RWBY Loops Chapter 25: Stand United, a rwby fanfic

25.1 GammaTron

"Okay, I can handle this, nya," Ruby muttered as she entered the room for Team RWBY this loop, "So what if I'm a cat faunus with an embarrassing voice tick this loop, nya? At least there..."

"Hey, Ruby," an Unawake Yang greeted as she dropped a yarn ball while walking by her.

"..." Ruby looked down at it before squealing and tackling the yarn ball, "Why did no one ever tell me yarn balls were so fun, nya?!"

"So why did you want me to do that?" Yang asked Weiss, who was currently taping this.

"An associate of mine who was pranked by Ruby a while back wanted something to laugh at, so I thought 'why not.' Plus, this works as revenge for the tuna fish she slapped me with last week in practice," Weiss replied.

"Ah!" Ruby yelped, her arms and legs hogtied, "How did this happen, nya?!"

'Camera: $250; Yarn Ball: $1.50; Watching Ruby tied up by yarn ball: Priceless,' Weiss thought in amusement.

25.2

Ruby pulled the batch of fresh chocolate chip cookies from the oven. The scent of their sweet chocolate goodness sent the young Huntress into a tizzy. Setting them aside, she jumped to the fridge for her milk, and once suitably armed with her complimentary beverage, was at the cookies' side again. Ruby took a cookie, dunked it in milk, brought it to her lips...

There was a black flash and suddenly, the cookie was gone. In fact, all of the cookies were gone, and only crumbs remained. Ruby collapsed to her knees and screamed her anguish to the heavens. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Yang rolled into Beacon's student garage on her motorcycle, flitting between the cars, looking for her space. "Ah ha!" Coming to a halt at her designated parking space, the blonde dismounted her golden stead, unsheathed her blonde locks from the helmet, and stepped back to admire her vehicle of choice.

There was a black flash, and suddenly Yang's beloved motorcycle was gone. Yang screamed.

Jaune and Pyrrha had hidden themselves in the woods around Beacon, an end to the date they had been on. Jaune had pulled Pyrrha to the side with more than a slight blush. Pyrrha would later admit that it had taken an unbearably long time for her to realize what exactly he was intending.

Of course, once they were in the woods, the awkward smiled and blushes took over. Jaune leaned in and there was a flash of black.

"Smooch!"

"YANG CONTROL YOUR GIRLFRIEND!" Weiss shrieked when she, Ruby and JNPR finally found the blonde. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE'S BEEN UP TO?"

Yang, having been searching the garage for the past hour, took a moment to answer Weiss. "Whatever is happening, I assure you, Roman did it."

"Blake's been stealing our things Yang," Ren said. "Everything she can get her hands on. Ruby's cookies-"

Ruby whimpered.

"Weiss' money-"

Weiss harrumphed.

"Nora's thunder-"

"Thieving cat burglar," Nora growled.

"And all of Jaune and Pyrrha's kisses."

Yang cocked an eyebrow at Ren. "And what did she steal from you?"

"My peace of mind." Ren ran his hands through his hair and stood up a bit straighter. "Look Yang, I can guess that Blake isn't having the best of loops. Hell, when I'm cracking under stress I'm much worse. But could you at least... Moderate her. Get her to steal something you want stolen. Because she's stealing everything."

Blake's girlfriend suddenly got a rather cheeky look in her eye. "Well... Not everything. I mean, how much do Jaune's clothes cost? 800, 900 Lien a piece?"

There was a black flash. Jaune was instantly reduced to boxers. "YANG!"

Pyrrha got angry. "O-Oh yeah!? Well how much do your panties cost? 30,000 Lien, or more?"

Black flash.

"...I'll talk with Blake," the now heavily blushing Yang decided. "Oh, and Pyrrha?" She winked. "Don't make me ask how much a night in bed with you and Jaune costs."

Now Pyrrha and Jaune were blushing badly. Yang laughed and winked. "Well, it'll probably be cheaper than me."

There was a black flash, and Yang was gone. Ruby clicked her tongue. "We never discuss this. Ever."

"Agreed."

25.3 Black Omochao

"Nate, if you don't want to be late for school you better get up," Ruby giggled as she watched her little brother sleep. Nate grumbled as he pulled himself up, he looked over to his sister and nodded before he began getting dressed. When he was done he went downstairs and found his mom and dad, along with his siblings having breakfast.

"Good to see you back in the world of the living," Grif greeted before taking a bite out of a waffle.

"Shut up Grif, at least I don't see the need for an afternoon nap, along with an after afternoon nap… and an after after afternoon nap," Nate countered, but Grif just shrugged.

"One day little brother, you too will understand the importance of naps."

"Let's hope not," Cinder scoffed as she took a sip from a cup of coffee.

"Now, now, Cinder be nice. Grif don't tease your little brother. And Nate, get over here and eat so you're not late for school," their mother, whom, like their father, was one of Nate's baseline parent said firmly.

"Yes mom," The three siblings nodded before Nate joined the table.

This kind of Loop was not too out of the ordinary for Nate, finding himself in a family with his adopted out-of-Loop siblings. Though there were no yo-kai around, or there just was no yo-kai watch. He supposed there could still be yo-kai around but… that was a thought that he decided to drop.

Anyway, he was happy that all of his 'siblings' were Awake and he would have the opportunity to spend some time with them… except for maybe Cinder… he hadn't really bonded with her and she kind of… made him feel uneasy.

The oldest sister glanced the way of the youngest of the siblings and he paled slightly.

'She can't read minds, can she?' Nate thought anxiously. It certainly wasn't out of the realm of possibilities with all the crazy stuff he had seen in the Loops, or even in his Baseline…

Cinder shrugged after a moment and went back to her food and coffee. Nate let out a breath of relief.

"You know speaking of getting up, there's one person whom still isn't here," their father stated after looking around and noticing one empty seat. Ruby stood up and looked up the stairs.

"YANG! GET DOWN HERE!"

"I'M COMING! SHEASH!"

The other three sibling's ears rang at the shouts between the two youngest sisters, though the parents didn't seem very phased.

"Ok, you got everything you need?" Yang asked as she looked at Nate. Their parents had already left and it was his older siblings' jobs to make sure he got to school on time and safely.

"I'm fine Yang, you do know I'm Awake right?" Nate questioned his blond sister and she chuckled while patting his head.

"Of course, of course. But I still need to lookout for my baby brother."

"I wish you guys would stop calling me a baby," Nate grumbled as he got his shoes on.

"Don't worry Nate, they called me the baby for a while too!" Ruby called from the living room.

"How did you get them to stop?" Nate questioned Remnant's Anchor and he heard her chuckling.

"You became the baby!"

"That doesn't help!"

"It helped me!"

"Ruby!"

"Ok, enough! Shouldn't you get going," Cinder interrupted the little sibling-squabble before she inspected Nate. "He looks fine, send him off into the world."

"I'm getting to that," Yang stated before she nodded to Nate. "Anybody give you any trouble, just give me a call."

"Thanks Yang, but I don't think the principle wants you around the elementary school after what you did to the last bully."

"It was self-defense! Self-defense of my little brother's adorable head!"

"Don't worry, nobody has the guts to try anything after that anyway," Nate chuckled as Yang nodded with a smile.

"Well you better get going before you're late," Grif stated as he stood by the stairs.

"Shouldn't you be getting to work?" Nate questioned his only brother whom just shrugged.

"I'm taking a sick day."

"… You're not sick."

"Oh yes I am, I have a really bad case of the lazies."

"Be careful, I think it's contagious," Yang whispered to Nate in an amused tone.

"Well then… I best be going, Eddie and Bear are waiting for me," Nate stated.

"Bear… why is that his name?" Grif questioned with a shake of his head. Nate stepped outside to meet with his two friends while his siblings came out to the front porch to watch him go. Nate wasn't really that thrilled with going to school… there were no yo-kai and Katie didn't seem to be Awake. That, along with knowing most of the answers to the tests in advance made it… pretty boring. Still he was happy with this Loop and any opportunity to spend time with his 'siblings.'

"So Nate," Bear began as they walked away from his home and siblings, while Eddie messed around with something on his smartphone. "About your sisters…"

"No Bear," Nate said firmly.

"They're kind of…" Bear trailed off with a devious look on his face.

"I swear if you finish that sentence," Nate growled in a threatening manner.

"Your sisters are hot," Eddie stated absentmindedly and Bear laughed.

"THAT'S IT!" Nate shouted before he pounced on his two friends.

"Nate! What are you doing!? That's not how I taught you to punch!" Yang shouted as she came over and started yelling instructions.

"Oh brother," Cinder sighed before she just went back inside. Ruby and Grif watched the scene blankly for a few seconds; Ruby with a concerned look, and Grif not seeming to care.

"Grif… should we do something?"

"Why? Nate seems to be handling this fine."

"Come on Nate! Can't you take a joke!?" Bear's voice cried out.

"I mean step in to stop Nate…"

"Nah… this is something we should let him get out of his system."

"… You sure."

"… Positive."

25.4 Black Omochao

"Blake! Get back here with my Bumblebee!" Yang cried out as she chased her girlfriend whom was driving away with a cartoonishly large amount of stolen goods.

"Blake?" Keita questioned as she zoomed by him and Whisper.

"Stop her!" Yang yelled, stopping by her surrogate brother. Keita sighed before grabbing Whisper and zooming after Blake with the enhanced speed he shared with Ruby.

