Year is 2135, 3 years after Jaune and the rest of his friends graduated Beacon. The Graduates of Beacon had become huntsmen and huntresses of the greatest order, but a war would break out. No one knew why it had ensued and no one could imagine the sheer destruction it would leave in its wake. The Hunters became the Hunted as humans began killing each other.

Jaune was one of the few that kept his friends sane through the atrocities they were forced to commit. He would tell jokes and lighten the mood so that they could live to see another day.

A great white light shown in the battlefield and for a single day, no one fought, still in awe of a light that quickly faded. It was then that the timelines fractured. And five different outcomes of the same sad war had been actualized.

All the instances shared one common theme, death. In the first instance Jaune had to contend with the fact that under his watch, all he cared for were killed. The empty medals and hollow condolences meant little to the young General. It was too much and he led battle after battle against his foes, wishing for a death that would not come

It was constant. The pain. The dark thoughts. The fear. The complete and utter soul crushing regret. It just eats, and eats, and eats away at him until he feels numb and feels like he can't go on any more. Screams echoing in his head, keeping him awake at night, replaying every time he closes his eyes. But in the military there was no room for that. With each cry for help- each death of a friend, he had to pretend it didn't affect him. He had to pretend that it was necessary for them to win this war. One by one his friends fell under his command.

When not on the field of battle Jaune would shut himself in his study and read, reviewed, planned and did everything he could to make sure his battle strategy was better than the last. He would hold his breath and hope that it would prevent a death. But it was always the same.

After the second, every time he watched his friends get ready for battle he knew it was going to happen. No matter how much he thought this new plan was going to be the one to save them, it sunk in that there was no way for him to do it, but he felt that he had to try anyway.

After the third, he felt like he should run. That he should give up, convince his friends it wasn't worth it anymore, and try to run away from everything with them. He knew that there was no where to hide. It felt like they were on a raft, the tide too high to swim, no land in sight; They were just sitting ducks waiting to be killed one by one with each victory for their side.

Though as far as Jaune saw it there was no victory... only massacre.

By the time there was only one of his friends left, he knew. He knew he was sending her to her death. By the time there was only one of his friends left, he didn't feel. He was too numb to feel. By the time there was only one of his friends left he was so wracked with guilt that he was starting to forget what for. He told her that he was sorry. She had always seemed leagues better than him at being a leader despite him having risen higher than her in ranks, but she would never have it when he apologized, always responding with a single word.

"Nope."

He remembers looking down at her lifeless body. He'll never forget how cold and lifeless someone so warm and lively looked, reflecting exactly how he felt now. He couldn't look at her for longer than a minute. It ate away at him.

The night there was none left a heavy fog covered everything, and Jaune took that moment to go for a walk to clear his head. As he went his thoughts wandered, his breath got heavier, and he felt lost as he ran his shaking hands through his hair. He didn't know where to go from there, and all he could wonder.

Was it his fault? Why had he come here? Why hadn't he just stayed home that day? Why did he even bother becoming a hunter in the first place? Was it worth it now that he stood alone?

In the second instance Ruby Rose watched as a bullet enter Jaune Arc's head. One by one she witnessed her friends killed and destroyed by a war they were forced to join. She couldn't handle it and she became withdrawn as the only surviving member of her group other than herself would barely respond when she spoke. When Ren had died Nora had become quiet, she would only grunt and nod whenever something was asked of her.

Outside on the battlefield Ruby always was very pragmatic and stoic. She always had to put up that front, in order to boost the morality of the squad she was always was the same for her too. Go murder that person, go infiltrate that base, but in the end she knew it was for nothing. It was a losing war they were fighting.

Then one day a white light had appeared on the battlefield and every sign of battle had stopped in order to watch it, even Ruby had stopped. Ruby decided to ignore it for now and get a long sleep, in order to rest for the battle for the next morning, but couldnt sleep and her curiousity had gotten the better of her.

The bright white light had appeared to both Jaune and Ruby, across the vast divide of the fracture timelines. The light fully enveloped them and when it faded, Ruby and Jaune found themselves on a ship headed to Beacon.

After Ruby had regained her senses, she looked around and noted that she was in VTOL-130. She that it was this particular model, because she flied things like this a lot during the war. She then took a look outside and saw a sight she hadn't seen in year's. It was Vale and it looked as bright and green like the day before the war started. Ruby tried to be shocked, but she still was tired from yesterday's fight.

