Author's Note: Getting these thoughts on paper, so to speak.

Chapter One: We Fall Only to Rise Again

Blood and smoke. It's all that the Huntress can smell. All that she can see. Looking around at the wreckage around her, she feels a pang of emotion racing through her heart like a knife.

Beacon. At one time, it was the unattainable dream. A mythical place where her idols trained to become heroes. Now, it is a smoldering shell. A scorched tomb for her memories. She brushes her finger tips against the pavement where she crouches down. Memories of a valiant woman with red hair and eyes like emeralds who was struck down on this spot. Memories of her blond champion who took his final breath less than a week later.

She rises, and with every step towards the main courtyard, her mind calls out the names of the fallen. Those she failed to save. Those who she loved dearest, and those who saw the light, only to fall before the darkness.

"Pyrrha, Jaune, Yang, Blake, Nora, Ren, Velvet, Coco, Glynda, Port, Oobleck, Sun, Roman, Emerald…"

Her steps hasten as her blood sings a song of vengeance. Her mind screaming the names of the betrayers…

"Mercury, Cardin, Neptune…"

She enters the courtyard as the final name rings forth from her mind and her lips…

"CINDER FALL!"

The Huntress whips around as a sultry laugh echoes from all corners. "Well… Looks like you got my message, Ruby."

Pulling back her hood, Ruby's silver eyes flare. "WHERE ARE YOU, COWARD!"

"I'm right here, sweet girl." The voice rings out softly behind her.

Spinning, Crescent Rose at the ready, Ruby locks eyes on her nemesis, and seethes. "Give. Her. Back."

An evil smirk lifts the corner of Cinder Fall's mouth as she whips her hand from behind her back, an object sailing towards Ruby only to tumble at her feet.

Her eyes stare in disbelief. Her mind refusing to process what she sees in front of her, until reality crashes down on her. A soft crown of white hair cascading from the object, saturated red at the end from the bloody stump that once was Weiss Schnee's neck.

Her heart shatters and her aura thrashes around like a wild beast, her silver eyes illuminating the courtyard. Hefting her weapon, she begins to charge.

With an evil smirk, Cinder holds up her hand. "Reunited as promised, but before you do something foolish…" She pulls a semi-conscious body from behind the pillar, she wrenches the head upwards to reveal her prisoner's identity.

"Ozpin…" Ruby breathes.

His eyes flicker with life and bore into the Huntress's eyes, passing along a message. "Do it. Kill her, or the world is doomed. You are our last hope."

Gritting her teeth, Ruby's aura blazes like a silver flame, purifying the shadows with sacred light. Her Semblance activates as the world slows down beyond anything she has ever known before. All limits removed from a soul with nothing left to lose.

In the brief heartbeat since Ruby vanished in scorched petals, Ozpin glances at the look of sublime victory on Cinder's face. "She… SHE WAS EXPECTING THIS!" Falling into his own Semblance, the world opens to the Headmaster. All pasts, presents, and futures lay in his sight and his blood runs cold at the darkness that lay ahead. Then, a single flicker in that darkness emerges. He plucks the thread of fate belonging to the light and his path is clear.

Ruby reappears behind Cinder, her scythe leading in a devastating blow against her nemesis's aura which reacts explosively. Fiery tendrils lash around and latch onto Ruby's arm. Disappearing in a blaze of speed, the Huntress regroups a short distance away. Adrenaline and Aura being the only thing keeping her conscious as she gazes upon the wreckage that was once her left arm. She flicks her glance at her weapon and sees the blade has shattered, forming a crude spear from the once devastating sniper-scythe.

She pulls a length of black cloth, Blake's bow, from her pouch and clumsily ties off the arm to prevent any bleeding then couches her ruined weapon as a lance, beginning her charge anew. Pouring the remainder of her Aura into her Semblance, she cracks and scorches the ground in her passage, the point of her weapon in line with Cinder's heart.

Before her weapon can reach her target, Ozpin moves to intercept. The lance, once aimed at her worst foe, now passing through the heart of her greatest teacher. Cinder's eyes widen in shock at the sight, her plan derailed.

Leaning in, blood pouring from his mouth, Ozpin whispers into his protégée's ear and falls limp. With tears streaming from her eyes, Ruby snatches the pin at the headmaster's neck and flees the area, pouring on the speed until time seems to stand still for her. Glancing at the pin, it begins to glow. His words echo through her mind as she surrenders herself to her Semblance and disappears into a cloud of petals.

"Run, Ruby Rose. Take my pin and run! You can save us all… Just go… back…"

ooOOoo

Beacon Academy – Present Day

Glynda Goodwitch is not having a good day. Paperwork abounds as the Vytal Festival approaches, and Ironwood has been particularly vexing lately. "Why does the Headmaster put up with him? Nostalgia?"

