Sequel to "The Longest Night" and "Eternity Rising"

Please read those first.

Prologue: Only

Weiss was tired. She could claim that she was tired from endlessly fighting Grimm, but it wouldn't be accurate. She sighed, and went about her business; organizing Beacon's supplied for the war against the Grimm. Someday soon, the survivors would call it The Longest Night, and they had no idea how accurate they were. This truly was the longest nightmare for Weiss. Except that it stopped frightening her quite a long time ago. Now, she no longer felt vulnerable, or like she was doomed.

Instead, she felt like an actress on a stage who was growing bored of performing the same play every night, but even with the re-writes she couldn't enjoy her part to the fullest. All the same, she had a part to play, and she played it perfectly for every single showing. "Hey!" she shouted, sounding as though she actually cared about her task. "That's not supposed to go there! That goes on the other side! Don't back talk me, just do it!" She sighed. Every time. I know this song and dance, yet still I must perform.

"Hey, Weiss!" came the voice of Luna Fey from behind. Weiss wasn't supposed to have met her before, so she feigned ignorance. "Oh, hello...you're the leader of team LNAR, correct?"

"Yep," Luna said. Her silky, black hair looked just as beautiful as ever, and her blue jacket hadn't been worn with holes or blood stains yet. "Just wanted to report that teams LNAR and JNPR have returned from the city with extra supplies. It's all in the airship."

Weiss looked over, half expecting Roman to be standing next to a Bullhead. He's not here this time, she reminded herself when she saw a civilian pilot exiting a small airship that was somewhat larger than a Bullhead. "Right." She turned. "Hey, Yang!"

"Yeah?" the blonde brawler replied from halfway across the courtyard. She was completely healthy, and carried a large box of bottled water. "What's up?"

"Go to the airship and help them unload. They've brought more supplies."

"I'm on it. Yatsuhashi, Sky, follow me." She grabbed the two boys, and off they went.

Weiss feigned a smile for the sake of appearances as she turned to Luna. "You and your team must be exhausted. You should rest up."

"Yeah," Luna said with a laugh. "I'll see you around, Weiss." You may die soon, Weiss thought coldly.

She sighed. I'm tired. So...so very tired. She looked up to the sky and saw the trigger to the world's calamity; the Harbinger comet. How many times had it come and gone for her? How long had it been since it first appeared this time? She thought for a moment to recall exactly when it had shown up. Four months ago, she remembered. Two more months and the comet will pass. She nodded. These things had moved like clockwork in her mind. Easily predicted to her and her alone, she acted as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

Turning on her heel, she made her way out of the courtyard. She needed a break. A break from everything. The sound of an airship caught her attention. Looking up, she saw an Atlesian warship flying towards Beacon; smoke billowed from its engines. A new possibility? she thought curiously.

"What's going on?" Yang asked as she approached Weiss. "Ew. That doesn't look good," she noted as the two watched the ship fly at an incredible speed.

Weiss idly pulled out her Scroll and opened it, tuning in to the radio chatter of the ship.

"This is General James Ironwood on the Atlesian Carrier: Sanctus!" came a frantic voice. "Beacon! Do you hear me? We've come under attack! A flock of Nevermores is on our tale and we can't control the ship! Helm control is offline! We're on a collision course with the accademy! Evacuate! I repeat! Evacuate!"

Yang's eyes went wide. "Oh, shit!" Weiss looked up from her Scroll and saw them; an army of Nevermores. Leading them was the largest Nevermore that anyone had ever seen. Except that she'd seen it in another of the possibilities. Hello again, Nidhogg. You've left Atlas, I see. She smiled. This ending will be different it seems, even if only a little bit.

She turned around and raised her voice. "Everyone clear the area, right now~!" She turned to Yang and said, "Go!"

"I'm not leaving you, Weiss!"

"I know you're not! I'll be behind you. Right now we need to get everyone out of here!"

"R-right!" She ran and did as Weiss had instructed.

Weiss turned and drew Myrtenaster and glared at Nidhogg. "Just once, I'd like to kill you," she muttered. With a disturbed smile, she readied her weapon. "I'll personally kill all of you Master Units at least once!" A glyph appeared around her feet; it was a glyph that none of her team mates had ever seen her use before. "Summoning Besti-Arma: Ouroboros!"

The glyph grew to cover the entire courtyard, sending her fellow students into a panic. If she lived, she'd have to explain what she'd done. But it wouldn't matter in the long run. She'd die, and this possibility would cease to exist. A symbol of a snake appeared, and a giant, frost colored serpent materialized from the glyph. The Schnee crest burned a bright white on its forehead; this was Weiss's true semblance. She had summoned the Grimm Master Unit: Ouroboros, Lord King Taijitu. She smiled. It's been a long time since I've killed Ouroboros. I'm glad his spirit transcends reality...just like me.

