RWBY: Inverted World

I=====Chapter 1: Something's not Right Here=====I

The wind blew past Ruby's face as she pushed her semblance to its limits, aided by Weiss's glyphs beneath her feet. Even as Beacon Academy fell apart around them, she would not be distracted. Pyrrha was up there, at the top of Beacon Tower, alone, fighting whoever caused all of this—the Grimm, the White Fang… Penny.

She would stop them, whoever it was.

Reaching the top of the tower, Ruby jumped up and over the edge of the platform that was what remained of Ozpin's office.

Gravity took hold, and Ruby, unfurling Crescent Rose, landed on her knee, only taking half a second to recover before taking in the situation. And it wasn't good.

Pyrrha, eyes closed, on her knees, having already accepted her fate. She was battered and beaten, a black arrow stuck through her heel. And someone from the tournament… Cinder? Yeah… Cinder Fall. She held a black bow, but the arrow was already in the air when Ruby saw it.

The arrow flew hit home before Ruby could react. Pyrrha gasped as the arrowhead struck. It would've been difficult for Cinder to miss at this distance.

Cinder's free hand caressed Pyrrha's chin, and a quick burst of power was all it took for the champion to be flash-cremated. Ruby was in shock.

"No…" she whispered as Pyrrha's ashes scattered, leaving naught but a bronze circlet. "No!" Ruby repeated.

Cinder finally noticed the newcomer, and formed a new arrow, but kept the bow pointed down. "I defeated Pyrrha Nikos, what chance do you think—"

"PYRRHAAAAAA!" Ruby cried out, her eyes suddenly shining brightly.

Cinder instantly dropped her bow and let loose the power of the maiden, a torrent of fire blasting towards Ruby even as the power of the silver eyes tore into the nearby dragon and clashed against the Cinder's magic.

Weiss, still at the foot of the tower, watched in amazement as a blinding white-and-orange light spilled out of the top of Beacon Tower, freezing—literally—nearby Grimm. The light quickly became so blinding she was forced to look away, before her vision faded to black.

By the Beacon air docks, Sun shaded his eyes as a light, bright enough to substitute the sun, shone from Beacon tower. "What the hell are they doing over there?" He muttered. Daring to look again once the light faded. And what he saw surprised him.

The Grimm dragon, which has been terrorizing Beacon, and making everyone's job harder, was completely frozen against the tower. "Woah, what?"

"Hey, kid! Get in!" Someone yelled from behind him. Turning, Sun realized that there was an airbus loading up remaining hunters and huntresses, as any civilians were already gone. They were the last group. He looked down, only to find that Blake and Yang were no longer on the ground beside him, though their blood still lay splattered on the concrete.

'They must've picked them up already," Sun thought. Seeing no other explanation, Sun made his way into the transport, ready to head out. However, in the space of the passenger bay, he saw that Blake and Yang were not there. Quickly looking out the window, He caught a glimpse of the interior of the other transport sent to pick them up, but then they were in the air. Again, no Blake or Yang.

'S***!' He rushed the cockpit of the airbus, shouting, "Wait! We have to go back!"

I===I

Beep!…Beep!…Beep!

Yang's eyes opened. She was in a hospital room, if the fluorescent lights lights lining the ceiling, the white walls, and numerous medical machines in the room were anything to go by. She tried to prop herself, but was confused as to why her right arm was not responding. What happened? She just remembered charging Adam in the dining hall and then…nothing. So she looked at her arm.

Or what remained of it.

Yang's breath hitched as she saw the bandages wrapped around the stump of her arm, cut off at the elbow. For a minute, she was perfectly still, eyes on the stump at her right elbow, although the heart-rate monitor next to her bed betrayed her true panic. Even as the beeping of the machine increased, Yang's thoughts ran wild through her head. 'No… this can't be… no no no nonononono!'

