34.1 Diesel
The sky was filled with a hellish light, ashes drifting on the burning wind as the raging inferno consuming all in its wake and left naught but vestiges of what had been. Black hair blew in the searing wind as a lone figure shielded her Amber eyes, surveying the charred corpses. It was quiet, bar the sound of wind and the hissing and spitting of feasting flames. Embers swirled up into the sky, like dancing fireflies; caught by the howling wind before vanishing into the smoke and pyroclastic debris.
Streams of molten rock flowed down the streets, filling crevasses and casting shadows with its orange glow; twisted metal wrecks still burning in their cores carried along the burning rivers of death and fire. Corpses, flesh blackened, hung limply from spires of metal and bone. Impaled from crotch to neck, sightless and glassy eyes stared out of heads piled high in the court yard of a distant building, forming a throne of skulls.
Twin blades of black glass flashed as a figure danced, wild joy on her face. The screams like music to her as blood splattered on the ground, staining it a dark crimson that reflected the flickering light.
Laughter filled the air as the red clad figure heard people pleading for Atlas, Minstrel and Vacuo. But by the time they would become aware of the massacre, all that would be left was Remnants. And she wouldn't even be PUNished!
The thought made her laughter increase, the memory of yellow coming to mind. They would have to go out clubbing next time, it had been awhile since the two of them did something fun together. She had some samples from Big Mac the bruiser might like to try with her, not enough to get drunk but it would be enjoyable nonetheless.
A pool, once a scene of children playing, was now a dark ruby red with bone white chairs and the smell of barbecues.
The scent of smoke and cooking meat and volcanic ash filled the air, carrying with it the pleasant heat of the wind. A red dress glowed with golden fire as it danced in the scalding breeze, the clatter of high heels lost in the whispers of the flames. The figure lazily approached one of the of the distant corpses, something catching her eye. It had been a long time since she had felt so relaxed. The rapturous joy had subsided, leaving only a feeling of contentment, satisfaction and the faint stirrings of something bitter in the back of her throat.
Nothing lived anymore in the wasteland.
The figure spoke, her seductive voice going unheard, as cold eyes searched out the item of interest. "How long did it take? I think I lost track at some point… Oh well, it's not as if it matters." She finally moved close enough to make out the strangely bright object amidst the rubble.
A rapier filled with dust, gleamed in the light, skewing a crucified figure; obsidian filled the bodies cavities, impaling it from top to bottom, mouth open in agony as its arms were held in place by rock woven in the flesh.
"… No."
The whisper filled the air, unheard, in the choking ash ladled air as tears slowly leaked out of horrified amber eyes, torn away by the blistering winds. The sickening scent of death filled her lungs. Fire swirled and danced, casting flickering shadows of the ruins, obscuring a lone figure racing through the firestorm.
It was all gone, she had made a mistake; bodies lined the streets, but the red clad figure had no time for them.
Time seemed to blur before the figure slowed, eyes locked onto a pile of vacantly staring heads, black cat-like ears, sitting on a table hollowed out like bowls as corpses sat around it. in the distance, it's form lit up by the baleful light of the lava, lay a Chain Scythe.
She could not breath, her face a mask of horror; this should not have happened. She had taken precautions!
"How long did it take? I lost track."
The figure turned and resumed her search.
A smashed yellow gantlet lay in the streets, its surface blackened by the flames.
A pink and silver Hammer stood as a centerpiece of a twisted sculpture.
A shattered red and bronze spear lay among charred bones.
A melted green pistol stood as a silent testament at the edge of a ring of oblivion.
"How could I have been so stupid?"
Only silence answered.
The familiar scent of roses broke Cinder out of her circling thoughts, red petals billowing past in the wind.
No, she can't…
Black blades fell to the ground, fragments of volcanic glass flying through the air as Cinder slowly turned away from Wiess' tortured form. Amber Eyes met Silver.
No…
"You were all supposed to be in Atlas, I made sure of it. General Full Metal would have kept you safe. Why are you here?"