Nidhogg roared at the sight of Ouroboros. "Burn!" it screamed as fire jetted out of its massive maw. The giant snake coiled around Weiss and blocked the flames until they died away.

Ouroboros turned to look at Weiss. "You actually summoned me, you witch." It glanced around. "I thought I destroyed Beacon. Why does it still stand?"

"We can talk later, Ouroboros. You have a task at hand. Help me kill Nidhogg."

"I do not wish to do as you say, witch." Ouroboros pondered for a moment. "Yet I can't resist you. Very well. I'll feed off of your ambition and destroy the beast."

Weiss smiled. "I'll even let you kill me when this is done. Call it a present." She pointed Myrtenaster to the sky. "Now go! We have a dragon to slay!"

A small session of the Shifted Council was in session. Thirty or so representatives were present, and were discussing basic, generic policies of no great importance. Lia was bored and wished to retire for the day, but she had no choice but to stay. As such, it came to her as a pleasant surprise when she saw Penny suddenly Shift into the center of the room. The rainbow flames erupted from nothing, and the sound of space being torn open popped and echoed throughout the chamber. Penny looked directly at Lia with anger in her eyes. "I've figured it out," she said. No context, no hints. Just I've figured it out.

Lia was confused for a moment before it clicked. She stood. "All present but those of my inner circle, please return to your worlds. We have something to discuss in private." Uncertain glances were passed back and forth before the Shifters began to "pop" and Shift away.

Arletha, Valentine, Fortis, Lucia, Rose, and the talking cat Felix were all that were left, aside from Penny herself. "What have you found?" Lia asked.

Penny nodded and closed her eyes. A magical hologram appeared, displaying the formula for Crim's Temporal Causality of Predetermined Phenomenon spell. "This is the spell that Crim used over ten thousand years ago on himself after the first Devastation. From what I've heard, as this is ten thousand years older than I am, he did so as a precaution that Fear, the Devastation's creator, was still alive and would unleash it again. He repeated the last ten thousand years over one billion times before he found this timeline; the timeline where Lia destroyed Fear and saved the universe. Correct?"

"Yes," Lia agreed. "He said as much when he declared war on us over a hundred years ago."

The hologram changed. "This is my formula for the same spell: a more perfect Causality." She looked Lia in the eyes. "If I can find Weiss, I can use my own, reverse engineered form of the spell to free her of her time loop."

"The problem," Alretha chimed. "Is that even with our vast knowledge of the Cauldron and the magic therein, we can't observe other realms say for those pocket diminsions that we create. Your little prison for Crim, for example. What did you call it?"

"The Backyard," Penny answered.

"We can make our own private space. Only with the discovery of the Cycle did we find out that there is, in fact, a Multiverse. We know nothing about how to reach these other universes."

"Well," Fortis began with a smile. "Assuming there are infinite universes out there, there are over a billion that no longer exist. That's one billion that we don't have to worry about."

"Except possibilities are endless," Penny said. With every passing second, a new universe is born." She smiled. "But I've discovered how to observe and travel to these other universes."

"How!?" Fortis cried, choking on his own saliva.

"The Cauldron. It's more than just the source of all magic. It's also the space in between universes. It's a vast sea, and the other universes are islands."

"Okay," Lia said. "So we know that we can access these...islands. But the problem with islands is that we don't always know where they are in the ocean. How would you navigate that endless sea?"

Penny changed the hologram once more; an image of an endless maze appeared. "This is the biggest problem. The part of the Cauldron where you can find the access points that I must go to is what I call Labyrinthus: The Endless Maze. It is virtually impossible to navigate. And even if I did fall through a pocket in Labyrinthus, I'd still have to find Remnant. If it was the wrong Remnant, then I'd have to start all over."

"How could you have the 'wrong' Remnant?" Rose asked. "Assuming you found another Remnant, all you'd have to do is find Weiss, correct?"

"It's not that easy," Penny said. She looked to Lia. "Would you care to explain?"

Lia nodded. "The Temporal Causality of Predetermined Phenomenon is a very unique, world altering spell. It's almost as powerful as the Devastation. It erases every iteration of your existence and leaves you with just one version; the current you. Should that version die, a new world is born, and you are born with it starting from the time that the spell was placed upon you." She closed her eyes. "I am the only Lia Merca Locke to exist in the entire Multiverse because of this."

"How do we know that?" Valentine asked.

"It's written into the formula," Penney said. She pointed at the middle of a new hologram, and everyone saw the same equation.