She tried to grab her right stump with her other hand, only for said hand to be impeded by something. Her arm was strapped to the table. For that matter, so were her legs. Confusion cut through the panic over her lost arm. Why was she strapped down? The tournament? Maybe people were still afraid of her because of that. That made sense. Yang didn't like it, but it made sense. One mystery solved, Yang turned her attention back to her missing arm. What… what happened in that dining hall?! This… this couldn't happen, it just couldn't! She knew it couldn't, she could feel her arm!… this was just a bad dream… yes! That was it! It was all a dream, it would be over soon, she would wake up in the dorm room at Beacon, get ready for a day of tournament fighting…

Except… she'd fallen unconscious during the dining hall sometime, and unless she was having a bad dream within a bad dream…

Her heart rate—having slowed in her confusion over her bondage—began to rise once again.

The door clicked, signaling someone coming in. Her bed was slightly raised, thank goodness, so she was able to see the nurse coming into her room… flanked by two likely-huntsmen, each of who gripped the hilts of their weapons tightly. Yang raised an eyebrow. "What… what happened?" She asked. The nurse began looking over the machines' readings.

"We were hoping you could tell us, Ms. Xiao Long," she said. "You were lucky that Team CEAM found you. Despite your record, the hospital will treat anyone in immediate need of assistance."

"My… my arm…"

"I'm sorry, but when you were found you were already bleeding out; there was no arm."

Yang's breath became shorter, and the heart rate monitor began beeping insistently. The nurse leapt into action right away. "She's going into shock!…" But Yang didn't hear anything after.

"Get away from her!"

"Please… no…"

*Shik*

[*]

I===I

Weiss sat up in a hospital bed. She tried to remember what he happened to get her here. She was fighting some Grimm—just a couple beowolves—when there had been some bright light spilling from the tower and encasing all nearby Grimm in ice. And then… nothing. Just darkness.

Whatever happened had simply knocked her out, or otherwise this was a very… disappointing afterlife. At least she wasn't encased in ice like the beowolves she'd been fighting.

"What did you do this time, you dolt…" Weiss muttered.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door swung open.

"Weiss!" Weiss looked up to see Winter rushing to her side, followed by someone she didn't recognize. But she instead decided to focus on her sister. "Winter! What happened? There was a bright light and then—"

"We don't know," Winter replied. "Fortunately, team CEAM found you unconscious on Beacon Academy grounds."

Weiss hadn't heard of a team 'Cream,' but merely assumed they were some visiting team she simply had overlooked.

"What happened to you? When you disappeared, Father was worried sick!" Winter continued.

'Disappeared?' Weiss wondered.

"Still, I should let him talk to you himself." Winter pulled out her scroll.

"Wait! Uh, no, that won't be necessary," Weiss replied hurridly. But it was too late, the call was placed.

"It's Weiss. She's awake…yes she's here…of course."

Winter handed Weiss the scroll, and she hesitated a moment before bringing the scroll up to her ear. "Uh… hello?"

"Weiss? Oh, thank Oum you're safe!"

…This was her father?

"Um… yes, yes I am," Weiss said after a moment, now very confused.

She expected something more along the lines of 'Weiss. It seems you made it out of Beacon. How could you fail the Schnee name blah blah blah.'

Was she missing something?

"What happened to you?" he asked. "After you cut all ties with me and disappeared, I feared the worst… then you show up at Beacon Academy, unconscious and surrounded by known criminals… I'm just glad you're ok."

Weiss was dumbfounded. Her father was strict, egotistical, unforgiving… yet these words were coming out of his mouth? A quick check revealed that, indeed, she was talking to Jacques Schnee. Was a near-death situation really all it took to get him out of his armor?

Doubtful, given that he'd given her no visible reaction when she defeated the geist in the suit of armor.

"…Are you still there?"

Weiss snapped out of her thoughts. "Um, yes, I'm here. My apologies."

"There's no need to be so formal," Jacques said, "We're family."