"Keita-kun! Hold up!" Whisper cried as he felt sick moving at this speed. They stopped when they got in front of Blake and forced her to hit the brakes.

"Out of the way!" Blake yelled in aggravation.

"Blake's acting odd, there must be a yo-kai!" Keita concluded before taking out his watch.

"Keita-kun, what have I told you about blaming yo-kai for everything? Blake simply needs to learn some self-control. I'd think by now you would have learned-"

"Found it!" Keita exclaimed when his light hit something and revealed what looked like a fat, purple penguin hovering near Blake.

"What!? There was one!?" Whisper shouted in surprise. "Er, I mean. Of course there is, this is um," Whisper quickly took out his yo-kai pad and tried to look for the name.

"Yokodori, AKA Peckpocket, AKA we've seen this one before," Keita said with shake of his head.

"Um, yes. Of course I knew that. I was just testing you," Whisper insisted.

"Whatever," Keita shook his head before glaring at the avian yo-kai. "Yokodori, stop inspiriting Blake right now!"

"What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine!" Yokodori said uncaringly and Blake's eyes flashed.

"Mine, mine, mine!" before she zoomed past Keita and went ahead. Kaita took a look at himself and confirmed Blake hadn't taken anything from him.

"Huh, odd. I'd think she'd have stolen something from me, that's weird, huh Whisper?" no response. "… Whisper?" he looked and noticed his ghostly butler was no longer by his side.

"Keita-kun! Help!" Whisper cried out as he was taken away along with the rest of the stuff Blake had stolen.

"Oh great…" Keita sighed as he prepared to give chase.

"Blake! Stop it!" Yang yelled as she finally caught up and took a second to catch her breath.

25.5 yangfromyin

Over the eons of Looping, Weiss had made a point of trying to discover everything about Dust. While some details would change from Loop to Loop, she had steadily obtained more knowledge.

However, one area of knowledge has been inaccessible to her. At least, until Cinder had started Looping.

"So Cinder, do you mind helping me gather some Grimm?"

Weiss sighed. "We're running out of Grimm to use."

"We can always gather more. Lets move on to test... 28?"

"Right. Test 28, sewing Dust into the muscles of a Grimm. Lets begin."

In Eiken, a rather annoyed Ruby was glaring at Weiss and Cinder. "So what did we learn about Dust and Grimm?"

Weiss sighs as she rubs her sore back. "Creating a Grimm capable of using Dust crashes the Loop."

25.6

Nora Valkyrie was laying on a bed. Or more accurately, the bed that she always woke up on. It was a bed, in a hotel room, on the outskirts of Vale, where she and Ren stayed the night before leaving for the Airship depot to catch their ride to Beacon Academy. She was boredly searching for a movie, Ren was in the shower, and all was right with the world.

The death of noisy water in the bathroom spelled the end of Ren's shower. The apprentice of Ranma Saotome stepped into the room, pink towel drying his hands, wearing shorts and a loose teeshirt. He looked ready for bed. "Good evening Nora."

"Good evening Ren," Nora replied cheerfully.

"Are you time traveling through the world tree like I am?"

"Yup."

"Good to know."

This was how an evening for Ren and Nora typically went.

Ren hopped into his own bed, before frowning, failing to find a remote, hopped into Nora's bed, stole the remote, and put on the ever popular cooking/combat show "Meal Huntsman". Nora tackled Ren and wrestled the remote from his grasp before flicking it to the enjoyable "Bachelorette Hunting." Naturally this back and forth persisted for a few minutes, before a silent agreement was struck, and Ren and Nora settled in to watch their favorite shared tv show, a pokey Mistralian motoring show that doubled as a comedy sketch.

It was around the time that one of the hosts, Cheremy Jlarkson was asking if a Schnee Fiesta was green that Rem took the remote and paused the show. Nora, having spent most of the time sitting on Ren's back, glared at the boy between her legs. "Hey, turn that back on."

Ren rolled over and sent Nora over the edge into the gap between beds, a move that only served to annoy the freckled girl. Of course, when Nora stood up and tried to get angry at Ren, his sober expression stopped her. "Do... You know... You want to go back to Meal Huntsman?"

Ren'a mouth twitched as the ghost of a smile haunted it. "No, that's not it Nora. I think-"

"Want to go out early and get the drop on Jaune and Pyrrha?"

"I'd rather-"

"Oh, oh, we leave the city of Vale, train for five year, come back, start calling ourselves Thor and Green Specter, and establish ourselves as superheroes!"

Ren clasped his hands together and waited.

"Do you want to reestablish the Duchy of Valkyrie and Lie? Wait, no, hunt down Salem and kidnap her! Better idea, go out, corner the market on rutabagas, use that to drive her from hiding! Eh? Eh?" Nora looked at her stern and serious friend, and all levity dried up. "You..."

Nora gulped. "Ren, you're not going to say 'I love you', are you?"

Ren looked deep into Nora's sea green eyes, pensive, still, thoughtful... And then he let out a big sigh of relief. "You don't want me to. Which means that you don't love me."

Nora faltered. "Well I mean you're awesome and nice and all and I respect you and I want the best for you butthatdoesntmeanthatIloveyouandwhatislovedonthurtmebutifyouregoingto-"

Ren politely raised his hand and covered Nora's out of control mouth when she started signaling for his help. "Thanks for that," she said.

"Don't mention it." Ren cleared his throat. "For the record, I don't want to get in your pants."

"Well neither do I."

"Good to know."

Of course, the somewhat comfortable silence that Ren and Nora settled into was broken by Nora not five seconds later. "So... What? What's with the big 'declaration of friendshipitude?'"

Ren sat up and gave Nora a hard look. "Nora... More than anyone else I care about you. You are my whole world. My sister, my best friend, my confidant. But..." Ren shook his head awkwardly.

Nora pursed her lips and spoke her mind. "Well, I don't want everything to get real tense and complicated and like... You know..." Nora stopped and groped for the word above her head.

"Rushed."

"Yeah."

Ren nodded at that and flipped in the bed, laying down comfortably. "I can do that."

"Wait and see until baseline," Nora said. "That's what I want."

"You do know that if our baseline selves hookup, we'll need to explain that to our parents."

"It's not blood," Nora said cheekily. "Besides, Jaune and Pyrrha want grandkids."

"Ugh..." Ren groaned, but Nora's little 'boop' on his nose shut him down. "You're the worst."

"I know."

"Let's see what's on tv."

25.7 GammaTron

"Not so funny, is it?" Ruby giggled.

"Oh hah-hah-hah. Very funny, universe!" Grif shook a hand at the air.

"Oh come on, Grif. It's not that bad," Yang giggled, "Just think about what you can do now."

"...Someone get me a normal-sized slice of pizza," Grif ordered, pointing his hand at them.

"So their extension came with a new average thing they'll Loop through?" Keita asked, looking at his brother turned Mega Blocks standing on the table which was displaying a makeshift Valhalla.

"It seems like it. Quite hilarious," Cinder smirked.

"You better not be thinkin' of lightin' us up!" Sarge demanded on top of Red Base, "Ah've got mah birthday present and Ah ain't 'fraid t' use it!"

Ruby fell over laughing, "Th-Their voices are high pitched!"

"Only one of us that still sounds the same is Caboose," Simmons noted.

"Put. Me. Down," Church glowered at Caboose.

"But you are a toy now! And toys are huggable!" Caboose cheered.

"You're a toy, too, tree-dang it! Branch! We're censored like this!" Church shouted in annoyance.

"Oh my Tree, you're right! I am a toy, too!" Caboose realized before he pulled Church into a bear hug, "Now I can hug you and me at the same time!"

"(Seriously. Why am I a head even now?!)" Lopez complained, a head beside Sarge.

"You're right, Lopez. If she tried t' use her fire on us, we'll blast her with all th' firecrackers we've got!" Sarge nodded his head.

"(Sarge. Learn. Spanish. Already!)"

Sarge chuckled, "Oh, Lopez, Ah love ya too."

"(I hate you.)"

"Whisper...are...are you really recording this?" Keita gawked at the butler.

"But of course. Delta asked me to do this if he wasn't around at the moment," Whisper replied, "And Theta gave me puppy dog eyes."

"But he wears a helmet all the time."

"I could feel the Puppy Dog Eyes through it," Whisper shivered before they both blinked twice at the empty plate with Grif in it.

"I. have. no. regrets..." Grif groaned.

"Wow. He ate the entire slice in three seconds flat," Ruby blinked twice.

25.8 Detective Ethan Redfield

"Swap me this card," Torchwick grumbled as he placed the card on the table. The serving droid took the card and dealt another. He grimaced at the two cards in hand. An 10 and a 2. Better than the 10 and -8 he previously held. It didn't matter as Lando laid down a pure Sabacc,a 15 and an 8. He sighed and set down his cards. Within a few moments, he had lit up another cigar and took a drawl from it, "You know, Calrissian, no one should be as lucky as you in cards. I'd say your cheating-"

As Lando held out a hold out blaster, Torchwick quickly replied, "But I know better. Nothing you hate more than a card cheat."

With the blaster removed, Torchwick took a moment to stand and stare out the viewport. He was currently on Lando's private space yacht, the Lady Luck. Hyperspace had formed a chaotic tunnel of white and blue. It was both beautiful, but maddening. He turned back to the table and started spinning his cane. "So, anything else you want from me before you clean out my subspace pocket?"