Ruby, ash stained and burnt stood in the street, clenching Crescent Rose. Her eyes were blood shot; tears evaporated before they fell; the blistering wind burning her skin. Her eyes narrowed as Cinder spoke, her voice clipped; blank and emotionless.
"None of us have ever met you before, so why would you care about us and not everyone else?"
Ruby shifted, refusing to look away from the demon that wore the flesh of a human, readying for combat. Her voice was horse, vocal cords and throat burnt by the inferno and torn apart by ash that hung in the air. "Why?!"
Cinder felt numb, her mind running a thousand miles a second while her body simply stood there blankly. She had been planning this before term started, from the moment she found out that the Alchemist was the only other Awake Looper, she had just wanted to cut lose and have fun for once. She opened her mouth to speak, her voice failing her.
None of them were supposed to be here, they were supposed to be safe.
"Because you are family Ruby Rose. My half-sister from another mother. You were not supposed to be here, nor was your team. Why are you here?"
Ruby choked, wide eyed, and Cinder nearly lost her composure entirely as a Ping sounded. She barely managed to avoid reacting, her shapeshifting abilities allowing her to hide every possible tell from her Anchor. Ruby sagged in simultaneous relief and horror. Throat raw and breathing ragged, her whisper echoed in the silence; the only other sound the roars of flame which consumed her home. "Sister? Sister? What about Yang! what a..."
"I did not know any of you were here." Cinder replied, her voice monotone from the shock. Combined with the flickering lights and smoke of the burning city around her, and her perfectly controlled features, she appeared inhuman. An abomination wearing human skin.
Silver Eyes blazed as the Anchor of Remnant screamed, forming wings of light radiating from her eyes, "You killed everyone, and you claim to care about family! Even if we do share blood, you are not my sister! You're not Cinder! You're nothing but a Monster!"
Red and sliver flashed; blood splattered to the ground as flesh hit the ground; sightless amber eyes staring at the blackened skies. In the Ruins of Vale, Ruby Rose wept, as ashes and embers danced in the streets and fires consumed all that remained. Petals swirling up into the air, flickering among the glowing coals like lost souls.
Cinder was staring at the familiar controls of a bullhead, heading to pick up Roman once more. A single tear leaked out of the corner of one eye.
"Fuck my life."
I'm so sorry.
34.2
The first thing Cinder noticed was the pain. It was low level, dulled pain. Pain her body had been feeling for a while now, long enough to adjust and mute it somewhat. It radiated from her arm, her throat, her entire left side. She blinked and that was when she noticed that she was blind in one eye.
She rested her head in her good hand, taking careful, deep breathes. Just enough to steady herself. Then the voices registered.
"It appears that she's going into shock. Hmm. At least she'll be quiet this time."
Doctor Watts, her Loop memories supplied. Cinder opened her good eye and scanned her position, taking what she had and correlating it with her Loop memories.
She was seated at a table, deep within Grimm Territory. Inside of a castle, Salem's castle. The seat seemed to be wood... or was that bone? There were five other seats, three occupied.
The man across from her was well dressed, prim, proper, and horribly arrogant. Doctor Watt. He glared at her.
Next to her, not even sitting but rather squatting on his chair was Tyrian. His narrow face radiated madness, which her Loop memories confirmed. A mad tracker.
And furthest from her was a tall, dark skinned brute of a man. Hazel. Silent and composed.
The familiar scuffle of Emerald's shoes and click of Mercury's armored feet rounded out the ensemble. Cinder nodded to herself as she took in the sight. These men and herself were the followers of Salem. Team WTCH.
Cinder tapped her throat, summoning her aura to channel through it. The deep scar tissue within hindered the effect, but slowly and surely the block dissolved. Dr Watt cocked an eyebrow at Cinder's grin. "A happy thought cross your mind? A dream perhaps? The topic, I imagine, is you succeeding."