…Was it possible to hallucinate with your ears?

"Um, right, of course."

He sighed on the other end of the line. "I'll be arriving in Vale for the tournament, we'll talk then."

"Wait, the tournament? But it—"

"Is only a couple months away, I know. But we will be talking. Just… please, don't run away again."

The call ended.

'The tournament?'

I===I

"Tell me, how do you feel?"

"Uh, I sorta… hurt all over."

The doctor wrote that down.

"And what is the last thing you remember?"

"Uh… I ran up the side of the tower and—Pyrrha! Is she ok?"

"I'm sorry, who?"

That caught Ruby off-guard. "Eh… what?"

"Pyrrha? Who is she?"

Ruby blinked, not quite sure he seriously didn't know. Then she remembered Jaune, who had basically lived under a rock. Or maybe this doctor just wasn't big on fighting tournaments. "Pyrrha Nikos? …Uh, tall-ish, red hair, bronze armor, spear and shield?"

The doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry, but nobody of that description was found with you."

Ruby again tried to remember what had happened just before she blacked out. "I… I got up to the tower, and then that woman… Cinder, she… she… shot Pyrrha…"

Hunching over in the bed (which she was cuffed too, though she didn't know why), Ruby began to cry.

The doctor frowned but jotted down her response, before saying, "I'm sorry for your loss… but did you say she was shot by 'Cinder'? As in, Cinder Fall?"

Ruby nodded mutely.

The doctor's frown deepened. "I see. And which tower was this?"

"B-Beacon Tower…"

After a moment, the doctor spoke again. "Ms. Rose, I'm afraid there must have been some mistake in identity. You were found on Beacon grounds, unconscious with several of your… associates… severely wounded. Had Ms. Fall and her team not found you, they would likely have died."

"I… what? But… they… she destroyed Beacon! She killed Penny, and Pyrrha, and let Grimm into the city!"

The doctor stood up. "Ms Rose, we are in Beacon Academy." He pulled curtains on one wall of the room, revealing—"Beacon?"

Beacon Academy stood in its full glory, and rather Grimm-free. Granted, she couldn't see all of Beacon—the infirmary did not have the best view—but Beacon Tower, completely intact, seemed to have a conspicuous lack of Grimm Dragon.

Ruby's mouth gaped. "I-But-t-the dragon–what?"

"It is possible you may have a form of Transient Global Amnesia. The events you just described never happened. Cinder Fall is a top-performing student here at Beacon."

"But… I…" Ruby could only stare at the Grimm-Free school, utterly baffled as to… how.

"I… where's Ozpin?"

"…Who?" Ok, the doctor had to be screwing with her.

"Uh… The headmaster?"

"We don't have a headmaster named Ozpin here, but I can bring the headmistress." The doctor moved to the door. "I will return shortly."

Ruby sat in the empty room for a long while, left with only her thoughts feelings of the past… Oum, the Fall took half an hour at most!… Except… it didn't happen? Ruby wasn't sure if that had all been a bad dream, or if some weird, crazy magic or whatever happened but… it seemed that Beacon still stood proudly.

Though that didn't answer why she was cuffed to the bed…

After what felt like hours, the door creaked open, and someone—not the doctor—came in.

The woman seemed to glide into the room, her black attire contrasting sharply with her sheet-white skin tone and hair. The red veins that decorated her face seemed to suggest Grimm, but oddly enough, Ruby didn't find the comparison unnerving. "Uh… who are you?" Ruby ventured to ask.

"My name is Salem, Headmistress at Beacon Academy," Salem told her. "Now, can you tell me exactly what happened during the 'Fall of Beacon?'"

Ruby nodded, starting from the Singles round of the Vytal Tournament.

"And where did you hear the name 'Ozpin'?"

"Uh, he's headmaster at Beacon?"

"I doubt the King of the Grimm would fit the requirements to become headmaster," Salem stated simply. At Ruby's dumbfounded look, she asked, "Do you know who you are, Ms. Rose?"