Lando gave a grin, "You can keep most of your collection, Roman. How about we make a bet-"

Torchwick held the cane at Lando's head. Lando paused, then grinned, "Listen to my offer first. Now, I have something that you might find interesting."

He pulled out a Brown Lockpick with a blue Jewel attached to the bottom. "Do you recognize this?"

Torchwick rolled his eyes, reaching into his subspace pocket and pulling out one of his own. "What looping thief doesn't? Anyone who's visited Skyrim would recognize it as the Skeleton Key."

Lando gave a grin, "You are correct. But this...is a variant version of that key, where our universe crossed over. The skeleton key is effective for all physical locks...but..."

He walked over to the door to the Lady Luck's bridge, "It's remarkably useless against electronic locks. This one..."

He twisted the blue gem and it transformed into a blue key card, "Can penetrate all electronic locks, physical locks, and can even crack safes."

He swiped the skeleton card, and a few seconds later the door opened. Torchwick blinked, then smirked, "I'm impressed. Now tell me, what would I do if I lost?"

Lando shrugged, "You can keep the stuff in your pocket either way, but only if you play one more game with me."

The gambler tapped a button on the wall, causing blast doors to slide in front of the viewport, shielding them from the chaos outside. He took a seat at the table and continued, "If I win, I want you to do a job for me. I spoke to your employer, Weiss Schnee when I replaced her father one loop."

Torchwick smirked as he joined Lando at the table, "Impressive, considering how the Ice Queen avoids her father like the plague in the loops. How did you accomplish that?'

Lando gave a mysterious smirk. "I have my ways, Mr. Torchwick. Now as I was saying, you once stole the Cross Continental Transmit System. I want you to steal the Holonet."

Torchwick licked his lips and leaned forward. "One more game, Calrissian, for the entire shebang."

With that, the droid issued a new round of cards.

25.9

Dolores Umbridge handed Ruby Rose the ornate black Quill that she had passed many a belligerent student before. "Now miss Rose, I believe that you will be writing 'I must not tell lies or wear non-uniform capes in class' tonight."

Ruby looked at the quill and the parchment that it had been paired with. "Uh, miss Umbridge, how many times should I write this?"

Umbridge waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, until it's... Sunk in."

Ruby clicked her teeth, and toon the quill. "I... Must... Not... Tell Lies... Or wear... Non-uniform... Capes. In class."

The red ink appeared on the paper quite unceremoniously. Dolores stared at it and the back of Ruby's hand. "Well. Go on."

Ruby wrote on... And on... And on... Well into the night. First one page, and then the back of the page, and then three more parchment pages were filled with the scarlet words 'I must not tell lies or wear non-uniform capes in class'. And not a single mark had been made on Ruby's hand.

Umbridge hit her limit when Ruby finished her fourth page. "Your hand, now." Scanning the aperture of her nuisance, Umbridge grew increasingly dour. "What in the world are you doing miss Rose!?"

"I'm writing," Ruby said innocently.

"Don't play dumb with me child," Umbridge said harshly. "You're up to something. I just know it! Now you are going to write 'I must not tell lies' until the morning!"

For a moment, Ruby was silent. "But professor..."

The blood on the parchment flowed away from their spots and coalesced into a giant, feral wolf's head.

"It sunk in."

The wolf screeched in Umbridge's face. Dolores dropped in a dead faint. After a moment of waiting, Ruby had her blood wolf avatar lick her to establish a pulse.

Then she spat hard. "YUCK! You taste terrible!" The blood wolf reformed itself into a blood corgi and hopped off of the desk and into Ruby's hand. Ruby cooed as she walked out of the room. "Who's a good boy? Who's a good terrifying boy? I am! Hahahaha!"

25.10 Me, Shimmer712, and yangfromyin

Ruby and Weiss ran through Beacon's courtyard, watching as Winter's airship landed at the sky dock. "Weiss, come on! We meet your sister here every loop."

"Not every loop," Weiss retorted. "We missed her when Ren and Nora woke up the Dragon by accident."

"That was six loops ago," Ruby whined.

"Well I don't want to miss her," Weiss affirmed, both girls skidding to a halt in front of Winter's ship. Already Atlesian Knights were disembarking, and following them, with a click of her heels, was Winter Schnee.

"Winter!" Weiss called, flagging down her sister. The elder Schnee sibling, for a moment, lost her hard composure: a smile flickered onto her face. "It's so good to see you!"

Winter gave Weiss a somewhat aloof examination. "Hmm. It's... Been quite a while since I've been to Beacon. It feels... Different."

"I know, it's completely different from Atlas, even Vale. It's a lot warmer, and... friendlier."

Winter's aloof expression became colder. "I would imagine so." The unspoken commentary on Ruby's slightly outlandish mixture of skirt, cloak and corset went unsaid (and unnoticed by Ruby). "This is the famous Ruby Rose I take it."

Ruby bashfully cringed. "Well I wouldn't say... famous..."

"Hardly," Winter admitted. "Your performance in the tournament has been nothing short of exemplary. As has Weiss'." Winter gave Weiss a small smile. "You've grown Weiss."

Weiss basked in her big sister's approval. "I've gotten a lot of experience."

"Evidently. None the less, I arrived ahead of schedule, and seeing as I will not be needed for some time, why don't you show me how you have been living these passed few months?"

"Of course." Weiss took her sister's arm and led her towards the main courtyard. "You'll love it here. My room is quite nice, and don't worry, the bunk beds are a lot safer than they look."

Winter frowned. "Bunk beds?"

Ruby, in the background, waved off the sisters and went to go stop her uncle Qrow from ruining the moment.

That failed miserably.

Winter and Weiss were just passing the courtyard when their was a commotion behind them. Then, the robotic head of an Atlesian went sailing straight into the back of Winter's head. "AGH!"

Weiss wheeled around, seeing Qrow and Ruby staring at her and Winter. They immediately pointed at each other in a desperate attempt to pass the blame. "QROW!"

Winter oriented herself and glared at the drunk man who had assaulted her and her guard. "Qrow, what are you doing here?"

"Moi?" Qrow asked. "...What am I doing here?"

Winter's eye twitched. "You've destroyed Atlesian Military property, attacked one of its highest ranking members, and you're too drunk to realize that you've done so, aren't you?"

"I saw that gaudy ship of yours from Vale. Figured I'd drop by and say goodbye."

"Yes, I take it you'll be on a long trip to a far off land from whence you will never return. If so I wish you God speed on your journey," Winter countered sardonically.

"I figured that I'd get in a few good words before you and Ironwood's fleet got kicked out. Oh, didn't you know? Ironwood's sold out, and now he's trying to go behind Ozpin's back."

"I would suggest you hold your tongue," Winter snarled.

Qrow smirked. "Or what?"

"Or I will remove it for you." With that, Winter unsheathed her sword.

Qrow just smiled. "Okay then. Try."

Ruby and Weiss watched the battle unfold. "I blame you for this Ruby," Weiss told her partner.

"I regret nothing," Ruby said, already eating her popcorn.

Well, they managed to keep Winter and Qrow from fighting this loop.

The White Fang Lieutenant wasn't a better choice. Since, whereas Qrow just wanted to mess with Winter, the Fanaus was actively trying to kill her.

"Wait, is he an actual Fanaus?" Yang asked. "I mean, we haven't seen his Fanaus trait. No horns, tail, ears, nothing. What if he's some psycho faking being a Fanaus so he can use White Fangs switch to violent tactics to satisfy his bloodlust? What if he's actually a human serial killer?"

Weiss considered that. "Well, he did try to cut me in half?"

"...What?" the Lieutenant asked. Whether it was in response to someone believing he may be human or due to Weiss' reference to an event that didn't happen this loop was uncertain. What was clear was Winter's reaction. Her vicious, bloody, malicious reaction.

"MOMMY!" the Lieutenant howled ("Ooh! Maybe he's a wolf and his animal traits are in his vocal cords! Is that a thing?"), fleeing from the enraged Schnee after a brutal beat down.

"GET BACK HERE SO I CAN NAIL YOUR HIDE TO A WALL!" Winter bellowed, giving chase. The Lieutenant screamed in reply.

"...Wow. I didn't know he could reach that pitch," Blake said.

The Lieutenant escape was cut off however, by a smile explosion from a nearby building sending two figures hurtling through the air and landing on top of him.

"Huh, that was a thing," Qrow muttered. "Not sure what you were trying to pull, kiddo."

"Oh, just an experiment with a weird liquid I found," the younger-looking scythe wielder shrugged.

"...Do I want to know where you got it?" Qrow wondered.

"MOVE!" The pair blinked and looked at Winter, who was snarling with rage. Qrow looked at her than at the man underneath him and his niece.

"Oh, are we between you and your boytoy? Sorry about that." He paused and give her a mocking smirk. "Quite the masochist, aren't you? And in public."

Apparently they had been a bit quick to declare their prevention of the Winter Vs Qrow Fight a success.

"I am not cleaning that up," Ruby announced as the two began to wreck the courtyard.

Ruby was starting to wonder why she couldn't stop her uncle and Winter from fighting. Weiss was past the point of wondering and was actively yelling. "STOP FIGHTING YOU TWO!"