"Oh lay off her Watt," Tyrian said. "She's just thinking about what she'll do to that... hehe, silver eyed girl. Hehehehe." Tyrian fell into a fit of giggles as he thought about what he would do to Ruby if he caught her. Cinder heard the minor growl of Emerald behind her.
Watt rolled his eyes. "Pathetic. Children such as yourself-"
On cue though, the doors into the room opened, and gliding quite fantastically came the Witch herself. Salem slid by the assembled six, eyeing each in turn. Silently she arrived at a small altar, where the candles burned. For a moment she did not stir, did not acknowledge the others amongst her. She had her fill of silence though, and turned. "Watt, do you recall the days of your youth? What it was like to be a child?"
"I... well, obviously," Watt said, halfway between indignation and bluster.
"Then you would know better than to shame those who share that state," Salem said. "Age is not the full picture when maturity is measured. Cinder is capable of great things, despite her youth."
"I merely have no temperament for failure," Watt said.
"Then your anger has no purpose," Salem said evenly. "Cinder has succeeded in achieving the power of the Fall Maiden, destroying Beacon Academy, and killing Ozpin." Salem turned to Cinder. "Where is the failure in that?"
"The girl with the silver eyes," Watt said.
"Yes," growled Hazel. "We've dealt with them before. How'd a kid defeat one of us?"
Cinder's eye widened as she filed that information away. Her own desires took an immediate backseat: gone were the plans to assert dominance and bring Salem's associates and the woman herself into her pocket. Now she was going to listen.
"Exactly," Watt concurred with Hazel, all unaware of Cinder's shock. "A young girl, facing off with a Maiden? How could a novice defeat her?"
"The answer is precisely the power of the Fall Maiden," Salem said. "The power of the Maidens comes with a crippling weakness." She turned to Cinder again. "Make no mistake though. You are the key to our victory. Which is why you will remain at my side to continue your treatment."
Cinder passively nodded. If she was going to be out of action, she would need to learn whatever she could. Silence, here, was her friend.
Salem addressed Watt. "Take Cinder's place. You are to go to Mistral to meet with our informant." She nodded to Tyrian. "Continue your hunt for the Spring Maiden." Lastly she spoke to Hazel. "Adam Taurus has finally arranged a meeting with the leader of the White Fang. His loyalty is invaluable to us. Make sure that Sienna Khan feels the same."
Calls of agreement echoed through the hall, and for a moment Cinder felt an urge rise up. A point to be made. What to do about Ruby?
Her mind stumbled. Cinder winced and gave herself a shake. Her baseline self would ask what would happen to Ruby, but... what? She needed to ask, to find out what would happen. She gestured to Emerald, the green girl coming closer. Her voice was a terrible rasp, alien, foreign to her. Pain lanced up her throat, and warped the words further, but Emerald, dear, loyal Emerald, heard her all the same. She gulped, and hesitated.
Salem waved her along. "Speak, child. What is it that Cinder needs."
Emerald looked torn, for a moment. "Uh. What... what about the girl?"
Watt answered. "Well, what about her? She is, after all, Cinder's problem."
Cinder turned the full force of her fury towards Watt. The man flinched back, clearly in shock of the rage that Cinder radiated. Cinder took a small pleasure in that, the rebuke to his dismissal of her sister.
Salem did not notice this, or perhaps she chose not to. She smiled instead. "Tyrian, Spring can wait. Find the girl who wounded Cinder." She nodded, and added as a quick after thought, "and bring her to me."
Tyrian slumped. Clearly he would only have fun if he got to hurt someone. Cinder made a note to torture him to death if he touched Ruby.
Salem spread her arms, to encompass the men and woman at her table. "Together, we have destroyed Beacon. Haven is next."
Tyrian turned to Cinder and tapped his cheek, just below the eye. His grin ate at Cinder's soul. "Eye for an eye."
The roar of engines, the instability of flight. Red cloak, and black hair. Shock. "You?" A flash of fire, a scream, and an attack, too shallow to connect. Her enemy was half blinded, her eye burned away, she had to-
Cinder came out of the vision, collapsed on the floor and trembling, surrounded by Salem and the rest. She couldn't... Cinder focused and pulled herself into her Subspace Pocket. She was going to spend the rest of this Loop in her pocket. Far away from this cruel reality.