She also noticed that she looked younger and probably was around 16 or something. 'I am bad at guessing age's of others, so I could even be younger than that.' Ruby then heard the announcer say. "Five Minutes to Beacon!" She stared shockingly outside of the window and saw that Beacon stood outside on the cliff, like it always had been. The last time she saw it, it was burned to the ground and littered with the corpses of her fellow students and friends.

Hugged by her sister Yang, Ruby wonders just what is going on as an Announcement rings out. "Five minutes to Beacon."

Yang had been training to be huntress since the day she found out Summer Rose wasn't her own mother. Soon after, Ruby had joined the cause, and the two sisters had trained together for years by each other's sides. Their fighting styles were incredibly different, sure, but they always fought better together. So when Yang went to Signal and Ruby was still two grades away, Yang was a little disappointed that they weren't together. And when Yang was accepted into Beacon, and Ruby was two years away from Beacon, Yang was nothing short of depressed. Her sister, in the end, was her best friend, and being so far away from her was pretty awful, but she wouldn't never admit that to her.
The night Ruby came home, looking slightly rattled and overly excited, crumbs of cookies still resting on her clothes and chin, Yang got an immediate explanation. There was a robbery at a dust store in town, and Ruby had fought off a bunch of grown men on her own. It was a big feat, especially since they fought Grimm all the time, but Yang couldn't help but be proud. The best news, though, was that the headmaster himself had asked Ruby to attend Beacon 2 years early. Yang was sure she hugged her little sister for over an hour when she heard the news.

The day they went to Beacon arrived, and Yang was acting more like a mother than a sister to Ruby. She was asking if she had everything, including Crescent Rose, if she had a tooth brush, both shoes, just random things. Ruby was about to strangle her by the time the car rolled around front. They finally made it to the aircraft, and Yang couldn't stop herself from smiling like a maniac and staring at her sister. She was so proud of her. She skipped two whole years of training by the headmasters request! "Five minutes to Beacon, Ruby!" Yang smiled, repeating the information that just had been told to them over the loud speaker.

"What the heck is going on?.." Ruby mumbled to herself and jumped a bit, when she heard a familiar voice which she hadnt heard in year's. She turned around and saw that it had been her Sister. Ruby then flinched, as she remembered the burned corpse of her sister laying in her hand's. She immediately shook of the memory and tried to bring some emotion into her next sentence, but was failing very hard and badly.

"Yang?...What are you doing here?" Ruby inwardly cursed for sounding too stoic. "Er, I mean where are we Sis?" Ruby then tried to smile too, but it looked more like a broken smile than a normal one.

Yang watched her sister, her eyes squinting only for a moment as she wondered why Ruby was acting so strangely. "We're at Beacon, little sister!" Yang grinned, punching her in the shoulder playfully, a laugh escaping her lips, head tilted back, her golden locks falling behind her. "What, did you forget that it's our first day at Beacon?" Yang thought Ruby had been so nervous that she had forgotten about all of it, but the older girl wouldn't hold it against her. Ruby was pretty scatterbrained when it came to anything that didn't involve fighting, and she had just been pushed up 2 years to come to the best combat school around. "Don't worry, little sister, everyone's going to love you. They'll think you're the bee's knees!"

"..." Ruby remained quiet and stoic on the outside, but on the inside she was thinking. 'Yang is alive... We are back at Beacon and somehow I look younger.' Ruby rubbed her temples for the incoming headache. 'I dont want to believe it, but this seems too real to be a dream... so did I travel back in time?..' Ruby then looked at her sister with her stone-cold face and replied. "I am not worrying Yang... I am rather exhausted from yesterday."

Ruby then leaned against a nearby wall and began thinking, whild not noticing the gaze of her sister on herself. '..Why am I back in the past? Why am I back in thix specific period of time?...'

Jaune witnessed the scene playing out before him and he did not know how to react. A wave of nausea hitting Jaune like a brick wall. He was bent over, hold his stomach with one hand and the other over his mouth. He did not feel good at all. Slowly opening his eyes he realized that he wasn't in the middle of a foggy wasteland anymore. Instead he was in a pristeen aircraft, that looked all too much like one of Vale's, filled with people. When he had heard the lady earlier say that it was five minutes to Beacon, his world began to spin.