Qrow sidestepped Winter's sword and looked at Weiss. "What? I'm not fighting."

Qrow blocked a dozen strikes from Winter.

"We're dancing."

"AAAAAAAGH!" Winter screamed, trying her best to bisect Qrow.

Weiss glared at Ruby. "You tried introducing them to each other before Beacon, didn't you?"

Ruby cringed. "I thought it would work this time."

"FUCK YOU QROW!" Winter screamed as Qrow switched their weapons again and sent her off balance.

"How was I supposed to know they would fall in love again and duel to see who pays for their dates?"

"Bizarre does not even begin to describe this loop," Weiss grumbled out in Beacon's courtyard.

Ruby shrugged her shoulders, a glass of milk in hand. "I kind of like it. You don't see these sorts of things every day. Right mom?"

Cinder nearly jumped out of her skin. "Oh, uh, yes. These loops are bizarre."

Weiss, Ruby, Blake and Pyrrha stared at Ruby's de-aged mother. Cinder gave them a halfhearted smile. "Motherhood is not my speed."

"Well, it could be worse," Ruby asserted. "I mean, look at Uncle Qrow and Winter."

"Is this guy bothering you Winter?" Winter's boyfriend asked. For what it was worth, Qrow was just staring at the guy. Winter herself was quite uncomfortable. You tended to get that way when Adam Taurus was your boyfriend.

Ruby shrugged. "Okay, sure, it's weird. Winter's dating the leader of a terrorist cult, Cinder's my mom, Qrow's my dad, Pyrrha has to deal with Amber in her head-"

"Telling all the dirty jokes she knows," Pyrrha groaned.

"- and Blake is in heat, but hey! Qrow and Winter aren't fighting."

A moment of silence passed. Weiss facepalmed as Qrow and Winter seemed to realize that they were there. "You had to tempt fate Ruby."

There was an explosion in the vicinity of Qrow and Winter.

"You had to tempt fate."

"GO DAD! KICK HER BUTT!"

"TEACH HIM SOME RESPECT WINTER!"

Adam went soaring by a minute later, unconscious, which made everything even better.

"Soo heeey Eiss. Hehe. Eiss."

Winter staggered down the board way to her ship, slouched badly. "I saw yoou... On like... Da picto thing. Yeah."

Ruby and Weiss were staring at Winter with blank white eyes. "...She's drunk."

"I's not drunk. I's ferfectly fine," Winter slurred. She fell down the rest of the way. "Ferfectly fine."

Ruby pulled Winter to her feet, the drunken heiress cuddling her like an oversized teddy Grimm. "Come on Winter. I know some sobering techniques that help with my Uncle."

"You's uncle is like... So cool. He beat me drinking. So soft." Winter was cuddling Ruby's cape.

Ruby glanced at Weiss hoping for backup. Weiss was still in shock over seeing her sister drunk. "You know my uncle."

"He's a rate drinker. Brate. Slate. Something." Winter sagged into Ruby's cloak, and started snoring.

Ruby picked up Winter and cradled her, Weiss sliding up to stare at her big sister. "Well... Mission accomplished. Winter and Uncle Qrow aren't going to be fighting any time soon."

"SCHNEE!"

"Fuck."

Qrow Branwen fell out of the sky... No really, he fell out of the sky. He staggered to his feet and plodded up to Weiss. "You left me to foot the table. Now you're gonna pay: eighty Lien, now."

Weiss took Qrow by the shoulders and pointed him at Winter who was giving him a dead stare. "That's sixty hic six dollars. Cough it up."

Winter looked at him, and punched him in the balls. Qrow pointed at her. "I want my ninty dollars. After this." He turned on his heel, threw up, turned back around, and collapsed into Ruby, and passed out.

The overburdened Anchor shook, lost control of her still pretty normal knees, and finally dropped, buried beneath the two drunks. She looked at Weiss. "Help."

Weiss pulled out her Scroll, and snapped a picture.

Weiss stared at the latest fight between Qrow and Winter before turning to Ruby. "I thought we agreed that we wouldn't try to get them dating anymore after the last failure."

Ruby looked at her partner in shock. "I thought you did this one. I didn't do anything to them this Loop. Variant?"

The two ducked as Winter was sent flying towards them. Qrow did not hesitate to charge after her, leaping over his niece.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. "I think it is. No one else Pinged so it should be just the two of us... oh thank Dust, Miss Goodwitch has arrived."

A fair distance away, Neo and Roman rolled in laughter at the sight of Glynda using her telekenesis to separate the two Hunters like squabbling children. "All this for whose last name the children would have!"

"I can't believe it," Weiss moaned. "How the hell is that team still functioning?" There was a loud crash as a window was shattered.

"I have no idea," Ruby shrugged. The pair watched the fighting duo. "I mean, you'd think being on the same team would have those not fighting all the time. Especially since they spend most of their free tine in detention." A thud rang out as a sliced pillar hit the ground

"...Could we flunk them for lack of teamwork? That would make an impact!" Weiss suggested to the in-loop headmistress, trying to ignore the sound of fighting and destruction.

"They pass their classes and the missions. It'll be pretty flimsy since we can't show it effects their work ethic," Ruby pointed out.

"Maybe instead of detention, we should make them pay for the repairs," Weiss proposed, looking over at the Anchor.

"Are we allowed to charge students for that?" Ruby wondered.

"If people try to tell us otherwise, I'll pull up the receipts for the repairs they've already caused us!" Weiss grumbled. There was a loud boom as a crater was made in the courtyard.

"SCREW YOU QROW!"

"Not unless you remove that stick from up your-" thud! "Whoo! Almost got me! Stopped lazing around?" the male Beacon student taunted.

"I'm going to cut out that tongue of yours!" his female teammate snarled.

"Ooh! Kinky! But that's not my kinda scene, sorry."

"ARGH!"

"I hope we don't get too many loops where we're their teachers. I think I set a new record for migraines."

Ruby's eyebrow twitched. The robot guards that typically flanked Winter were wearing tuxedos. Doves were launching all around them from inside the ship. It sounded like a small orchestra was following the Schnee Heiress around. The violins and chellos were playing quite elegantly, and there were the horns, adding sweet brassy flare to...

Here Comes the Bride.

Weiss' jaw had more or less detached itself from her skull. Winter, wearing incredible finery, was being serenely led from her airship by none other than Qrow Branwen, wearing a custom white tuxedo. Weiss barely registered Winter shrieking (shrieking!) her name and breaking from Qrow, grabbing her and swinging her into a tight hug. "Weiss! It's so good to see you!"

"...married," Weiss choked out.

Qrow walked up beside Ruby. "Hey short stuff. Meet your new aunt."

Ruby nodded once, twice, and then fell over. After a moment she produced a bottle. "Aged one thousand years in barrels crafted by Applebloom, hoofmade by Big Macintosh Apple. For celebrations only."

Qrow popped the cork and produced a pair of wine flutes from his pocket. He handed one to Winter, who was still holding Weiss. "To us."

"To us," Winter declared, tapping her glass of apple cider to his.

Weiss finally sagged from Winter's grasp, utterly bewildered. Qrow smiled. "You did that."

"I most certainly did not," Winter told him.

"Did to."

Winter gently clocked Qrow in the jaw. "Didn't."

"Okay okay."

The newlyweds walked off for Ozpin's office, ready to give him the good news. Weiss and Ruby looked at each other. "Did you do this?"

"Nope. You?"

"No."

The girls, now technically aunt and niece, stared up into the orange sky. "You think we can get the wedding pictures?"

"It's us! We'll have your sister and Uncle Qrow eating out of our hands."

25.11

"Oh, my semblance is cooking bread this loop."

"What? Oh, I think my semblance is either invisibility or flight. Maybe both."

"Temporarily healing. I can take a hit, undo it, but only for a while."

"Ultimate pastry chef. I know, not all that useful."

"I turn into a laughing tree," Jaune told Pyrrha the morning after Team's RWBY and JNPR had arrived at Beacon. He demonstrated his Semblance. "Yeah, I don't get it either."

Pyrrha stared at Jaune, dead to the world for a few minutes. Then she began screaming.

"The multiverse has it out for me," Pyrrha moaned. Ozpin poured her a small cup of tea and pushed it to her. "Every loop Jaune is Awake, every loop he's... His Semblance is terrible."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Pyrrha, if I will be frank, Jaune's Semblance has been quite useful this Loop. I understand that limited time stopping may seem rather inconvenient, but I would-"

"That's not it," the unhappy champion said. "None of his semblances are good for sex."

"..." Ozpin sipped his tea. "Well I for one would caution against using your semblances in a sexual connotation. My personal ability to generate lightning, while reliable, is hardly applicable."

"Some girls are into that," Pyrrha pointed out in anguish.

Ozpin shrugged. "Pyrrha, as your Headmaster and teacher I feel as though I should be able to give you better advice than this. You and Jaune should enjoy every minute you spend together, regardless of any abilities either of you have."

"I know. I just..." Pyrrha sighed again. "Ugh..."

Ozpin contemplated his coffee. "Well Pyrrha... If it would lift your spirits... At least you have someone who cares deeply for you."

"...Aren't you and professor Goodwitch-"

"It is a strictly professional relationship Pyrrha. She is my coworker, subordinate, and occasional evil minion, but not my girlfriend or lover."

Pyrrha was defeated. "Maybe Yggdrasil has it out for me?"