34.3 Masterweaver
The Hub was many things. A stable Anchor for the multiverse. A repository of backups for all known reality. Arguably the most "real" reality in existence.
Populated primarily by humans.
This had... interesting side effects in the looping community. There was some debate among scholars whether certain hubworld species could be considered 'intelligent'-cetaceans and apes were the classical go to, but elephants, celephapods, corvids, and macaws were sometimes cited as more exotic potential sophants. Were there aliens? Were there artificial races? In theory, they could ask an Admin to check, but in practice the Admins were too busy just keeping everything together to spare any more time than neccessary going through Hub data.
More practical loopers concerned themselves with the medical implications. The multiverse remembered human bodies well, since there was an entire planet of the creatures in permanent storage, but the further one got from the human frame the more variable things became from loop to loop. Members of shape shifting species would spend a few extra seconds searching their loop memories, since any new slew of strengths or weaknesses or just odd quirks could be thrown at them. Creatures foreign to Earth, both biologically and culturally, generally shrugged and assumed their usual allergies covered everything. Most loopers from magical realms were 'close enough' to human or otherwise normal animals that they didn't suffer much modulation; a few loops figuring out where the vagueries lay was enough for them to come up with a general plan. And of course, animal loopers themselves were usually just hub-like with a better mind, perhaps some opposable thumbs, and only their personal issues being variable.
Still, the fact remained: when one wasn't human, and even sometimes when one was, Yggdrassil had the occasional issue figuring out the details. And while nobody had confirmed it had a sense of humor, Blake seriously suspected that it did and that said sense of humor was as twisted and gnarly as the branches of a particularly old tree.
"...Run that by me again."
"I am allergic to noodles this loop," Blake deadpanned. "All faunus who eat noodles slowly lose their minds."
Yang blinked. "But... Sun-"
"All Faunus."
"...oh. Huh. Well." Yang rubbed the back of her head. "Uh... anything... else I should know about?"
Blake blushed. "Yes, but that can wait."
34.4
"Gah!"
Ozpin bolted upright, his heart pounding in his chest, pain and fear beating down on him. For the briefest of moments his mind dwelt upon the first imagine he had seen in the loop: fire, unending and furious. The power of the Fall Maiden, turned against him.
Gradually though, he stabilized. His sense of presence reasserted itself, and the man calmed. Ozpin shrugged his shoulders, and laid back down.
And then he sat up. He didn't start the Loop in a bed... well, not usually. When he did, someone was typically in that bed with him. Usually it was Glynda, sometimes James, on more than one occasion Qrow and in a single incident that brought bile to his tongue, Ruby. This time he was in a bed alone. It was lumpy, not quiet soft, and not quite comfortable. Straw bed.
Ozpin got out and stood up. He was shorter. The room was a small affair, with wooden floors and roof, a window, a dresser. A shotgun shovel was propped up in the corner.
A moment passed. The Headmaster of Beacon examined himself. Fairly normal clothing, tough, easy to clean, nowhere near the artistic form that Vale sported. Farmer's clothing. He had woken up as a farmer.
Not as Link though. A glance in his reflection in the window showed him lacking Link's typical light hair, it being jet black. A button nose, brown and green eyes, and tanned skin (a workmen's tan) rounded out the ensemble. Ozpin tilted his head in confusion. "So... I'm a shota. Great."
The room, it turned out, was on the second floor of an open barn. No significant farming equipment, no tractor, just the shovel gun, a hoe, some simple tools. It looked like there was nothing there.
The morning sun glowed like nothing else when he pulled the barn doors open. Around him, the garden was barren and choked with weeds. A pump stood forlorn and alone. There wasn't a soul to be seen.
Ozpin stared at the strange world of Remnant he had woken up to. "Where am I?"