Jaune's eyes went wide, a million questions flying by all at once, and he suddenly felt even more sick than before. He wasn't sure what has happening, but right now he was going to throw up from all of this. Practically tripping over himself he ran for the nearest trash can.

As Jaune finished puking his 9 year old lunch, he felt the ship shake slightly as it touched the ground. Sighing to himself, he wondered what his next move would be as the people on the ship began filing out of the ship. Swearing to himself softly he walks out, the sun was shining brightly. Which was something he had not seen in a long time.

Jaune wasn't used to the bright sunlight. He was used to the sky's being greyed out by the smoke. Taking a moment to gather his bearings he sat down on the floor. Ruby walked out of the airship tired, barely registering Yang firing a million questions at her. Yang quickly ran off with her friends, leaving Ruby to wander Beacon alone. Feeling light-headed she faints for a moment and falls onto a certain white haired corporate heiress's luggage.

Weiss turned around to see a red haired girl had suddenly fallen into her luggage. Her expression was annoyed and borderline livid. "Hey watch it. This is delicate property you klutz!" She did not make any moves to help the girl just stood their arms crossed.

Ruby had fallen unconscious for a short moment, but was awoken immediately when she heard a familiar voice. She then slowly and weakly got up and looked at who the familiar voice belonged to. "What?.." Ruby stared wide-eyed and with a pale face at the heiress of the SDC. Ruby then had a quick flashback of Weiss dying in her arms and mumbling the last words. 'Its not your fault you dunce..' Ruby then collapsed on the ground from the shock and just stared blankly at the sky. Ruby loved the blue sky. It was so pretty, so blue. It was better than deary grey she had gotten used to. But seeing the angry Weiss hovering over her killed the mood quickly.

"Hey are you alright ..hello?" Weiss got all up in Ruby's face. "This is no time to be sleeping on my Dust collection so get up…" She proceeded to lift Ruby off her cart. "Listen do you need water?" This was said more politely.

"…" Ruby blankly stared at the heiress and got up. "Yes, a little bit of water would be good." Ruby nodded half-asleep. She still was too exhausted and with the shock of seeing Weiss alive, took whatever energy she had left. "You are Weiss Schnee, right?" Ruby asked with a tired smile.

"Yes I am." Weiss grinned. "So you've heard of me." She was beaming with pride as she motioned over one of her bodyguards to bring Ruby a water bottle. "Here but don't mention it.." She began to go back to picking up the knocked over vials. She also inspected them carefully for damages. "Well your just lucky you didn't destroy them." Weiss shifted back to her usual demeanor and began to chew Ruby out.

"…" Ruby took a large and generous sip from the water bottle and set it down again. She then stoically stared at the heiress and blinked at the sudden personality changes.

'Good lord… this young Weiss is even worse than the one from my timeline..or was it dimension? Fuck it this is getting too complicated for me.' Ruby thought to herself and looked at the princess and said. "I guess I am sorry…"

"You better be sorry." Weiss hmphed. "I guess we can look this over just once." She looked away from Ruby then back at Ruby. "Do you know what Dust is?" She began to give a lesson to Ruby about the Dust types etc. She showed off a vial as well.

"Is it really so wise to throw Dust at someone?" Blake sarcastically asks as she walks up to the two. Not even bothering for a response she then goes on to say. "Is this how all Schnee Dust Company personnel treat people? Kind one moment and-" she doesn't bother finishing the sentence, losing motivation to interact with the young Heiress.

"For your information I was not throwing Dust at her. I was just educating her and how dare you speak bad about my company?" She eyed Blake patronizingly. "I have a reputation to uphold after all.." Realizing what she said she quickly covered her mouth.

"What kind of reputation is that? Hmm?" Blake interjects. "Is it your questionable business practices? Or is it your exploiting your Faunus labor?"

Weiss gave her a confused look. "You believe that propaganda" She huffed. "You are so naive. I am sure my company does not have shady practices… Or rather my Fathers..soon to be mine."

"I'm done. This blatant naivety is disgusting and I want no part of it." She says before walking off.