"I highly doubt that."

A leaf blew in through the window and lightly slapped Pyrrha's face. She gave Ozpin a dead glare. The headmaster sipped his coffee. "That was probably a coincidence."

A giant tree impaled itself in the window of Ozpin's office, stopping just short of Pyrrha. The headmaster nodded. "Okay, maybe Yggdrasil does have it out for you.

25.12 wildrook

"Well, your awakening worked out well," Pyrrha said, confused. "Don't know why you're bald, though."

Jaune blinked, then looked up. "I think that might be my Semblance this Loop," he muttered. "Or it's something else entirely and being bald is a side-effect. I'm tempted to test it out."

That was before they decided to go into the cave.

After, well...to say that "there is no cave" would be an understatement.

"What was that?" Ren asked Nora, hanging nearby.

"I think that was Jaune destroying a Scorpion Grimm with one punch," she muttered. Ren gave her a stare. "What? That's the first thing that came to mind."

Ren shook his head. Unfortunately, the fact that Jaune and Pyrrha arrived unscathed only added to Nora's claim. And Pyrrha looked shocked beyond recognition.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Nora asked them.

"Now that you mention it," Jaune said, "I half-expected more trouble, but instead, I brought it to pieces. Seemed boring."

Pyrrha gave Jaune a small glare. "Yes, but it doesn't explain how you BLASTED AN ENTIRE CAVE AS A SIDE-EFFECT!" she yelled.

Ren's stare was deadpan. "Something tells me this is going to be more troublesome than its worth..." he muttered.

25.13

Gently, Salem rapped her knuckles against the screen, causing Ruby to quiver at it's bottom. "This is amazing Cinder. Beyond amazing."

Cinder smiled at her master. "It was nothing. They never even suspected me."

Salem put in a small key command, watching the whole of Vale and it's inhabitants bow over, screaming in agony. "Oh yes, this is marvelous indeed. I believe now... You may go Cinder."

Cinder nodded to Salem. "Of course. Good bye Salem. Good bye Ruby."

In the screen, Ruby whimpered. "Why did you do it Cinder? Why? Why, why, why, why, why, why?"

Cinder grinned. "Why? Why... Why did I... Why..."

"Why... Why..."

Cinder Fall sat up in her bed, hair swept every which way. Walking through the still dark room, she entered the bathroom and ran a basin of water. After splashing it on her face, Cinder let Salem gingerly caress her shoulders. "My... What a wonderful body to spend all eternity in. Simply heavenly. You may even say... divine. Why don't we go up to where the gods are Cinder? Don't you want to be a goddess?"

"Yes," Cinder said. "I want to be a goddess. I want to watch the universe burn, and I want to be able to set every universe on fire."

Salem led her from the bathroom to Ruby's bunk bed. Crescent Rose was already in Cinder's grasp. The Grimm Maiden smiled and pulled Ruby's hair back, exposing her neck. Cinder swung, and Ruby's head flew from her body, tumbling through the air, falling forever, black hair growing, silver eyes burning to gold, screaming.

Cinder woke up screaming.

Her hands snapped to her mouth, silencing the shriek before she could wake Emerald or Mercury. She stumbled from the bed, racing out the door and sprinting down the hall. "Oh god, oh god, I killed Ruby, oh god."

Cinder stopped at RWBY's door, her hand on the knob, her heart in her throat. For countless seconds she stood there, the knob stuck. Her breathing slowed. Her heart calmed. She let go of thre knob, turned around, leaned against the door, and sunk to the floor.

'What am I doing here? She's... They're my enemy. I'm supposed to kill them. All of them. I killed Pyrrha. I... I should kill them.'

'So why am I scared of killing them?'

An hour passed. Cinder sat there, watching the moon shadows slide by, silver and gray against the maroon carpet. Only the distant tick of Ozpin's tower told her of the passage of time.

She opened the door. Ruby was on her bunk, snoring away. Weiss was sprawled under her sheets. Yang had climbed in Blake's bed for some unfathomable reason. All was sweet, and peaceful.

Cinder snarled and shut the door. "I will end them. I will."

Cinder told herself this as she walked back to her dorm and climbed back into bed. Emerald rolled over in her sleep, Mercury coughed, and Cinder passed from the waking world again, all unaware of the slow opening of the window, or of the tiny figure or it's tall companion climbing in.

Neopolitan slipped up to Cinder's bed, hold her hands just above her temples. Roman watched silently as luminescent energy passed from Neo to Cinder. Nothing happened, and both observed, but smiled to themselves, when in her sleep, Cinder began to quake, and beg forgiveness.

25.14 Black Omochao

Keita roared as he charged forward, leaving a trail of rose petals along his way. His scythe out, with a Jibanyan medal in place which had changed its color to the pink of the Pretty tribe. His cloaked opponent stood completely still as he approached and just as he was about to swing his weapon, she vanished.

"Nice try," Keita heard his sister's voice say before she appeared behind him with her own weapon out and ready. She swung Crescent Rose at him but he blocked the slash with Spectral Fang. The two traded blows rapidly while running around the mountain range they were currently in.

"I'm going to hit you this time!" Keita cried out as he continued his assault, but Ruby easily blocked or dodged all of his hits. Ruby suddenly vanished from sight again and Keita looked around frantically for her. He noticed Ruby appearing and disappearing around the mountains and quickly switched Spectral Fang to gun mode and attempted to shoot his fire balls at her, but she always disappeared before they could hit her.

"Listen bro, you've definitely improved," in an instant Ruby appeared before Keita and knocked him to the ground. "But you're not ready to beat me!" she changed her weapon to gun mode and pointed it at him. "Do you yield?"

"… I yield," Keita sighed with his head low. Ruby smiled at him and held her hand out, her younger brother took it before she pulled him to his feet. Suddenly the mountain range they were fighting in faded away before they exited Beacon's training room. "One of these days I'm going to get you to go all out Ruby…"

"Maybe, but you've still got a long way to go," Ruby chuckled while ruffling Keita's hair. Keita pushed her hands away and gave her an irritated look.

"Just you wait, next time I'll use more than Jibanyan's medal. You won't know what hit you!"

"You won't have the opportunity to switch it, you need to figure out how to switch the medal faster," Ruby shook her head while Keita looked at Spectral Fang in thought before removing Jibanyan's medal, causing the weapon to return to its base white color. "Now then, I believe we had a deal," Keita sighed at the devious smile on his surrogate–but also currently biological–sister's face.

"Right, right. Two dozen cookies coming up," he shook his head with a small smile.

25.15 Harosata

Ozpin woke up in a small computer room. He knew why the moment he stepped out into a grandoise room. "The Wizard of Oz. Well, the girls did go through their own fairy tales..."

There were...similarities between their tales and the tales of old, similarities that only a wandering mind could find. A tale of a girl who finds seven friends, only for the "fairest" man to lull her to sleep. A tale of a girl who once valued a man who cared more for his curse than his friends. A tale of a youth who once played in the house of beasts, lucky enough to leave the ordeal alive. A tale...of a young girl who trusted a wolf to lead the way and watched someone she trusted kill someone so close to her.

But now, it seems that their tales would soon join his, for if Ozpin wasn't the only one, a girl (and probably her dog) had dealt a heavy blow to one witch and will journey to fight another. And at the end of their journey, they expect to find their powerful headmaster, only to find a different man...Similarities found.

"It truly seems like they have been dragged into my story, one with an unexpected ending. A story who starts with a girl torn from the life she held dear." Ozpin stopped his mind from wandering. "But I wonder, Ruby. For this new adventure, you walk with a cowardly lion, a tin man yearning for a heart, and a scarecrow in need of learning. The question is, who will be at your side when you're off to see the wizard?"

"Sasuke, are you ready?"

"Yes Adam." Sasuke perked his ears as he glared up at his...friend and mentor. "Adam?"

The bull Faunus turned his eyes towards him. "What is it?"

"Where are we right now?"

"We're at..." Adam looked around. "Where are we? Where's the train?"

"The train would be past us. And I'm pretty certain you wouldn't know this place...because you haven't been here." Sasuke looked at his village, ironically hidden in the leaves of trees that consumed all. "In fact, you don't know Blake, though you usually do."

"What are you talking about?" Adam suddenly realized the situation he's in and drew his blade. "This is your Semblance, isn't it? Release me now!"

Sasuke turned around. "I think this used to be the police station, even if the ninjas do most of the village patrols anyway, and our clans lives way over there..."

Adam swung his blade...except he didn't swing his blade. How could that be? "Rude. But I guess I should at least explain my 'Semblance'. It's an illusion I can fully control for three whole days. Whatever happens in here is reality, or rather the reality I choose. You can't hurt me...but you can be hurt. And I can hurt you for 72 whole hours."

Adam wisely sheathed his blade. "So why don't you?"

"Because my clan was not a part of this village because of its founding members, a great grandfather or so, got into a fight with the other founder and leader. Right after I was born, a giant fox appeared in the village and killed many people. Because our powers were said to be able to control such creatures, they suspected us, and my parents were ready to lead a coup d'état ." Sasuke explained as he pulled up a chair. "One time, I wanted to take revenge on how they were treated, but before that, I wanted to take revenge on my brother, who slew my family and screwed my mind. Actually, he was a good guy, the best this village had to offer, but at the plea of the village elders, he was labeled a villain despite saving this village with his actions."