Her thoughts are interrupted by a sharp crash and a quick glance from her window shows the spinning form of Yang Xiao Long bursting from the cafeteria roof. "I should be surprised. Why am I not surprised?" With a long suffering sigh, she makes haste to what she just knows will be a colossal disaster.

Opening the doors, she strides into the room, crop at the ready. With a seemingly idle flick of her wrist, the room begins to reassemble itself. "Children, please. Do not play with your food."

Teams RWBY and JNPR attempt to contain their laughter, though their efforts are in vain as Yang crashes through the newly fixed roof and rejoins her team.

Glynda opens her mouth to continue chastising the students when she feels a hand on her shoulder. A brief, yet unnecessary turn of her head reveals the Headmaster.

With a kindly smile, he mutters, "Let it go."

Glancing at the giggling mass of young adults, she sighs, "They are supposed to be the defenders of the world."

His eyes grow distant as his smile falters, "And they will be, but right now they are still children. So why not let them play the part?" He turns to walk from the cafeteria, "After all, it isn't a role they'll get to have forever."

Ozpin pauses in his progress when a stray glint of light catches his eye. He looks at the window to see his tie pin beginning to glow. Eyes wide, he casts his gaze around the room in time to see the students begin to panic at the sight of Ruby.

Ruby's eyes widen with fear as tremors begin to overtake her form, vaguely reminiscent of the day her Semblance first awakened. "P..Professor? Yang?! So..Someone…" Her eyes blaze with silver light as a scream is torn from her throat.

The headmaster races to the group shouting, "EVERYONE GET BACK! GLYNDA! PUSH THEM BACK!" He dives into the erupting silver flames surrounding the young huntress in training.

Quick to respond, Glynda lifts the students and keeps them restrained against the wall. "Understood."

Yang's semblance erupts in crimson eyes and golden flames, "LET ME GO! SHE'S MY SISTER! LET ME GO, YOU HEARTLESS BITCH!" She thrashes in vain at the overwhelming might of her professor.

Narrowing her eyes, Goodwitch chastens, "I will let that go with a warning, Miss Xiao Long."

Their argument is interrupted by a sharp detonation from the center of the silver blaze, revealing the crouched form of Headmaster Ozpin cradling a smoking figure in his arms, a glowing object tumbling from the figure's lone hand. With a voice filled with absolute authority, Ozpin barks, "GET A MEDIC OR WE WILL LOSE HER. MISS BELLADONNA, CALL VELVET SCARLETINA OF TEAM CFVY. NOW!"

He turns his attention to the bloodied figure in his arms, his eyes widening in shock at what he sees. In place of the innocent fifteen-year-old Ruby Rose, fresh from victory in a simple food fight, is a battle-torn figure, two to three years older but unmistakably still Ruby. His heart clenches at the wounds and trauma writ across her form, from the shredded cloak, to the charred wreck that was once her arm. Her shirt was charred at the side revealing an odd tattoo. A list of names headed by the phrase, "And Thus Kindly, They Scatter." His eyes lock onto her face, twisted in pain despite her unconsciousness. "What hell has this poor girl seen… How badly have I failed?"

He wraps the cloak around her body and face, hiding her wounds and any alterations to her form from casual observers. He looks up in time to intercept the rest of the students with a glance, "Yang, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Jaune. I want you to remain here. The rest of you, clear a path for the medics to arrive. There is not a second to lose." Ren and Nora nod, a grave look across the berserker's face as she and Ren press Sun and Neptune into service.

Ozpin extends a single hand. "The four of you… I have much to ask of you, but I need you to trust me. Take my hand and focus on your auras. If you do not, I fear she may not last."

His faith is rewarded when the four grasp his outstretched hand without hesitation. "This may… No… This will hurt." The four gasp and fall to a knee as they feel their auras twist and begin to siphon into the headmaster and finally to Ruby. "Be strong, child. Forgive me…"

Author's Footnote: So, here we are. RWBY Time Travel, but with a twist! What will happen? Why are some names in some categories? You'll just have to find out! There will be pairings, but I'm keeping that under my hat for now. Don't bother submitting suggestions, as they are pretty set in stone. Now. For those unfamiliar with my writing, once I start a story I have an almost gleeful disregard for canon dialogue. Once whatever I change in a story changes, it's off the canon rails. If I describe a situation or event differently than the show, or a character interacts with another differently, it's intentional. I am a huge fan of RWBY, yet an AU is an AU for a reason.

Updates: Sporadic. I have two other stories I am juggling right now in the One Piece and Fairy Tail universes, so my time and focus is a bit split. There was a time that I tried to keep to a set schedule but between job hunting and soon to be fatherhood with a currently very pregnant Rabid Mite, my time is not entirely my own.

The opening section is set some time after the end of Volume 3, and the past section is from the first episode of Volume 2.