34.5 Masterweaver
"Hey, you look like a loopy hoopy cool frood, if you're free on friday we cohmmMFFPH!"
Yang's eyes shot wide as she stumbled back a few steps, quickly regaining her balance and returning Blake's unexpected but certainly not unwelcome oral assault as she wrapped her own arms around her lover. Something about the situation made her twirl-less because she wanted to (although she did) and more because she felt that her partner wanted it (and who was she to deny her lady her whims?). It took about three and a half revolutions before Blake finally pulled back, releasing her grip on the taller girl and backing away with a grin and-and a giggle! A genuine giggle!
"Wow. You're happy this loop." Yang shook off her dizziness and smiled. "Care to share?"
"They're here! They're real, they, they're here Yang!" Blake turned to her eagerly. "They're actually here!"
"Wait, does this have to do with the expansion?"
"I thought it was just a variant, but, but, it's too consistent! It's, I just-" Blake threw out her hands in unabashed glee. "They're alive! Yang, my parents are STILL ALIVE!"
"Ohmygosh." The blonde surged forward. "You're sure?"
"Yeah! Well, mostly yeah, the details are still fuzzy, sometimes they're siblings or, or cousin or aunt and uncle-" Blake began pacing, her arms gesticulating wildly. "But parents! They're alive, they're real, they're-my dad, he's like, he's twice as tall as I am and he's got huge shoulders, I don't know if he's a faunus but-and mom! Cat ears, bigger then mine, and kimino and-"
Yang grinned, sagging against a convenient pole. "That's amazing Blake! I-that's just amazing, I'm so happy for you!"
"And, and they have a boat, I think they're fishermen-or maybe pirates-it's still not clear, but they, I think-I'm just, I have a family! I still have-I mean you're family too," she quickly reassured, even though Yang didn't seem offended at all. "Oh my gosh. You have to meet them. Yang you've got to meet my parents, they, I-I've got, it's all, I'm just!" She laughed, spinning in circles as her hands reached for the air. "I'm not an orphan! I have parents! I have-"
Suddenly she stopped, staring at two people standing off to the side.
"Oh my gosh. Oh, oh sweet Yggdrassil." Blake held out her hands. "Nora, Ren, I... I am so so sorry, I, I didn't mean to-I was just-"
"No," Nora said with a small smile, "it's okay. Really. You deserve some happiness."
"But... but the loops took your parents, and-"
"-and we've made our peace with it," Ren replied, nodding. "Besides, Pyrrha and Jaune... they're the best parents we could ask for."
"I just, I wasn't thinking-"
"Hey." Nora held out a hand. "Tell you what, why don't you show us some pictures of your folks?"
"Hey yeah," Yang added, walking up behind her. "If I'm going to meet your dad, I want to know if I should act scared of him or not."
"You..." Blake looked from her girlfriend to the other two. "...You're not... I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine," Ren reassured her. "Now come on. If somebody else is finally wearing real fashion, I want to compare notes."
Yang snorted. "Hey, just because you make Mistral clothes look good-"
"Alright, alright." Blake took out her Scroll, zipping through a few files. "I think... I'm not sure, but... yes. Here they are..."
34.6 Masterweaver
"I'm happy for Blake. Really." Weiss shrugged as she watched her Faunus friend flicker between extreme exuberance and awkward attempts at sympathy. "I can get the extreme reactions."
Nora leaned in. "Buuuuuuuut...?"
"...I, uh. I might have a few more... important people as well, this expansion." Weiss shrugged. "Just, you know, kind of wanted to celebrate them too."
"Really?" Nora grinned. "Do you have a mother?"
"No, my mother's still very loop variable. But... well, being the rich girl I am, I tend to form social bonds with the staff. I think, I'm not sure but I think, two of my butlers have actually firmed up."
"Oh, that makes sense I guess."
"Yeah."
Nora tapped her chin. "So... these butlers of yours?"
"Yeah?"
"Does one of them... does he serve you cake?"
Weiss blinked. She turned to look at Nora, who was grinning far too broadly for it to be a coincidence. "Oh, come off it Nora."