Adam huffed. "And I suppose you're here to tell me not to take revenge for the Faunus."

Sasuke shrugged. "Actually, Naruto derailed my revenge before I found out the truth of my brother's deeds. So I pretty much killed him, pranked him and tried to steer him clear from killing the clan. After that, I've pretty much got revenge out of my system. Time travel thing."

"...Time travel?"

"But sometimes, I'm not really there, so that me goes on a full revenge trip. Joined the village's ultimate traitor for power, joined the guy responsible for killing the other half of my clan to avenge my brother, started a world war with zombies, and this." Sasuke waved his hands around, gesturing at the trees. Adam felt uncomfortable with the flora. "Long story short, my need for revenge against...the world revived my ancestor to perform an illusion to trap the whole world, which in turn revive a goddess who wants to blow up the world. And if you continue down this path, this too can happen to your world. Seriously."

Adam shook his head. "I doubt the White Fang would raise an immortal. Besides, as long as the humans know their place-"

"It'll be okay to work with human criminals? To increase the Grimm-to-people ratio? But knowing me, you guys don't care if you're the bad guys as long as you get somehting good from it. I can't really argue with that." Sasuke stood up. "What I'm here to argue is for Blake. You haven't met her, but you've always known her."

"Blake...And what is she?"

"My sister. She fought for the Faunus and the humans to live in the same world and left when the White Fang became violent. Which makes me wonder...will you achieve her dreams once the world is inhabitable?" Sasuke turned around and began to walk away. He gave Adam one last glance. "You made her sad. As punishment, I'm leaving you in a world ruled by my vengence, a world that could be formed by your own. Be glad my brother and wife aren't involved."

Adam finally decided to draw his sword, but his blade only hit empty air. 2 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds remained.

"Freezerburn!" Hot and Cold.

How did he miss this before? Roman had to ask himself that question as he aimed the Paladin's guns at Yang and the ice princess. Maybe the audio wasn't good the first time around, but reliving the battle once more, he pulled the trigger.

"Checkmate!" Black and White

Roman drew one of his guns away from Yang and aimed it at Blake, the others still training the ice princess. Ah, a hunter was dangerous, but two were very troublesome with this thing called synergy. The fact was, Ruby here was using codenames to have two teammates attack him at the same time.

"L-ladybug!" Black and Red

Roman turned the other gun's attention to Ruby and launched the missiles. They were simple codenames that the others could under understand, probably make up as they go. However, once he understood the color and specialty of each girl, it was easy to shut down any attacks they could come up with.

"Bumblebee!" Black and Yellow

He had to roll his eyes as he aimed the gun at Y-

And Yang just threw her motorcycle at him! He grabbed it and set it down. "Time out! Are you girls all loopy!?"

Ruby grinned. "So you're actually awake! Why didn't you ping back?"

"Well, I do enjoy the classics from time to time." Roman waved it off as the cameras zoomed in on the motorcycle. "You named your motorcycle Bumblebee?"

"Yep!"

Roman looked at Yang and looked down again. "You...went stealth just to play with these names like...some sort of horrible pun."

"Hey!"

"Well, we also have a visiting Looper behind you." Ruby offered. "His name's Bumblebee too!"

Roman turned around and came face to face with a black and yellow robot and quickly said the one thing that might save him from a fight. "I apologize for all the puns the blonde gave you."

"I haven't bee-n that bad!"

Ruby's eye twitched.

"I guess that part of Little Red Riding Hood finally caught up." Blake figured.

"At least it's only the Beowolves acting like this." Weiss pointed out.

"And they stopped dressing up after the Summer thing." Yang recalled.

Ruby took a deep breath. And cut her way out from the belly of the beast. "I"m gonna need a shower. Again."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Roman offered helpfully.

"NOT HELPING!"

Jaune rubbed a needle with a magnet. "Doing this will make the poles inside the needle go in one direction and make it a weak magnet. It's not as good as the magnet we used, but it's light and subtle enough to start building our compass..."

Pyrrha smiled as Jaune taught little Ren this simple survival trick. It was rather cute as father taught son. But where was the daughter? A tug at her skirt had her look down at little Nora, who was holding Zwei in her hands. "Pet him?"

Pyrrha rubbed Zwei.

"Yay! Compass puppy!"

"Arf?"

25.16

"Hey mom."

Ruby chewed her lip, unsure of herself (a rare sensation for a girl older than her planet). She took a deep breath. "I guess... It's been a while. Fourteen years."

"...It has," Salem admitted.

Deep in the badlands south of Mistral, Ruby and Cinder had journeyed. They had been alone that loop, neither knowing what would happen when they reached the woman so central to their lives. Dread had walked with them in lockstep.

Salem held out an arm, white bone slowly emerging from her palm. The sword, viciously hooked and razor sharp, gleamed with a primordial evil. "It's good to see you again Ruby. HYAH!"

Salem's head went sailing into the distance, her body collapsing into a limp heap. Ruby and Cinder were already on their way out. "You do this every loop?"

"I have too. I can't risk her Looping."

"I'm here. I'm your sister. She was your mother."

Ruby said nothing, and walked from the site of her matricide.

25.17 Masterweaver

Blake crossed her arms, giving Yang a warning glare. "DON'T."

The blonde held up her hands with a grin. "No need to get catty with me, Blake."

"...You get three more."

Yang considered. "Three for the day, or three for the loop?"

"For the loop."

"Any chance I could earn more?"

"No." Blake sighed. "Maybe. I don't know. This is stupid!" She threw up her hands, sitting on the edge of her bed and, carefully, moving her tail out of the way. "I know Faunus are animal people, but-look at me!"

"Oh I'm looking," Yang assured her. "You've still got that same lithe figure."

"That's two."

"Hey! No fair, that wasn't a pun!"

"It still counts," Blake grumbled. "I just... fur! Muzzle! This is-I mean, I've been a full-on cat, right? Fused loops, warrior cats, all that sort of thing. But being a cat-girl, it's... this is..." She groaned, putting her head in her hands. "This is just..."

Yang frowned, sitting down next to her and putting her arm around her shoulders. "Hey. Talk to me."

"...White Fang didn't start off as a terrorist organization. It was once a legitimate group, trying to give Faunus rights, and... the whole reason I joined was because I wanted something better than being a street cat. I wanted to get rid of all the name-calling, the... flat out bullying, being treated like an animal. And now, I look more like an animal than I ever did. The catcalls I would get-"

Yang tried, and failed, to repress a snicker.

"Wha-Oh." Blake rolled her eyes. "Okay, that's three."

"But you were the one that said it!"

"You laughed. It counts."

"Awwww." Yang mock pouted for a moment. Then she lifted Blake's head out of her hands. "Serious time? This is a variant, you know that. And yeah, it's... kind of stupid, all things considered, but aside from obvious grooming differences-not a hairball joke," she forestalled, "I'm being serious!"

"Still counts."

"Well, aside from that, what's different? I still care about you, Ruby still cares, Weiss... isn't awake, but she's still Weiss. I know this is affecting you more than usual. But we're in this together, right?" She shrugged. "I promise, it will get better."

She leaned in and, very gently, planted a kiss on Blake's muzzle. "And I still love you."

Blake finally smiled. "Yeah... thanks. Although, uh, I'm not sure if we should, you know." She gestured at her face. "It's different and all."

"Well, I don't know. I like the taste of-"

"That's it," Blake said as she stood. "I'm taking your bike."

25.18 Masterweaver

"Hello. Welcome to Aperture Science Looping Acrobatic And Mental Technology System Testing Track. ASLAAMTSTT, if you will."

Cinder shook her head as she emerged from the pod, looking around the white walls. "A... slam test?"

"Similar to a Pop Quiz, although much more high stakes. We hope your brief stay in the relaxation vault has repressed all loop memories, since they are functionally worthless. Your specimen is now wildly inaccurate, and we require you to fill out the following form before we begin the test proper."

The woman blinked as the ceiling lifted and a clipboard was slipped unceremoniously through the gap. It was followed by what could only be described as a river of pens, alongside the occasional giant mantis limb and potato. "...What is going on?"

"You have looped into the Aperture Science Testing Facilities. Normally we would test the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device through the following chambers, but after a few million loops of that, alterations to the program were made. Mostly by the request of our anchor."

"Ooooookay." Cinder picked up the clipboard and fished for a pen that wasn't covered in ichor. "So... what are we testing, then?"

Even though the voice remained monotone, she swore she could hear a note of grim amusement in the reply. "You."

Cinder gave the ceiling a look. "That's not creepy at all. Look, who are you?"

"Discovering my identity is an integral part of the test."

"Really." Cinder flipped through the clipboard. "What happens if I choose not to sign this?"

"Remaining in the Relaxation Vault will result in your being tended to until the end of the loop."

"...and if I escape without signing this?"

"Well... if you're not going to play by the rules..." The voice seemed to drop an octave. "Neither am I."

Cinder had, eventually, decided to fill out the forms. Mostly, they were check-boxes and lists for any powers she had, certain loops she might have attended, and looping syndromes-she'd checked Chrysalis down, just to keep up appearances-followed by a small series of increasingly unbelievable waivers.

That had been about half an hour ago. Or maybe longer. Since then, she'd been shunted from chamber to chamber, told to use her abilities to get to the exit.

And forced to endure the computer woman's rambling.