Ruby nodded. "Ruby Rose, student at Beacon Academy, leader of Team RWBY, at your service!" She sat up straight and tried to salute, only for her right hand to be caught by the handcuffs.

Salem nodded, opening her scroll. After a minute, she presented the screen to Ruby. "Are you so sure of that?"

It was opened to the news application, and the headlines read; "Attempted Schnee Cargo Robbery thwarted by Beacon Students! Ruby Rose still at large!"

Ruby looked at the text and blinked. "Uh…'Ruby at Large?' I didn't do that. I mean, yeah, I stopped Roman from stealing all the dust, but—"

"Ruby Rose," Salem interrupted, "I'm sorry to say that Roman Torchwick stopped you from stealing the Dust."

Salem placed her scroll back into a pocket in her robe. "You mentioned Ozpin, did you not?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"And you claimed he was headmaster here at Beacon Academy?"

"Yeeeaaah?" Ruby was so far beyond confused.

"As I may have mentioned, Ozpin is the King of the Grimm on Remnant. I am the headmistress here."

"I… uh… what?!" Ruby floundered. "Whe-where's Professor Goodwitch?!"

"There is no Professor Goodwitch."

"Prof Port? Oobleck? Peach?!"

"I am afraid they are not among the faculty here in Beacon Academy."

What… what was happening?!

Taking note of Ruby's silence, Salem moved to the door. "If that is all, then I'll be seeing you later."

Ruby just nodded mutely.

Salem left, closing the door behind her.

Ruby's mind ran through dozens of possibilities as to how this could be happening, each more ridiculous than the last.

Ruby sat on the bed for what felt like hours, trying to remember exactly what had happened. She just remembered… oh god, Pyrrha… and then a white light that filled her vision… what happened up in the tower? Maybe Weiss—

Ruby jolted upright. How could she forget? Her team! Were they here somewhere too? The clinking of the handcuff attached to her wrist reminded her that she was stuck here. So… putting aside the question of 'why,' how was she going to get out?

A quick glance around the hospital room revealed nothing much that she could use to escape. The small table next to her bed didn't have so much as a pen. Ruby frowned. Maybe she could use her aura to shield her wrist then break the cuffs… she activated her aura and was about to yank with all her strength, but the the cuffs delivered a small shock that disrupted her concentration. Ruby yelped, shaking out her wrist. Aura-inhibiting cuffs.[**] Electricity variant…

There was no nearby water to short-circuit it. Come on, didn't the captors always leave something the heroes could use to escape? That's how it worked in the movies at least…

Ruby shook her head. This was the time to escape and find out what was going on, not ask what Spruce Willis would do. She was a huntress—in training, but still—and she would get out and find her team!

Glancing around the room, she looked for anything she could use to get out of the cuffs.

Actually, now that she looked at it, her room was very barebones. Not great for an escape plan.

Ruby tugged ineffectually on the cuffs, before a knocking sound came from her right. She looked towards the window, and saw Blake, with the team's weapons slung on her back, motioning for Ruby to open the window

Ruby got off the bed, the handcuffs keeping her right wrist close to the furniture. But she moved as close to the window as she could, and stretched out her left arm, just barely able to reach the lock. With the tips of her fingers, she lifted the latch. Blake pried open the window and climbed inside, pulling out a hairpin, and beginning to work on the lock on Ruby's cuffs.

"Blake? What's going on here?" Ruby asked in a terse whisper. "And what are you—" She stopped as the lock popped open. "Uh, how?"

"Ex-White Fang, Remember?" Blake responded quietly. "Now come on, let's go. We need to find Weiss and Yang."

Ruby nodded quickly, then gratefully accepted Crescent Rose and a few magazines.