∞ = 1

"Infinity is equal to One. This part of the spell cancels out all existence of any other version of the target say for the immediate version, but allows that singular iteration to persist, even when it is destroyed," Penny explained. "That's why they retain the memories of their 'failed' lives. They are the exact same individual." She sighed. "So, it's not a matter of just finding a Remnant. I have to find the correct Remnant. The only Remnant where Weiss is still alive."

The room went somber. "Do you realize the odds of finding her?" Rose asked.

Penny turned to her. "I'm a machine, Rose. You don't want to hear how big that number is."

"Right," Rose said with a nod. She really, really, didn't want to know.

"I can make the trip easier by starting on my Remnant. From there, I'll only have to sift through the other Remnants instead of the entire universe," Penny continued.

Arletha hung her head low. "I suppose its a good thing that we live forever, isn't it?"

"Wait," Lucia interrupted. "You're not serious, are you? You're going to jump into the Cauldron, specifically an un-mapped, newly discovered fragment of the Cauldron, and swim around until you find one instance of something?"

Penny nodded. "A universally scaled needle in a haystack, as it were."

Lucia shook her head. "Even if you could do this, this has got to be a transgression on the Law of No Interference. What if there's a Salvation in whatever universe you go to? Someone will detect a foreign body, I'm sure. If a Shifter from another universe came to my universe, I'd have a few questions to ask."

"I am aware of the risks," Penny turned to Lia. "You know why I'm here, Lia."

"You've come to get permission," she answered. She smiled. "But you plan to go anyway, with or without my approval."

"Weiss was...is my friend. She deserves to live in the afterlife with her friends and loved ones." Here green eyes were aflame with determination. "Yes, I intend to do this, one way or another."

"Very well. If you intend to do this, it may as well be with my blessing."

"Lady Lia!" Valentine challenged.

She raised a hand to silence him. "If you cause any issue, I'm afraid Salvation will sever you. We can't have an trans-universal war on our hands, after all."

"I understand," Penny said.

"And I hate for you to go alone. You should take a partner. That way, I won't worry so much."

"Can I go?" Rose Gordon asked as she stepped forward.

Lia looked between Rose and Penny. "Do you allow this?" she asked the robot girl.

Penny thought hard for a moment. "If she really wants to come with me, I won't stop her. I suppose...I could use the company."

"As of now, until you return successfully, you are no longer a part of Salvation," Lia announced. She added in a softer tone, "Please. Don't fail."

The two girls nodded and left the chamber by foot. They had some preparations to make before they could dive into the Labyrinthus. Penny glanced over to Rose and smiled. She was barely older than Ruby when she became a Shifter, and she came from a completely different background, but Penny could draw several visual parallels.

Rose Gordon had jet black hair, wore black trousers, and a pair of low top sneakers. Her top consisted of a black tank top, a loose fitted long sleeve shirt with red cuffs, and a red hoodie vest that she let hang loosely around her torso. At her legs were a pair of longslide semi-automatic pistols; custom ordered 1911's is what she called them, but gave them no name. On her cheek was a black tattoo of a rose; when Penny had asked about it a hundred years ago, Rose said had explained it to her in a sad tone.

The Dark family is from Eden. I was saved, and trained, by Darkstar. You know Rune; his name is actually Darkrune. He's Darkstar's ancestor. Well, the Dark family grants their kinsmen a tattoo of their namesake. Darkstar had a star tattooed on his chest. Darkstar and I fell in love right before the Battle for Purgatory. He died and left me his scythe. When the battle ended, I discovered that the trauma had Awakened me. I got the tattoo to honor my would be husband. That's why they call me Black Rose...

Because I never got to be Darkrose.

Penny spotted a magic circle tattooed on the back of Rose's right hand: it was a seal designed to summon the scythe that Darkstar had given her. "I know why you volunteered," Penny said after a time.

Rose nodded. "If I had the chance to save Darkstar, I'd do anything to take it," she said. She turned to face Penny with a smile. "You never introduced me to Weiss when she lived in our Universe. I look forward to it."

"As do I," Penny agreed. I'll save you, Weiss. I promise.

Beacon was on fire. Nidhogg had turned to attack the Sanctus once again and dealt the killing blow to the airship. The engines exploded, and the whole ship fell from the sky and crash landed on top of Beacon. Weiss was standing on top of Ouroboros's massive head when the vessel landed violently with an explosion. Weiss had shielded herself with her glyphs. When the dust settled, she choked on the smoke. "Ouroboros, use your sense of smell and tell me who's still alive," she ordered.

The snake paused. "None are left, witch. You are the one and only."

I'm the only one here, eh? she thought. A demented smile spread across her lips. "It doesn't matter! They've all died countless times! What's one more failed timeline amidst millions! That just means the battlefield is free for us to wreak havoc!"

She could feel Ouroboros's consciousness grow confused. "You've changed, witch. You're a different person from the time you killed me. How long has it been?"

