft. Please. You are in the deepest pit of denial."

A knock sounded at the door.

Blake rolled her eyes, comparing two lipsticks. "If that's Jaune, tell him I'll be out in a minute."

Weiss eyed the lipsticks suspiciously. "You know, you aren't helping your case about this not being a date."

Blake paused, then tucked both tubes away. "… I'll use both."

Ruby scrambled to her feet. "Blake! Come on! So your last boyfriend was… um…"

Weiss supplied dryly, "A bloodthirsty maniac?"

Blake sighed. "Sun was—oh. Right. Him."

Ruby waved her hands. "WEISS! This is serious!"

"Is there a better description?" Weiss asked.

Yang glared. "You could try using tact, like you keep spouting."

Blake shrugged. "A blood-lusting sociopath?"

Weiss gestured triumphantly. "See?"

Ruby pressed on. "You don't have to deny that you're dating again!"

Blake gave her a long, flat look. "Ruby, if there was anything to deny, I would do it by not being seen."

Weiss blinked. "…That is surprisingly self-aware."

Yang wiped away a mock tear. "I am so proud."

Ruby gaped. "You're aware of the problem but you keep doing it?!"

Weiss smirked. "Says the cookie addict."

"THAT'S NOT THE SAME!"

Another knock—gentler this time. Jaune's voice came through the door. "Hey, Blake! Ready?"

Blake's ears perked. She crossed the room with an uncharacteristic bounce, opened the door, and slipped her arm through Jaune's without hesitation. They walked off down the hall together.

Yang stared after them. "…They're so dating."

Weiss scoffed loudly. "HA! Please! H-he'll botch it somehow! He always does! This is just his fiendish plot to get closer to me! You'll see! YOU'LL ALL SEE!"

Ruby bit her lip. "…Is it bad to admit that I'm dating Whitley?"

Weiss whirled. "WHAT?!"

In the next dorm over, Nora held out an empty palm. Ren sighed and placed a small stack of lien in it.

Out in the hall, Jaune glanced sideways at Blake. "What was that about?"

Blake waved a hand. "Nothing. They're being silly."

- - -

The bowling alley smelled of polished wood, fried food, and faint nostalgia. Jaune paid for lane and shoe rental while Blake eyed the colorful, slippery-looking shoes with suspicion.

"So why do we need to rent shoes?" she asked.

"So we don't scuff the alleys," Jaune explained. "Or the floor."

Blake examined the soles—smooth leather, no grip whatsoever. Huh. She changed slowly, almost lingering, as though unaware how gracefully her feet moved. Which was good, because this definitely wasn't a date.

Jaune cleared his throat. "Um… right. Let me show you. Let's put our initials in."

He typed: J O N

Blake took the console. B U K K E

She scowled. "…Stupid keyboard."

Backspace. B L A A

"Mother—!"

Backspace. B D S M

"THANK you."

Jaune laughed warmly. "Okay… now watch me."

He stepped up, swung smoothly—and the pins exploded in a perfect strike.

Blake applauded demurely. "Good job, Jaune. My turn."

Her first ball rolled straight into the gutter.

She stared. "…What?"

Jaune echoed, "What?"

Second ball—aggressive, determined—clipped the farthest right pin and kept going.

"URRGH!"

She flopped onto the bench as Jaune took his turns. Strike. Strike.

He glanced over, sheepish. "Blake… mind some help?"

"No! I don't need any help!"

She charged again, stopped too late, stepped onto the oiled lane—and her feet flew out from under her. She landed hard on her backside. "OW!"

The ball rolled mournfully into the gutter.

Jaune bit his lip, clearly fighting laughter, and offered a hand. She took it, slipping and sliding as he pulled her back to safety.

"Blake… it's okay."

She wasn't listening, yanking her next ball from the return. She reared back like a baseball pitcher.

"Woah—!" Jaune lunged, wrapping his arms around her from behind to stop the throw. "Blake. It's okay. Just chill out…"

Her ears flattened. Heat flooded her face. She gently set the ball down. "…Sorry. How am I supposed to throw this thing?"

"I'll teach you," he said softly. "You can take my next turn. We'll do it together, okay?"

She pouted. "Fine."

He retrieved his ball and handed it to her. "Don't hold it too firmly—just enough. You don't want it to wriggle, but you don't want to strain anything… there."

He stayed close behind her, arms around hers, guiding her grip.

"Okay… hold it up. Like this."

Blake felt oddly warm. "Okay…"

"Step like this, pull back… bend down while you roll and—!"

The ball rolled—veered slightly—but clipped three pins cleanly.

"Finally!" Blake spun and hugged him without thinking.

Jaune's arms came around her instantly, tight and happy. "Heh… wanna keep going?"

"Yes! I want to figure this out!"

- - -

Thirty minutes later the scoreboard read:

J O N — 300

B B D N — 17

Blake stared at it, eyes watery. "How are you so good at this?"

