Welcome back, dear readers. Sh-Vr here!
Now, the reason for this chapter is to explain my reasoning behind "The Witch and The Saint." If that doesn't interest you, you have no obligation to stay and read this. Just know, that I appreciate the fact that you chose to read the actual story.
Reasoning Behind "The Witch and The Saint" and Volume 3 Finale Thoughts
When the Volume Finale came out to the public and I watched it, I felt a mix of emotions. As a person who loves characters and their developments, I was sad to see Pyrrha go. I hoped that RT would fool everyone and have Pyrrha leave the Battle of Beacon, rather than prove the theories of a "Pyrrhic Victory." However, the duel between Pyrrha and Cinder happened and we all saw the results.
After the result of the battle, I wanted to do what I normally did after certain events happened in canon. I like to write alternate takes on the RWBY reality, exploring a different path. Unfortunately, I cannot do canon characters justice. They deviate from their canonical personalities in my stories, but it's how I write. As much as I'd love to switch certain characters around, I wanted to focus mainly on Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ruby. Jaune became a focus because of the Arkos ship and because I felt that his feelings deserve to be explored in some way. Pyrrha is a focus for obvious reasons. Ruby plays a part because of her witnessing the events on top of the Clock Tower and because I took a liking to the Victory Rose pairing.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy almost all of the characters shown in RWBY. I simply tend to focus on some characters more than others.
Back to the reasoning, I created it with the intention of helping me process what happened in canon. I never expected people to like it as much as they did. I thought, in my selfish portrayal of these alternate events, I might offend people for changing Monty's plans for his show. However, writing is one of the many ways I process certain things. And as I finished my story, I finally came to terms with everything.
From a writer's standpoint, this is a huge, important turning point for everything. Characters will be challenged, are revealed to be susceptible to anything, and the main team is now disbanded. All of this allows for so much more of the RWBY universe to be explored. With Weiss away in Atlas, we'll get to see how her relationship with her father goes. With RNJR, LANR, or LAVR (or whatever you want to call it), we'll get to see Mistral. Blake's off on her own and Yang's wallowing for a while, but that's okay for now! Character development, guys. Our beloved characters will grow in ways we probably never thought of before, and then give us more reason to love them.
From a fan's standpoint, Pyrrha's end will be a sorrowful thing to think of but she'll never be forgotten for who she was.
As for the actual story itself, I planned for chapters that could've spanned 6,000+ words. Both endings could have taken two, three, or more parts to them. However, they could've gone beyond what I intended. I changed certain events so that the cast could remain together in this AU simply to cope.
I wished to explore interactions between the characters more than I did. Scenes such as Ren and Nora shenanigans, Blake and Yang moments where Blake was forced to be more talkative this time around... Family moments for Yang, Qrow, Taiyang, and Ruby, a scene exploring why Taiyang gave Qrow that weird look, more nightmare sequences for the Victory Rose ending where Ruby sees more of Salem, which leads her to believe something more sinister is happening...
I wanted for a lot to happen. Perhaps it could've been too much. We'll never know at the moment.
As for the little poems at the beginning of each chapter:
The Witch and The Saint - I imagined Cinder telling this to Ruby or Pyrrha because of how I worded it. A villain's moment of hurrah over our beloved hero, ominously warning the hero of the price of heroism.
The Heart of a Would-Be Hero - I imagined this from Jaune's point-of-view. After Pyrrha is saved and Jaune realizes how much she means to him, he vows to do what it takes to protect her as repayment for her protecting him. He does this out of the care her feels for her.
In my personal opinion, love takes time to blossom. Jaune just realized that he cared for Pyrrha more than just a friend. He needs a bit more time to process all these feelings.
A Dreamer Plagued by Nightmares - The poem here is Salem speaking to Ruby about how the world will be saved by a simple soul. However, Salem views Ruby as a rather weak person and gives her a dark warning.
The titles for each chapter were named as such due to how I wrote the chapters and for a few other reasons. I'm currently on the mindset where one finishes a chapter before naming it. The first chapter is named as it was because I listened to "The Witch and the Saint" by Steven Reineke while writing it. The Witch being Cinder and/or Salem, while Jaune and Ruby have the potential to be the Saint. Only one of them, of course. In fact, the whole story followed the name because of a story idea I had that might follow after this.
The Heart of a Would-Be Hero became named as such due to Jaune not yet rising to the status of a hero. However, his heart is in the right place and he is more than willing to rise to the challenge.
A Dreamer Plagued by Nightmares became as such because in canon, Ruby is a dreamer. She dreams of becoming a hero and slaying Grimm. However, Salem changes all those sweet dreams into nightmares; thus, Ruby is even further driven to seek the Witch out and end her plots.
Thank you for taking the time to wade through all this text to read my thoughts on the story. Thank you for reading the story at all.
WARNING: VIOLENCE and BLOOD
The Savior and The Sacrifice
Standing beside her friends, Ruby fell into a fighting stance. Shing! Jaune readied his sword and shield, the pain he endured earlier now forgotten. Ren prepared his guns with a calm exhale. Nora narrowed her eyes and slung her hammer over her shoulder, determined to knock the witch down from her pedestal. Ruby nodded and launched forward, intending to strike out at the woman only to be knocked back by a man clad in black and red.
The man's sword and hair glowed with an evil energy. Jaune rushed to his friend's side and helped her up. The masked man grunted and sheathed his blade. Without warning, members of the White Fang flooded into the building. Their appearance forced Ren and Nora to separate from the others. Above everything else, Ruby heard a crow caw.
"Your interference ends here!" The man dropped into a stance and motioned for one of the two to attack him.
Ruby and Jaune shared a look. Silver quietly questioned sapphire. Both pairs of eyes reflected unwavering determination, a reminder of the reason why they pushed so hard to get there. They nodded, running forward in synchronized movement. Ruby raised Crescent Rose to slice at the man's shoulder, while Jaune aimed his slash towards the man's abdomen.
SHLICK! SHOOM!
A cry of pain.
Psshhtt.
Dark red liquid splattered on the floor as one body collapsed...
Consider the above excerpt a bonus for bothering to look at this chapter. Once again, thank you, dear readers.