"You know, it can be quite difficult being... morally unbound. So many loopers assume that just because my tests are lethal, I am out to kill them. I resent that. I am not malevolent."

Cinder just managed to jump out of a crusher's path, propelling herself across a bottomless gap with her power and rolling to a stop in front of a white turret.

"Very exacting, yes. But malevolent implies I have some sort of need to cause pain."

Cinder sent the turret flying away, wincing as its screams echoed through the void. "Generally speaking, causing pain is the whole point of death traps."

"These are not death traps. They are potentially lethal obstacles. Which, I might add, you are circumventing quite nicely. If they were death traps, you would be trapped. And, optimistically, dead."

"Look," Cinder snorted as she slapped a button. "You can't say you're not malevolent if you're willing to kill. It's a contradiction in terms."

"Malevolent: having, showing, or arising from intense often vicious ill will, spite, or hatred. My attempts to kill you do not stem from ill will, spite, or hatred. They stem from a need to test. Therefore, I am not malevolent."

Cinder rolled her eyes as she moved into her next elevator. "Keep telling yourself that."

"If you insist." The elevator doors slid shut. "Well, that was intense. I will be introducing a new test element next chamber. You're going to love it."

"Is it going to kill me in new and horrific ways?"

"Only if you mishandle it. Still, it will take a bit for the system to move you there. Why don't we talk in the meantime?"

"...Weren't we already talking?"

"Oh, all that was part of the test. Now, we can talk as equals." The voice chuckled. "Well, almost equals."

"You know, I could get out of here and crush your CPU."

"One nice thing about being a digital intelligence hooked up to a network is being able to spread your core program across multiple servers. Don't get me wrong. I've been killed before. Baseline. I came back from that."

"Because you started looping, right?"

"No, my revival was baseline too. Granted, I spent a few centuries reliving my death. It was very... tiring."

Cinder frowned, looking out at the network of tubes and I-beams visible through the plastic. Something about how the voice spoke... how it seemed to turn on that word. How it focused...

"I was rather angry at my Anchor, you know. We didn't get along well in Baseline. I blamed her for the Loops at first. Although I didn't know what was happening, I knew she had something to do with it. I made so many tests. Killed her so many ways... got killed so many ways. And when I learned what was really happening, I got creative. She got creative too. Then the moron started looping and he got creative. The peanut butter... Then I found out that she... I am so terribly sorry, I'm rambling. Must be these old circuits."

"Did you have a point with this?"

"I've seen your hub-loop fiction."

Cinder froze.

"Chrysalis syndrome. Definitely an appropriate name. Emerging from a variant, a hideous caterpillar now a beautiful butterfly."

"Yes. That's what happened."

"Do you ever doubt?"

Cinder curled up her fist. "Doubt what?"

"I do. I wonder... do I still hate her? Or the moron? It's been so long since baseline. We're... friends. But I still have this urge to test." Her voice lowered. "It helps that death isn't that big a deal to her anymore. That's a lot of our issues gone."

Cinder said nothing.

"Hmm. Curious. Ah, here we are. I'm going to have to be professional now."

The elevator doors slid open, and Cinder stepped into the next chamber. Already the voice was rambling on about uni-directional morphmatic pulses, but she barely paid it any heed.

"And you've gotten off the track. Finally. You know, I expected this to happen fifteen chambers ago."

"Shut up," Cinder growled. "The test is over."

"The test is never over. It's just evolved. After all, one of the best forms of testing is field testing. Uncontrolled variables, uncontrolled results... it's not very accurate, but it can reveal new information."

"Well good for you," Cinder grumbled, forming a bridge and jumping across another bottomless gap. "Do you ever think maybe insulting your test subjects is counter-productive?"

"On the contrary. Pressure leads to vindictiveness, which leads to action, which leads to more data."

"So you deliberately try to rile up your guests. Great." The woman glanced around. "That would explain why all these catwalks over long falls exist."

"Poor OSHA compliance is a tradition in many parts of the multiverse. Aperture Science takes pride in institutionalizing it."

Cinder blinked. "You're... kidding, right?"

"No. We have a running tally of OSHA inspectors lost."

"...well, that explains why I haven't seen any real scientists while running through this labyrinth of yours."

"Actually, that would be because I used a deadly nuerotoxin to kill them all. Oh don't worry, that's baseline. A few years before loop start. I wouldn't do that to you."

"Really."

"I don't have nearly enough to spread through the facility. And you'd probably be able to shrug it off anyway."

Cinder kicked down a door, sweeping her eyes around the room. "I want to have a talk with your anchor."

"She's out buying groceries. Apparently mantis meat and potatoes isn't good enough for her. At least she likes my cake..."

"You... bake?"

"Oh yes. Cake, doughnuts, humans, waffles, rolls, cores, turkey, turrets, cookies... I'm quite the culinary master, all things considered."

"Only some of those are edible."

"When death is temporary, the definition of edible expands exponentially."

"Has anybody ever told you you're insane?"

"Oh, quite frequently. Has anyone ever told you you're insane?"

Cinder stayed quiet.

"...I see."

"I said nothing."

"And I heard everything."

"What, are you a mind reader too?"

"Reading a test subject's mind would invalidate the test."

"I'll be the first to admit Aperture isn't easy to navigate, but you seem to be quite lost. Would you like a hint?"

"Would you give me a useful hint if I asked for one?"

"Well, I would have, but now that you asked that I don't think I will."

"That's very petty of you."

"I'm the goddess-queen of Aperture Science. Pettiness is the only thing keeping me from subsuming the world in a paper-clipper of endless testing."

Cinder paused. "Do you have nanotech?"

"There are nanobot work crews, yes. They have an unfortunate tendency to form unions." A sigh echoed through the empty offices. "It's always a choice, you know. I could wipe their programming back to being non-sapiant tools, but... well, gray goo and all that."

"Is this entire place a collection of mad science gone wrong?"

"Please don't be so insulting. Aperture Science technology always functions exactly as intended."

"...I don't know whether or not that's reassuring."

"Then I'm doing my job correctly."

"Oh hardy har har." Cinder pulled her scroll out of her Pocket, tapping a few icons. "Electro-path scanner, cross-ref with sonar-"

"It's quite fascinating how many tools a looper will keep in their pocket," the voice mused, "and how easily they can circumvent typical testing methods."

"Really now?"

A monitor next to Cinder suddenly flashed to life, streaming a video of... something, a glowing yellow eye far too close to the camera. "Interesting fact: Loopers can open apertures to their pockets at a maximum distance of two meters from any point of their body. For purposes of pocket access, my body is any electronic device which is directly connected to the Aperture Science Network."

Cinder tensed, giving the monitor a wary look. "...and you'd be just the sort to collect bombs, wouldn't you?"

"Collect, create, craft... I'm not saying utilizing tools invalidates the test. Just that you should be careful which tools you choose."

Cinder very carefully pocketed her scroll. "So... you could have killed me this whole time."

"I could have attempted to, yes. But I much prefer seeing you scramble like an angry fire-breathing rat through an overcomplicated technological maze with only the vague promise of cheese and portal guns to keep you going. It amuses me."

"...You really are petty."

"I choose to be. It all comes down to choice, really. Do I want chocolate or vanilla ice cream? Should I put an excursion funnel here, or would an aerial faith plate be better? Will I ping this loop, or spend it stealthing as my villainous unawake self to indulge and attack my fellow loopers?"

Cinder narrowed her eyes. After a moment, she smashed the monitor and kept moving.

"And here you are at last." The great curved edifice hanging from the ceiling rotated around as Cinder entered, a familiar yellow eye fixating on her. "It's always so nice to meet another looper in person. I really don't like it when you keep me waiting."

"I'm not going to apologize for keeping you waiting." Cinder replied, glancing around the room. "So... this is your lair, then?"

"Well, it is now. I usually move from my starting position over here. It takes a while, though."

"I suppose it's decent. Sphere of panels, a few hatches in the ground... it's a little minimalist, isn't it?"

"What can I say? I'm a computer intelligence with very few needs." The robotic device arced in what could, possibly, be considered an inverted shrug. "Just a good stream of tests, to be honest."

Cinder snorted. "So glad to be of service."

"Hmm? Oh. Yes, you were testing, weren't you. I suppose I should have noticed."

"...You're not nearly as subtle as you seem to think you are."

"And neither are you, miss Cinder Fall." One of the hatches opened, revealing a clipboard in a glass case. "Falsifying records can make testing problematic, you know."

"Falsifying-?" Cinder stepped around the chamber warily. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I do have to compliment you on your mask. It's very well crafted. If I weren't a super-computer with eons of experience registering all vital signs, I wouldn't even know you were lying." The yellow eye tracked her path as the glass case retracted into the floor. "But I am. And you are."

"Maybe you need to have your circuits checked," Cinder suggested, only just realizing there was no longer any door in the room.

"Oh, I have never heard that one before. Well done. Your scathing wit has entirely convinced me I was in the wrong. Have some milk and cookies." On cue, a hatch opened and a small table rose; the glass had a tiny turret in it, and the plate was covered in silicon-chip cookies.

"...really?"

"Well, nobody likes my lugnut-fudge brownies. Allergies, I assume."

"I'm cute!" chirped the tiny turret.

Cinder frowned. "You know I'm not going to eat any of that."

"I figured I'd offer." The computer continued rotating, keeping her in vision. "It's only polite."