But as Blake moved to the window, Ruby was quick to grab her arm. "What's going on here?" She asked Blake. "Beacon is fine, but Ozpin is gone, but Idon'tknowwhat'sgoingonhelpmmph—" Blake placed her hand over Ruby's mouth, silencing the younger girl. Blake's ears twitched under her bow, before she hissed, "Be quiet. There might be guards outside." Ruby pushed Blake's hand off. "Guards? Why guards?"

"I don't know what is going on," Blake whispered. "But I'm going to wait until we find Yang and Weiss before we try to work it out." Ruby sagged slightly, but nodded in acceptance.

Quickly making sure nobody was watching, they exited the window onto a ledge that ran across the wall. Blake leapt towards a nearby tree, landing easily on a thick branch. She then motioned for Ruby to follow her. Ruby hesitated, looking toward the ground, then made a flying, uncoordinated leap towards the branch. She almost missed it, but Blake caught her arm and helped her up onto the branch. They quickly made their way down to the ground.

"…I mean, they looked in pretty bad shape. Especially the yellow one… What was her name again?" Ruby and Blake tensed at the sound of voices coming from around the corner of the building. 'Yellow one?' Ruby mouthed to Blake. 'Yang?'

Blake pointed towards nearby bushes. Ruby was quick to hide in one, Blake close behind her.

"I think Ruby mentioned her name… yeah, that was it, Yang."

"What do you think put them in that bad shape? I know we didn't."

Ruby, who was peeking out through the bushes, couldn't quite stifle a gasp when she saw who came around the corner. Blake only barely managed to keep her own surprised breath in check.

On the other side of the shrubbery, Cinder Fall stopped walking, drawing twin swords—grey steel, instead of black glass—from behind her back, before connecting them at the hilt and grabbing an arrow from a quiver and nocking it. "Did you hear that?" She asked Adam Taurus, who stood next to her with his weapon drawn, scanning their surroundings and listening closely for any out-of-place sounds. So it was quite a shame that Ember Celica and Myrtenaster clinked together as Blake took a careful step back.

"There!" Adam shouted, pointing with his sword. Cinder drew her bow, aiming towards the bushes. "Whoever's there, come out now!… And Emerald, I swear, If you're practicing your illusions on me again I will use you as target practice!"

For a moment, there was a tense silence as Cinder and Adam peered into the bushes, wondering if it was indeed just prank. But then…

"You killed her!" Ruby roared, bursting through the bushes, Crescent Rose expanding in her hands. Adam stepped in front of Cinder, blocking Ruby's attack on his chokutō. Ruby stepped back and lashed out with a flurry of wide slashes, each of which Adam blocked, albeit with difficulty. As Ruby geared up for a guard-breaking strike, Adam stepped to the side and revealed Cinder, bow nocked and drawn. She released the arrow. Blake stood up, dropped her teammate's weapons, and dashed forward, tackling Ruby out of the arrow's path. The fire-dust tip exploded on impact with the ground.

"Blake?!" Adam openly stared at his ex-partner, subconsciously relaxing his stance in surprise.

Blake's ears instinctively flattened when Adam's attention turned to her, but she did nothing but raise her sword in a defensive posture. Adam looked between Blake and Ruby, both geared up and ready to fight. "Blake… why? Why are you siding with that human? She's a criminal for Oum's sake!"

Blake faltered slightly. "What?"

Meanwhile, off to the side, Cinder blocked the sniper rounds off her twin swords. "What do you mean? Who did I kill?" Cinder called to Ruby. Ruby ejected a spent round before pulling Crescent Rose out of the ground. "Her name was Pyrrha." Without another word, Ruby dashed forward with her semblance, scythe held horizontally. Cinder blocked the blow, but the force from Ruby's momentum sent her stumbling back. "Who? Who was Pyrrha? Can't we just talk about this?!" Cinder asked, regaining her footing. Ruby twirled her scythe in a circle of steel that battered against Cinder's aura, having easily smashed through a hurried attempt at a parry.