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, clearly enjoying the victory. "Lots of practice."

Her competitive streak bristled—then she remembered how few wins Jaune actually had at Beacon. Letting him have this one felt… fair. As long as he didn't push it.

"Up for another game?"

She scowled. He winced. "I'm sorry… I am kind of smug. I shouldn't be. It's just kind of funny."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well… you got pinned to a tree your first day. You deserve to feel smug."

He grinned. "Also, you're really cute when you're pouting."

Her ears flattened again. She looked away, blush rising. "Shut up."

"What? You are." A beat. "And yeah, another game!"

They bowled. They devoured greasy snacks. They laughed—more than Blake had in months.

Eventually they stepped out into the cool night air.

"We need to do this again," Blake said quietly.

Jaune smiled. "I can't believe Yang called this lame. She actually bowled a few times," he added. "She just likes to pretend her nerd days never happened. According to Ruby, anyway."

Blake hummed, filing that away for later blackmail and teasing. "Uh-huh…"

Jaune gently steered them toward a small nearby park, lamplight pooling gold on the path.

"I suppose I can understand wanting to rebuild your image when you make it to a new place," Blake murmured.

"Yeah…" Jaune's voice grew quieter. "Uh… Blake? I… I have some important stuff to tell you."

Dread coiled in her stomach. "…Yes?"

"It's a little… I just want to come clean, okay? Be honest."

She swallowed. "Of course. I don't exactly have room to judge."

He pulled out his Scroll, and opened a photo: a younger Jaune, grinning in a photobooth beside a pretty blonde cat Faunus girl with long, sleek hair.

"This is my ex-girlfriend, Katy Sith."

Blake's heart sank. She's lovely. The cold thought followed: Lost love. Impossible standard. Ghost. I'm his Lenore...

Why does that hurt so much?

"We were childhood friends," Jaune said softly. "Dated for a while. Broke up-it was ugly. She had this whole plan: I'd be a doctor, she'd be my wife. Didn't support my dream. Said she wouldn't wait when I failed and came crawling back." He shrugged, a little sad. "She apologized later, but still… couldn't wait."

Blake exhaled, relief surprising her. "Oh…"

Jaune tucked the Scroll away. "Which leads to the next thing. I like you, Blake. I really like you—like, want-you-to-be-my-girlfriend like you. But you wouldn't be a replacement for her. I needed you to know that. Because I… I care about you. That way."

The world narrowed to his earnest blue eyes.

"…Why?" she whispered.

"Why what?"

"Why me?" Her voice cracked. "You know enough. You should know that's a terrible choice."

Jaune tilted his head. "Why is it terrible?"

"I ran away at twelve to join a terrorist organization, for starters."

"And you left to make things right."

"Yeah—after I'd killed people. Awful people, but still—"

"Yes," he said firmly. "Even after that."

He took a slow breath. "My dad's militia captain back home. Quiet town, but we've had bandits. Dad's killed people. I was taught to guard my sisters with a shotgun if anyone came. Nobody ever did… but I knew what I'd have to do. So I get it. Innocent people? That'd be different. But you didn't."

She shook her head, frantic. "I don't stick around, Jaune. I'll run if it keeps people I care about safe from my past—"

"Then I'll follow you."

"But—why?!"

"Because I care about you."

She stared ahead, stunned, expression lost.

"My parents founded the White Fang," she whispered. "People will blame me for-for what they've become."

"So? It's not true, is it?"

"Well—no! But—they rule Menagerie now. You'd be dating an actual princess. Not the corporate nepo-baby kind. You ready for that attention?"

Jaune didn't flinch. The realization crashed over her like cool water.

By the Animal Gods' horns… we're dating.

"I know…" he said quietly. "I'm scared too. Really scared. But Dad always said courage isn't being fearless. It's conquering fear. Because some things are more important. Like… love."

The word hung warm between them.

Blake's mind spun through every buried romantic dream—and the teasing from earlier that night.

"Jaune, we…"

She flushed, and slowly nodded.

"... Okay, fine. We're dating." She met his eyes. "But no one must ever know."

He blinked. "What—why?"

"Because Yang will never let me hear the end of it."

He laughed softly, took both her hands, and grinned—that earnest, dorky grin that always undid her.

Then he leaned in.

She met him halfway—shy, chaste at first. Just lips under lamplight.

Then Jaune, surprisingly, deepened it—gentle pressure, asking. She parted her lips, let him in.

His arms tightened around her. She melted into the embrace, a low, involuntary purr starting in her throat.

- - -

Later, back at the dorms, they paused outside the doors.

"Thanks again, Jaune," Blake said softly. "I had a really nice time. We need to do that again."

The rest of RWBY chose that moment to appear, grinning like cats with cream.

Jaune glanced at them, then back. "…Yes. We should."

He leaned in to kiss her.