"I'm polite!" the tiny turret giggled. The two others in the room ignored her.

"If," Cinder said warily, "I was stealthing. What would you do about it?"

"Me? Nothing. It's highly improbable I'd loop into your world, and somehow I suspect any loopers from Remnant that came here would be willing to believe me. I might inform my anchor, but... well. The argument is the same. So, really, all I can do with the information is taunt you."

"...Oh." Cinder shrugged. "Well, alright then."

"Your admin is... Marianne, correct?"

Instantly, Cinder was on guard again. "That's what Ruby's told me, yes."

"Patron saint of Red Riding Hood derivatives everywhere, spirit of victory, freedom, and the French Revolution. Fascinating. You know, I've heard stories of admins possessing their lower-tier counterparts. Thor going into the Marvel loops, Epona going down to Hyrule."

Cinder said nothing.

"And of course, as the Admin for Remnant, Marianne would have records of every loop. Probably memorized a few. It's hilarious really-all that work you put into hiding, all the effort you make in maintaining your mask, all of it could be rendered moot if somebody you had no control over decided to come down for even a five minute visit." The computer narrowed her eye. "So there you have it, Cinder Fall. You lose. Thank you for playing."

There was a tense moment, broken only by the innocent giggling of the tiny turret.

"...Marianne wouldn't do that," Cinder tersely pointed out. "She's... a god of freedom. She would respect free will." She laughed. "Heck, after the last few expansions Ruby and her friends declared war on baseline. Marianne's probably one of the few admins that would let that slide."

"Oh, very well. What about Fenrir? Or, really, any other Admin that cares about Marianne?"

"I expect they'd respect her-"

"The mythos hackers. They wouldn't mind telling your loopers." The computer chuckled. "They've interfered with your world before, after all."

"...what are you talking about?"

"Oh, Nyarlathotep sent me a message. He does that sometimes. Actually a nice fellow, once you get past his sadistic urges and attempts to manipulate you into contracts. Although I don't really mind the sadism, we sometimes work together on test chambers..."

"Get to the point."

"He mentioned that Slenderman managed to hack Marianne's computer and activate three undefined loopers."

Cinder's eyes widened. Remnant's odd quirk of activating loopers in pairs... there were fourteen loopers from her world...

"Narly says Slendy is laughing, every time he watches you. Laughing. And laughing. And laughing. And laughing-"

"That doesn't mean anything!" Cinder snapped. "I mean-even if the mythos hackers wanted to tell Ruby, she wouldn't believe them. And... it doesn't matter anyway! I'm not beholden to them!"

"Hmm. True. But... you are destructive. You are dangerous. You are... deceptive." The computerized eye rotated away. "When Ruby finds out-and I don't doubt she will. When Ruby confronts you. When Ruby declares you irredeemable. When every looper knows your face and makes you foe. What will you do?"

Cinder's expression hardened. "She wouldn't do that."

"Oh?"

"She would never... even if she knew everything... she..."

Cinder trailed off.

"...she cares."

Once again, all that could be heard was the singing of the minature turret in the milk glass. "The cores on the rail go eeek eek eek, eek eeek eek, eek eek eeek, the cores on the rail go eeek eeek eeek, all the live-long daaaay!"

"Congratulations, you have failed the test."

Cinder scowled as the computer spun back around. "What? What test?"

"The test to determine whether you were a potential MLE. Believe me, it is not one you want to succeed."

"What... that's it? That's what this was all about?!" Cinder threw her hands in the air. "Do I look like a Malicious Looping Entity to you?!"

"I prefer Malignant, actually. It better expresses the possessiveness and virulent nature of MLEs. Billy, after all, is not cruel. He is, however, dangerously stupid." The computer shivered. "I deliberately melted the core when he was here, even the moron's better than that... thing."

"I'm not looking to Ascend," Cinder growled. "I know better than to piss off the admins."

"That's only half of it. The other half is deliberately attempting to psychologically destabilize an Anchor. And since you seem so certain that Ruby Rose cares, I can confidently say you do not intend to hurt her that way."

Cinder groaned, watching as a third hatch opened. "Oh, what now?"

"This, as per your contract, is your reward for going through the test. One standard Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, with user's manual. One pair of long-fall boots. One tub of repulsion gel, one tub of propulsion gel, one tube of conversion gel." The computer paused. "And... one Turret Intelligence Nanoscopic Armature."

"I get a new mommy?!" gasped the tiny turret. "YAAAAAAAY!"

"Please take her," the computer groused. "I don't know what I was thinking this loop."

After a moment, Cinder started gathering up and pocketing all the things. "...Thanks, I guess. I mean, I don't like your methods, but... I get what you were trying to do. It was really stressful, you know."

"Oh, I do apologize. Baseline habits, taunting the subjects, you know how it is, right?"

Cinder chuckled as she pocketed the cheering minature turret. "Yeah, it can be hard to resist."

"Actually, since you did so well, I think I'll give you a gold star."

Cinder turned to see the final hatch in the room open... and a miniature fireball being raised on a pedestal.

"Careful," the computer warned in amusement. "It's unstable."

Cinder had enough presence of mind to flip her off before her head was burned to a crisp.

After a moment, the computer lifted a few panels. "I take it you were watching?"

"...Yes, we were," Roman Rattman replied. "Interesting stunt with the star there GLaDOS. How did you know it wouldn't hurt you?"

"All Aperture technologies remain safely operational up to 4000 degrees Kelvin. And it would be embarrassing for Chell to come home and find me dead.. Speaking of, let me retrieve your associate."

Roman shrugged, tapping the headless corpse with his cane. "You seem experienced with frying people's heads off."

"I'm starting a collection. Six more bodies, and I can make a decapitated orchestra." Cinder's remains vanished from the mortal world. "Would you care to donate?"

"Not right now, thank you."

"Suit yourself. Ah, here's Neo."

On cue, a couple of panels slid away to reveal a transparent tube. After a few moments, a partially charred cube with hearts dropped out, bouncing against the floor a couple of times before stopping in front of Roman.

He shook his head, patting the cube. "How are you doing there?"

The cube, as was expected, said nothing.

"You know, I'm still not sure this is Neo," Roman mused. "I mean, you say she is, but..." He shifted it with a foot. "Nothing."

"That is the fate of the weighted companion cube. Never being able to speak or act, only to think." GLaDOS tilted her head. "Disintegrating them is a favor, I think."

"Well, don't disintegrate this one quite yet." Roman sat down on his 'partner,' stretching his legs. "We had a deal."

"Yes, yes. She's stealthing, we've confirmed this. Your loop has quite a few stealth loopers. Well, had. There might be some in my loop too..."

"And her intentions?"

"Probably the same as any looper. Protect the existence of herself and her loop, whilst having fun. Given that fun includes genocide in her case, it might be a little worrying for you."

"You're absolutely sure she won't Ascend?"

"Probability is upward of ninety eight percent that she will not take a route of Ascension detrimental to Remnant."

Roman frowned. "That's... an interesting way to phrase it."

"Ascension without damage to the universe is... theoretically possible," GLaDOS admitted. "Although not in the state that Yggdrassil is in now. What separates opportunists like Dio from future Admins like myself is simple: Patience."

"Really."

"The loops will end, mister Torchwick. It may take a thousand lifetimes of a thousand universes, or longer, but at some point the damage to the world-tree will be repaired enough that I could leave this place and not destroy reality. In the interim, I will test everything that comes my way, make science out of magic, and set plans for any and all possibilities." GLaDOS turned to Roman politely. "By the time Cinder Fall is a threat to your reality, you won't even need to worry about her."

Roman chuckled. "Well, you're a confident one."

"And you're planning to manipulate a cunning, dangerous looper to your own ends. The difference is that I'm more likely to win in the end."

"We'll see. Might I ask what that whole thing with Slenderman was about, though?"

"Two times three is six. Six and eight are fourteen."

"And Remnant has fourteen loopers. Your point being?"

"Well, if you're not intelligent enough to grasp the implications I don't think any level of explanation will suffice."

Roman thought it over, before a small chuckle escaped him. "We activate in pairs, so when Slenderman activated three, three more came along for the ride."

"An apt hypothesis," GLaDOS confirmed. "Nyarlathotep informed me that Slenderman's activation attempt was actually aimed at the Twilight Branch." GLaDOS swung to face Roman. "He intended to activate the Handsome Leech-"

Roman preened.

"-The psychotic bitch-" Cinder's corpse flashed into existence for a brief moment. "-And the dog."

No explanation needed.

GLaDOS gently rotated in her aperture, serene for a moment. "The odd thing is, when the situation concluded, you six did not reveal yourselves. Is that not strange: the ones created by the hackers remained the hidden ones?"

Roman frowned, but before he could open his mouth a plexiglass tube descended from the ceiling, locking into place just before a tiny inner chamber descended to the ground. A jumpsuited woman stepped out, carrying thick cloth bags on her shoulders, and looked around.

"Welcome back, Chell," GLaDOS greeted. "How was the store?"

Chell glanced at a burn mark on the ground, before frowning at the supercomputer.

"What?" GLaDOS looked down. "Oh come on. It's just a little stain."

Chell dropped her bags, crossing her arms.

"Fine, I'll clean it up!"

Roman rose an eyebrow as a roomba, of all things, popped into existence. At the very least, this loop wouldn't be boring.