Adam and Blake's swords clashed, although Blake was surprised at how… weak and slow his attacks were, compared to her previous fight with him at Beacon. That being said, Adam was definitely no slouch, and Blake was still having some trouble keeping him at bay. And her not-completely-healed injury wasn't doing her any favors. At the moment, they were circling each other waiting for one of them to make a move. "Why can't you see it?" Adam asked her. "You've strayed from our goals, what the White Fang was meant to be!"

Before he could continue, there was a cry from behind as Cinder skidded backwards into a wall. The impact broke her aura.

Adam turned. "Cinder!" Blake, knowing she was outmatched in a straight fight, attacked Adam. Her blow sent him stumbling back and she followed up with a solid kick that pushed him away. Instead of retaliating, Adam quickly made his way towards Cinder, who was sitting up against the wall, slightly dazed, swords laying on the ground. Adam stood before her in a defensive posture. This had Blake thoroughly confused. Adam would never abandon the fight to defend a human… what was going on?

"It's over, Cinder," Ruby growled, scythe planted in the ground, business end pointed towards the two. "There's nowhere to run."

She cocked back the bolt on her sniper.

Suddenly, she was smashed in the side by a tendril of darkness. Blake only barely dodged a similar attack, leaving a shadow clone to be speared through the chest.

"It is one thing to accuse someone of murder…" Ruby turned to find Salem calmly walking her direction, hands folded behind her back, and dozens of vantablack tendrils waving slowly from her shadow. "But to harm my students will only end in your demise."

Salem raised a hand, palm open. When she clenched it into a fist, the tendrils shot forward.

Ruby semblance-dodged the first one but was clotheslined by a second coming from behind. A third tendril wrapped around her ankle, lifting her into the air before slamming her repeatedly against the ground.

Blake fared slightly better, but only slightly. Generous usage of her semblance and natural agility allowed her to dodge the attacks, but her counterattacks, both at Salem and at the tendrils themselves, were completely ineffectual. The black cords simply absorbed the dust bullets like they were nothing, and cutting them short simply resulted in them re-growing to their original length quickly with seemingly no adverse effect to Salem herself. It took all of five seconds for Blake to fall. Hard stabs sent her into the ground, breaking her aura. Salem did not kill her or Ruby, simply disarming them and leaving them lying on the ground next to each other. With a snap of her fingers, the vantablack cords retreated back into various shadows.

Moving in front of Ruby, Salem stared down at the defeated huntresses-in-training. Ruby looked up to Salem's disapproving glare. "I ran a search on the name 'Pyrrha Nikos.' You'll be glad to know she is alive and well, as far as we know."

"B-but I saw her killed—"

"By Cinder Fall, correct?"

"What?!" Cinder called out from her place against the wall, water bottle in hand.

"Yes!" Ruby responded.

"On Beacon tower, which is currently intact… yes?"

Ruby opened her mouth to answer, but then saw the indeed-intact tower rising behind the headmistress.

Salem noted the lack of response. "The only reason you are still alive after you attacked my students in my school is that your associates' stories match, albeit with differences due to separation during the event. Likewise, the evidence present matches your stories, and I could sense no deceit."

Ruby tried to respond but Salem raised a silencing hand. "Tell me… do you know the power of your silver eyes?"

Ruby shook her head.

"The Silver Eyes hold power equal to if not greater than the maidens, of which I believe your Pyrrha fought. I will explain more about the maidens later. Unless the user fully wishes it, the power of the Silver eyes cannot and will not harm anything or anyone but the Grimm. Should the powers be turned against a human or faunus, their effect is greatly nullified, but when they clash against the might of a Maiden… well, the last time they fought, both disappeared off the face of the earth."

"But…"

"Ruby Rose… Strange as it may sound, I believe you may have woken in a different Remnant. One where Pyrrha Nikos is not dead, one where her killer," Salem's eyes narrowed at the word, "is one of my best students."