Weiss shrugged. "Fine go…" She began to move her vials back on her cart. With that said Weiss said a quick goodbye to the girl on the floor. In the distance a young man looked at the school in an affectionate gaze. 'I can't believe it's back… Or maybe I should say that I'm back?' Jaune thought, staring up at the grand building that was Beacon. Everything was so peaceful and buzzing with life that it felt like a dream. He'd collided with enough people and gotten scolded on the way out of the aircraft so he knew at least that wasn't true, this was indeed the same Beacon he had enrolled at long ago. Though people he remembered having spoken too before didn't seem to notice him at all. This brought him to take some time to review what had happened, only to find he still didn't know much about what was going on. His biggest concerns right now were the white light he had seen before arriving on the airship and finding someone he knew; the later being the easiest to achieve. 'Well, no use sitting around waiting for answers like a fool. If I'm correct about what might be going on Ruby might be the easiest to find.' Standing up he set on his way, down the path he remembered taking years ago.

As luck, or fate, would have it the girl he was looking for was right where he remembered. Making note of this occurrence, he held out a hand to her.

'A lot of things are happening and I still don't know whether to be happy or shocked about this nostalgic sight.' Ruby thought to herself, as she still was laying on the ground. Ruby then looked at the newcomer and noted that it was Jaune Arc, but she was too tired and exhausted to have another flashback about him or be shocked to seeing him alive again.

She slapped his hand away and unenthusiastically got up herself. "Sorry, but I don't need help from anyone." She said in a annoyed tone.

Completely taken aback he let his hand fall back to his side, feeling a little lost at the way she was acting. Seeing Ruby again after having just said good bye to her yesterday was painful enough, but her reaction was absolutely heart shattering. He started to feel really unwell again.

"Oh… Sorry, Ruby… I know you must be so angry with me." He whispered, taking a step back from her, "Right.. I shouldn't have expected you to just greet me like you had back then." Breathing suddenly became a harder task and he turned away from her.

"Ah, I'm such an idiot." He changed to talking to himself now, passing a hand through his hair before crossing his arms over his chest subconsciously as if trying to protect himself, "Obviously, this is all just to make me pay for what I did to you- to everyone… It's the guilt finally setting in, it's my mind playing tricks on me and this isn't really happening. Nothing that's happening is actually happening." Feeling safe with that thought he repeated it to himself completely forgetting that Ruby was even there.

Ruby was still annoyed and got even more annoyed at the way he was acting. he seemed to act familiar to the Jaune of her time. 'This time-traveling stuff still gives me a headache every time I think about it and why the fuck does Jaune act like the one from my time-line?' She then sensed for his aura and finally felt it. "General Arc? Is it really you?" Ruby then kneed Jaune in his nuts and punched him in his face. Then she hugged him, so he wouldn't collapse on the ground. "You fucking asshole! You died on me and I couldn't even say goodbye to you." One tear slid down her face and she cracked a sad smile. "Do you know how much I missed you?"

At the mention of his title Jaune snapped back to reality, instinctively standing at attention due to years of military training drilled into him. It took Jaune a second to realize Ruby had moved before he let out loud hiss as he doubled over in pain. He was about to wail at her asking why, but he was abruptly cut off by Ruby socking him in the jaw next. He almost fell backwards at the force before Ruby pulled him into a hug. Bewildered and very much in pain, all he could do was lightly pat her shoulder in a sort of returned hug.

"Uhh… Major Ruby Rose then I take it?" He let out a nervous laugh. It was more of a statement than a question after what just occurred, there was no way it wasn't her. He pulled away just enough to look at her and couldn't stop himself from envisioning her dead all over again, "But… You died just the other day… Oh dust, I'm so sorry Ruby. Truly I am. I really am. I tried so hard to protect you… and the others…" He finally returned her hug.

"Yep Major Ruby Rose reporting for duty." Ruby said, as she broke up the hug and assumed her usual stance. Then in an distancing voice she spoke. "Its good to see you again General Arc." Ruby then put back her stoic mask and let it remain there. "Status report sir! Earlier today you died and then I was depressed for a bit, until we my squad and I saw a bright light, which started every fighting on both sides of the war." Ruby said and remembered the scene like it happened yesterday.

