[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..."