I===I

Cinder stared at Ruby, wondering why the reaper had come at her in such a murderous rage. During their clashes, both at From Dust Till Dawn and the docks, Rose hadn't shown much more than some annoyance at her and her team's interference. Well, some joy about letting her 'sweetheart' do the talking, but… her team and team RWIN hadn't done anything to warrant a killer intent!

…Right?

Cinder took a sip from the water bottle Adam had given her. Adam… his ex-partner from the White Fang just showed up unconscious, along with Ruby and two others Cinder didn't know. Well… apparently the white one was Winter's sister, the one who had run away, but… how she appeared in the middle of the Beacon Academy campus accompanied by two known criminals was beyond her.

"Cinder? Adam?" Salem was calling them.

"Yes, headmistress?"

"If you could come here, please."

Adam helped Cinder to her feet and they walked over to Salem and the two criminals—one of who was his ex-partner!—who were now on their feet. Cinder and Adam held their weapons in hand but lowered. "There's no need for those," Salem told them.

Adam eyed the figures on the ground, hesitantly sheathing his sword. Despite his misgivings about the situation, he trusted the headmistress, so if she said they didn't need their weapons, they probably wouldn't. Even so, he hung back, occasionally glancing towards Blake, as Cinder approached Ruby.

On the ground, Ruby sat up. She instinctively flinched at the sight of Cinder, but forced herself to relax, remembering what Salem had told her. "I… um… hi…" Ruby extended a cautious hand. "Sorry about… all that." Cinder, equally unsure, accepted Ruby's hand. "Hello…?"

Cinder glanced to the headmistress. "This is not the same Ruby Rose you have encountered before," Salem told her.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Cinder asked.

"It's weird…" Ruby shrugged slightly.

"Due to the… unique circumstances, I will be revealing information that is not for public ears," Salem said, "but for the moment, let us simply say that we are all allies here."

Off to the side, Adam and Blake stared each other down, neither speaking, still hesitant to pair up after everything they had gone through with each other, even if it wasn't, strictly speaking, by the hand of the one across from each.

Likewise, though Ruby put on a brave face, she was terrified of the woman—well, now that she looked, teenage girl—standing next to Salem. Logically, she knew that this wasn't the same person who had killed Pyrrha. Emotionally… well, seeing Pyrrha turn to ash in front of her… even as Cinder accepted Salem's promise of an explanation, Ruby couldn't help but shiver at her proximity to Cinder Fall herself.

"I trust you know your way to my office?" Cinder nodded. "Go then, I will meet you when I have retrieved team 'Ruins' and the rest of your and Ruby's teams."

Salem moved began walking away with them. But at the snap of a finger, a couple dark tendrils grabbed Crescent Rose and Gambol Shroud. Blake glanced towards the bushes she'd dropped her team's weapons by to see some more tendrils carrying Ember Celica and Myrtenaster, moving towards Salem's retreating form. Ruby looked to the rest of the group. "To her office then?"

I===I

The tension between them persisted even as they waited for Salem to return. For a while, nobody said anything. Eventually, it was Adam who broke the silence. "…Alternate dimension?"

Blake shrugged but said nothing. Then a thought occurred to her. "Adam… if you're here at Beacon, and you're the leader of the White Fang from where I am, does that mean that… I…"

Adam looked her straight in the eye. "You are leader of the White Fang." He considered his words. "Or rather, the… you from here."

Cinder shook her head. "Oum, this is going to get confusing fast."

"We need to make some kind of system!" Ruby announced, setting aside her unease. "From this moment onwards, everyone in this dimension shall be known as 'I' dash name! And everyone from our universe—" she gestured to herself and Blake "—shall be known as 'C' dash name!"

"And what do the letters stand for?" The newly-dubbed I-Cinder asked.

"The 'I' stands for 'inverted!'" Ruby answered, "and the 'C' for 'canon!' The one with two 'n's total!"