"It's a legitimate question!"
"Look, just because I'm a bad chef in the chibi loops doesn't mean it translates out of it. And really, that's only if I don't focus, I know my way around the kitchen."
"Don't you mean the fooooood rooooooom?" Nora asked, her smile threatening to split her head in two.
"...You know, the thing about being a heiress is that you learn exactly how the economy works, and where to throw your money around to get things." Weiss examined her fingernails. "I could quite easily spike the price of pancakes."
Nora gasped. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Ice queen."
"You heartless fiend."
The two locked gazes, their expressions completely serious...
...before, after about ten seconds, breaking into giggles.
"Alright. Alright, I'll lay off." Nora shook her head. "Seriously though. It's good to know you're getting more..." She gestured vaguely. "Backstory... stuff."
"Yeah. It's a good feeling." She nodded at Blake, who was gripping Yang's arm and jumping up and down eagerly. "A very, very good feeling."
34.7 Masterweaver
"So, Uncle Qrow. What's up with you and Winter?"
Qrow rolled his eyes. "Is this revenge for me interrogating Blake?"
"Yeah, basically." Yang shrugged. "Plus us older sisters have to stick together. Me and Winter are kind of alike like that, we seriously helped raise Ruby and Weiss."
"Heh. I guess you did at that. Now we only need Blake to have an older sister and the pattern's complete."
"Actually, now that I think about it, Blake's recently developed female relative might be her sister instead of her mother-Hey, don't try to distract me!" The blonde crossed her arms. "You! Winter! Details!"
"Eh, it's..." Qrow waved his hand noncommitally. "Look, we were stealthing together for a while, and we didn't know anything about the loops. So... I dunno. Sometimes we got into arranged marriages, and then with the whole... reveal, and Remnant loopers activating in pairs... We know a lot about each other, but if there's something there isn't that clear."
Yang grinned.
"...What?"
"Oh, nothing." Her grin took on a very sly shape. "Nothing at all." She walked off, a small chuckle gradually rising through a wild giggle into a crazed cackle as she rubbed her hands together.
Qrow blinked. "...You know, I really should be more worried about that then I am."
34.8 Black Omochao
Keita Awoke in the halls; here he was again, replacing his sister as the 'R' in team RWBY, that at least was the case whenever his last name was 'Rose,' there were variations of course. Though despite it being considered a mistake on the computer, nobody had quite let him forget team 'NWBY…'
"I wish I didn't replace Ruby so much, I'd rather just Loop here so we could spend time together," Keita muttered, glancing to his side to see if his yo-kai butler had anything to say, only to pause when he saw no ghost following him. "… Oh right, not here… I need to stop talking to myself."
He made his way to the mess hall to join his team; none of whom were Awake, though when he got there he noticed something strange; Weiss talking to a fox faunus, and giggling!?
"What's going on?" Keita questioned the unAwake Yang and Blake.
"That guy over there's flirting with Weiss," Yang chuckled, Blake looked disinterested, as her unAwake self usually did at the Loops start.
"Hmm…" Keita glared at the fox faunus critically for a few moments, he looked familiar… "I think I should go check this out, I am her partner after all," Keita barely justified himself as he stepped forward.
"Oh, jealous little bro?" Yang questioned with a smirk. Keita stared at her blankly for a moment.
"… No," he said simply before he walked over to Weiss and her conversation partner.
"See you tonight than?" The fox faunus asked with a smirk.
"Um, sure," Weiss smiled a bit and blushed. Keita stepped in-between them and grabbed a hold of the boy's shirt.
"Excuse me Weiss, I do believe this is a friend of mine, and I need to speak with him," Keita, once again, barely justified his actions before he dragged the fox faunus off.
"Keita!" Weiss growled angrily, while Yang laughed in the background.
"Wow, slow down. You jealous I was moving in on your partner or something?" the fox faunus asked Keita after they had gotten out of earshot of all other students. Keita sighed and glared at him.