Blake gave him a quick, chaste peck on the cheek. "See you in the morning, Jaune." She slipped inside before her nerve broke.

Jaune's quiet "Good night, Blake" followed her in.

She ignored the smirks—especially Yang's. She did see Weiss' scowl... And couldn't resist.

"Oh, and Weiss?" she added lightly. "You never came up once."

Weiss growled.

Blake continued, casual. "He even showed off a picture of his ex. Definitely not something you do on a date."

Yang leaned forward. "Oh? And what did his ex look like?"

"Blonde. Faunus. Big… assets." Blake kept her tone perfectly innocent. "Well—not as big as yours, but trust me, Weiss, you aren't his type."

Weiss sputtered. "What?!"

"What?" Blake echoed. "I thought you wanted him to leave you alone. Clearly just a rebound. Now you're free. You should be thrilled."

"You—I—!" Weiss flung her hands up. "I DON'T CARE!"

Blake hid a tiny, satisfied smile and headed for her bunk.

- - -

 

[FinalFormer]

Cross-Posted From The Spacebattles Thread

Glimpss Into Another Timeline: Emerald: The Party

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Beacon, Vale.

The unused dorm at Beacon had been hijacked into a full-blown underground rager-string lights pilfered from festival decorations twinkled overhead like mischievous fireflies, mismatched furniture formed makeshift dance floors, and the bass from the borrowed speakers thumped hard enough to make the windows vibrate. Upperclassmen had smuggled in the contraband: bottles of hard cider, cheap beer, and a glowing punch bowl that someone insisted was "totally safe, probably".

Their mission was supposed to be a simple one: Blend in with the crowd and use everyone's lowered inhibitions to gain information.

But Emerald Sustrai had a different mission.

She had 5 cups of the mystery punch to give her liquid courage. Courage she needed to tell Cinder how she felt. To confess her love for her mistress.

"Cinder," She said, her words slightly slurred. "I, I need to talk to you..."

"Not now, Emerald. I need to focus on the... Are you drunk?" Cinder questioned her inebriated subordinate.

Mercury, who had been chatting with the skater girl from Haven, turned his head towards them. This oughta be good.

"Cinder," Emerald steeled her nerves. This was it. Now or never. "I love you. I owe you so much. And... and I want us to be together!"

Her face was flushed. Some people were staring at them but she didn't care. Cinder stared at her blankly.

"Let's talk about this, Emerald." She said.

"No," Emerald stopped her. She knew what Cinder was trying to do. She's done this before. Whenever she hinted at having feelings or confessing her feelings, Cinder would always deflect or make some lame excuse. Just what was she so afraid of! "I need to now if you feel the same way."

"Ok. I understand that. So why don't we just wait until we get back to discuss this further, Emerald." Cinder reasoned. There were even more people staring at them. That bimbo from team RWBY and the cow sniper from that team from Vacuo were the notable spectators.

"I need to know now!" Emerald shouted. Her drubken frustration finally reached its limits. "I want us to finally be honest with each other about our--"

"'Us'?, Cinder interrupts. Her tone now completely cold. "There is no 'Us', Emerald. There has never been an 'Us'. There will neve be an 'Us'."

What? Why? Why would Cinder say that?

"You need to get this little fantasy about us being together out of your head." Cinder said with finality. The words burrowed into Emerald's ear.

Emerald could hear her heart shattering like glass. Tears began to fall from her eyes. She ran out of the building. She needed to get away from the crowd. Away from Cinder. She ended up against the wall of the greenhouse just outside of the main school building.

She held her knees close to her chest as she cried. She cried so much she didn't know how long she had been sat there.

Emerald could hear footsteps approaching her. It must be Mercury coming to look for her and smugly tell her about how she shouldn't have gotten so attached to Cinder or something. A pair of sneakers appeared in her peripheral sight. Emerald looked up to be met with the person least expected.

"Um, hey," Jaune Arc let his presence be known, albeit in his awkward way. "I.. heard what Cinder said. I'm sorry."

"I don't need your pity." Emerald spat. She knew he had a problem with taking 'no' for an answer, so she hoped her attitude would be enough to get him to fuck off.

"You're right. You don't," Jaune then sat down next to her. Was he seriously this dense!? "But you do need a friend."

"We're not friends. You don't know me." Emerald spat once again. Maybe this time he'll go away.

"Well, my Mom always told me that strangers are friends you haven't met yet," Jaune smiled. He extended his hand to her. "I'm Jaune."

Emerald stared at him, completely bewildered by Jaune. He really wasn't going to leave her alone, was he?

"Emerald." She said, quietly.

Jaune sat with her until the sun rose, trying the best he could to make Emerald not focus on Cinder's harmful words. After all, his Dad did say it was a man's job to comfort a crying woman.

As for Emerald, she could feel her shatteresd heart piece slowly itself together, shard by shard.

----------------------------------------

I couldn't think of a title for this side story. Hope you guys enjoy!