"I decided to take a rest, but couldn't due to being used to only sleep 4 and less hours, so I decided to go for a walk, but then was attacked by the white light and then found myself on an airship to Beacon." Ruby then saluted and stoically added. "After checking everything out and having talked to my sister, I figured that I somehow landed in the past…." Ruby then broke her stance, but still remained emotionally drained. "I don't know how or why this happened, but I will use this chance in order to prevent the war, even if it will be the death of me…"

"The past…" He repeated, eyes narrowing as he thought it over. It seemed too surreal, his mind couldn't fully grasp how this happened or why he would ever be given a second chance and Ruby not knowing either didn't help. Ruby's report only further solidified for Jaune that this had to be dream, but anything was better than reality, so for now he decided to play along until he woke up and had to face his waking nightmare again.

"Excusing the differences in which of us survived, it seems we've had a similar encounter of a white light and ending up on that airship. The one I had seen appeared a few hours after you had passed away. My guess had been…" He trailed off as if another thought had intercepted, "Well anyway, Major, you're right. If that's the case then preventing the war would definitely be the best course of action in this situation. For now we should keep things quiet, no use causing an uproar at this point in time. Blend in and gently shift the others actions towards a different path."

Ruby nodded at Jaune's explanation and replied. "Good choice of words General Arc, but lets worry about those kind of things later." Ruby then looked around and noted that they were infront of the statue. She shook her head and then continued with. "For now we should worry about passing the initiation again and landing on the same Team's as last time, seeing as we don't want to change the rest of the timeline any further than we already do, just by existing right now."

Ruby then cracked her neck and fingers and sighed in relief once heard some pops. "Jaune, we should slowly head to the halls, seeing as the Ozpin's announcement should be starting soon." With that said Ruby used her Semblance and disappeared in a blur of Rose Petals. She reappeared in front of the hallway doors and mumbled. "Lets hope Jaune still remembers the way here…"

Jaune nodded and started making his own way over to the assembly hall as Ruby sped off. It was a bit hazy but over the course of a couple of months at Beacon he had quickly pieced together internally memorized the layout of the school and it's grounds. Whenever he would be unsure of where he was it would seem to unfold like a map in his mind and the easiest route would always highlight, easily guiding him. He remembers thinking that it was one of the many things he had done that should have tipped him off as odd, but that ability had always been like second nature and didn't come so easily to him when he was younger as it did now. By the end of his first year he had all of Vale inside out, and by his fourth year he had the continent down and parts of the other kingdoms due to visiting. It definitely came in handy for the war unless there were drastic changes to the environment, but this was Beacon. The Beacon from day one as he remembered it; but different.

It was a dream of course, it was a dream for that very reason. It had to. He felt ill at the thought of it not being a dream. This Beacon was not his anymore. He had lost the right to call this peaceful Beacon his a long, long time ago and it could only exist in the dreams that plagued his sleep.

These halls. These rooms. The chattering students around him. This kind of Beacon did not exist anymore.

It was just a beautiful dream. A beautifully painful and scary dream.

Beautiful because he missed this Beacon so much, it had been his wish as a child to come here and it was his entire world while he grew up from an awkward teen into General Arc of Vale's army.

Painful and scary because those he was close to weren't the same. Ruby was the same woman who had closed off from her emotions so long ago. He came to the conclusion that the others, who's deaths terrorized him in his waking moments, were going to be the same way. He really should have been calling this a nightmare, but truthfully, he missed them too much to think that getting to speak with them again could be anything but a pleasant dream. It was only here that he could be forgiven for his failures.

Jaune stopped in front of the doors to the auditorium. He had been so lost in thought that he barely realized he had arrived or that he had been holding his breath. Before he could think of anything else he pushed through the doors and into the hall.

Author Note: Well this idea was an interesting one. Could I write a story that was collaborative? The answer was yes. It was DnD styled in that I was the DM except we weren't playing with dice or even a game essentially. Just the story, purely the story. Each character would be controlled by an individual person. Jaune is controlled by .com, Ruby for this single chapter was controlled by .com, Yang is controlled by .com, Weiss for this single chapter was controlled by .com, Blake was controlled by me. Beyond that, I had the additional task of making sure each interaction and written contribution meshed well together, and I had to make sure each person was on top of the story. I even wrote prompts, scenarios to make their part in the story more dynamic. Regardless, if you enjoyed this and their contributions to this story, go visit their blogs.