"I killed you three months from now from this world's perspective," she said quizzically. "But from my point of view, it's been a couple thousand years. Don't worry about the small details."

"Doesn't sound small to me, witch."

"Spit your venom, Ouroboros. I'll use my glyphs to freeze it and turn it into a missile." Obeying her command, Ouroboros gave a deep, guttural hiss before a glob of acidic venom launched from its throat. A series of glyphs appeared before it: the first accelerated the venom, the second shaped it into a point, the third froze it, and the fourth and fifth accelerated it again, launching it at near supersonic speeds towards the massive, dragon like Nidhogg.

The javeline of venom rocketed towards her foe. Yes! she thought. I'll finally have killed another of you bastards! Closer and closer it became. Yes! Yes! Yes!

Nidhogg flipped and barrelrolled out of the way with such ease that Weiss didn't expect it to be able to move its massive body in such a way. "God damn it!" she cried.

"A valiant effort, witch. But Nidhogg is too agile, it seems."

She pointed her sword at Nidhogg. "I swear, I will fucking kill you! In one iteration, only one, I will kill you! I swear!"

Nidhogg stared at her with empty, dark, soulless eyes. "Burn," it said, launching a trail of fire at her.

"Witch, we must move."

"Stay, Ouroboros!" she commanded. The snake could not disobey.

"If we don't move, we'll die!"

"You are already dead, Ouroboros," Weiss said as the flames grew larger and larger. "What's one more death to me." She frowned. "It's been a while since I last burned to death. I remember it being...unpleasant." Closing her eyes, she spread her arms and waited for the burning impact.

When it came, Ouroboros and she both burst into explosive flames. She screamed in pain, her vocal chords tearing with the ferocity with which her death howls came. Her flesh charred and peeled. "Fu~~~ck you~~!" she yelled through her screams. Her clothes burned off, leaving her body naked.

Ouroboros burst, exploding into millions of white fragments. Weiss fell, burning still, and landed on the ground with a hard thud cracking her skull on a rock...

Weiss opened her eyes. Above her was Ruby's poor excuse of a bunk bed, held up by rope. I failed, she thought. I'll try again the next time I see him. What's another life out of millions to me? She raised her head from her pillow and saw the rest of team RWBY, still alive.

"Wake up, Weiss," Ruby said cheerfully. "We've got class today!"

Weiss nodded. I've told this lie so many times, she thought just before she said, "I don't feel so good. I think I'll stay here today."

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked, suddenly concerned.

Weiss, well practiced by now, acted as though she had a migraine. "My head hurts. I feel like I'm gonna puke."

"Do you need one of use to stay with you?"

Weiss shot Ruby a dark glance. "No, you dunce! I've seen your grades! You need every second of class time you can get!"

"B-but..."

"She's right," Blake added. "Let's get going."

"We'll come check on during our break, okay?"

"That's fine," Weiss said. They always believe my lies...I've gotten too accustomed to lying. "Make sure they take notes, Blake!"

"Got it," the cat faunus said as the three of them left the room.

Weiss nodded. In her millions upon millions of lifetimes, this most recent one was the first time she'd ever summoned Ouroboros. Ouroboros, the Master Unit King Taijitu, was a unique beast in the sense that it was sentient and its spirit could talk to her. She smiled, an idea crossing her mind. She sat at her desk and called forth a small summoning glyph.

A miniature version of Ouroboros appeared. It looked around, feeling confused. I can sense what he feels, she noted with a smile. "What happened?" it asked. "We were burning, and now..."

"So, you're memory is linked to mine," she observed. She smiled wider. "Ouroboros, this Possibility just became a lot more interesting."

Song: Only-Nine Inch Nails

Author's Notes

Imagine the ramifications: Ruby and Weiss were under the same curse during The Longest Night, but Weiss was completely under the Cycle's influence, and had been cursed long before Ruby ever was. She'd become so accustomed to the rise of the Harbinger comet, that she's forced to act as though her true self were a character in a play, pretending to be devastated by the deaths of her friends, and afraid of her own fate...

But she's used to it. She's gone through millions of iterations...millions of Possibility's as she calls them, and she's opted to mostly act as an observer unless told to do otherwise by Ruby...mostly.

So, to pass her seemingly infinite time, she grows in strength and fights the Master Units: the Commander Grimm: Cerberus, Nidhogg, Ouroboros, Calydonian, Scorpius, and Callisto.

So far, it seems she's only killed Ouroboros...

And now, Penny is searching for her! To break the curse and let her die a true death so that she may rest for all eternity!

I guess I just won't let my Shifting Remnant AU stop...I'm sorry, I suppose.

Fun Fact: I worked a 12 hour shift the other night. 4pm to 4am. I hated every second of it.

Till next time!