Adam glowered at Ruby. "First off, why 'canon?' Do you think we're in a web show or something? And secondly, why are we the 'inverted' ones?"

"A web show? Pfft, don't be silly," Ruby waved him off. "And you are the inverted ones cause you're opposite of us!"

"…What?"

"Well, you're Beacon students here, right?"

"Obviously."

"Well so are we…" Ruby explained. "Uh, back in our universe, we were. And back there, you were the bad guys!"

"And apparently we are the enemy here," added Blake.

"We already established that," Cinder replied coolly, "But why do you take precedence?"

"Cause we are farther ahead in time!"

"…Explain?"

"You guys haven't participated in the Vytal Tournament yet, have you?"

"No?"

"Well we have. Therefore, we came first… and 'canon' basically means original, right?" Ruby asked Blake.

"More like 'the authentic works of a writer,' but I suppose it could work the way you're using it."

Further conversation was ended when the elevator doors dinged open. Salem exited the elevator, followed by Weiss and Yang. "And then so Ruby's like, 'now that's a…" Yang trailed off when she saw who was already in the room. Instantly, her eyes focused on Adam, and she took a step back, eyes widening and breath turning shallow. Blake cursed, before rushing to Yang's side.

"I was afraid this might happen," Blake muttered. She stepped between Yang and a confused Adam. "Yang. Focus on me," Blake urged. Yang didn't respond, still hyperventilating.

Ruby sped to her sister's side. "Look at me!" She said, tugging on Yang's arm.

Yang looked to Ruby, pure terror in her eyes. "It's going to be alright," Ruby said soothingly. "Blake's okay, I'm okay, everything's going to be o.k."

Yang calmed down to Ruby's soothing words. "I… I'm alright." Yang said, taking a deep breath. She still stared at Adam with blatant fear, but at least she was coherent. As they waited for the last group of people, the silence resumed, though Yang stayed as far away from Adam as possible. She had already been given the briefing on their… situation, but she still found it difficult to look at Adam and see anything other than the Grimm mask and red blade.

After a few tense minutes, the elevator dinged again, admitting six new people. Salem spoke up. "Team RWBY, allow me to introduce teams Cream and Ruins," she said. "Team CEAM, composed of Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, Adam Taurus, and Mercury Black. And team RWIN, made up of—"

"Hey, teach?" Roman Torchwick interrupted, "Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that—?"

"I will address that in a moment," Salem replied. "Please do not interrupt." Turning back to RWBY, she continued, "Team RWIN, made up of Roman Torchwick, Winter Schnee, Ilia Amitola, and Neopolitan—"

"Alright, so care to tell us why known criminals and a runaway Schnee are standing in this office?" Roman interjected again.

"Patience, Mr. Torchwick." Salem sighed. "RWIN, CEAM, meet team RWBY: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long."

Ilia openly stared at Blake as she regarded the reunited RWBY. "Since when were they 'team RWBY?'" She asked. "And what exactly does it have to do with us? And why here?"

"These four girls are not the same ones you have encountered before," Salem explained. "Through a combination of the power of the silver-eyed warriors and that of the Maidens, RWBY has traveled to another dimension. Or at least, that is the best guess we can make given the information we have." All of team RWIN, as well as Emerald and Mercury, turned to stare at RWBY. Mercury voiced what all of them were thinking: "…What?"

"And what exactly are these 'Maidens?'" Weiss asked, ignoring the attention.

"Tell me…" Salem replied folding her hands on the desk before her, "What is your favorite fairy tale?"

I===I===I

[*] …I'm not usually this dark, I promise.

[**] Variant, cause those obviously the wouldn't work on Nora.

Hello, everybody! This ^ is why 'A Rather Grimm Teammate' is so late. If you don't read for my other story, you can ignore that.

But let me know, what do you think of the idea? Good? Bad? Don't care? Let meh know in the comments!

—dragoncraftertex