"Kyubi, what exactly are you up to?"
"What do you mean? I replaced that guy… John?"
"Jaune, is that why team JNPR wasn't sitting with us? I need to look over my Loop-memories again," Keita sighed. Before going back to glaring at the fox yo-kai turned faunus. "Why were you flirting with Weiss..? And why did it work!?"
"Oh Keita-kun, you should know by now that I have a way with women, and this place is jammed packed with ladies just waiting to give me their hearts!" Kyubi announced proudly. Keita's eye twitched.
"You're still on that? I thought you'd cut that out considering time keeps repeating…"
"No way, time won't be repeating forever. And in the mean time I'll be collecting the hearts of every fair maiden in the multiverse, I'll be well beyond a fox lord!" Keita face-palmed at Kyubi's explanation. "Still, I'll need to make sure not to be late for mine and Weiss' date. I may have gotten her interested, but I still need to get her to fall in love with me."
"You do realize that if she Wakes up, she is going to kill you? Don't you?"
"Kill me? Nah. I could woo any lady even if they were Looping," Kyubi waved off his local Anchor's concerns. "Besides, I can't stop now. I've already got dates lined up with the two females on my team, and a real cutie with bunny ears."
"Seriously!? You are so dead…" Keita said seriously. Kyubi flicked a strand of his hair and regarded Keita without much concern.
"Oh calm down Mr. Drama. I told you, I know what I'm doing. If you want, I could teach you a thing or two…"
"NO!"
"Fine, more for me," Kyubi shrugged with an arrogant smirk before he started to leave. Keita sighed, before he glared seriously at the leaving fox faunus.
"Kyubi," he glanced back the Anchor's way, curiously. "Don't you dare try to hit on my sisters! That includes Ruby, even though she's not here. You can risk your life hitting on every other girl throughout the entire multiverse, but I draw the line there!"
"Whatever you say, Keita-kun," Kyubi sighed, though he didn't look like he took the boy's threat seriously. Keita glared at him as he watched him leave.
"… Oh, he is so, so dead."
"Hey Keita, you know that Jaune guy?" Yang asked her little brother as they relaxed in their room. It had been a few weeks since Keita had last spoken to the only other Awake Looper currently at Beacon, though he had heard talk of him from Weiss, and occasionally other girls… He was a little weirded out that he was going by 'Jaune' as opposed to Kyubi… or Kiwi, or something.
"Yeah, what about him?"
"Well, you know how he was kind of, sort of, but not 'officially' dating Weiss?"
"Yeah?"
"Well. I think he might also be dating Blake…"
"DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!?"
"Ow! Volume!" Kyubi winced as he rubbed his fox ears. As soon as Yang said that she thought Kyubi might have been going out with Blake, he had marched straight over to team JNPR's room and dragged the fox faunus off for interrogation. "And not quite yet. I haven't managed to convince her, she's a tough nut to crack. But I'll get her eventually, no girl can resist me forever."
"You are messing with forces you cannot possibly comprehend you stupid fox!" Keita shouted angrily, he looked like he wanted to choke Kyubi, but he quickly backed off. "Ok, ok. You know what. No!"
"No?"
"No! I'm not warning you anymore! You go dig your own grave that will last a thousand Loops! I'm not helping you anymore!" Keita shouted before he turned to stomp off.
"Helping me? You've been trying to hinder me since you ran into me," Kyubi pointed out confusedly.
"DONE!" Keita shouted again, before leaving.
"… Whatever, he's just jealous," Kyubi huffed.
When Cinder entered Beacon along with Emerald and Mercury, claiming to be an exchange student like she usually did, Keita received a ping, and a look from the… sister that told him she was Awake. Keita wasn't sure if Kyubi had even noticed the ping, as he was immediately at Cinder's side, a confident smile on his face. Keita moved to interfere, but stopped himself and quietly sit down.
"What is he doing so close to her?" Weiss questioned, suspiciously. Keita noted that several other girls seemed this way too, Kyubi had apparently been able to keep his multiple dating partners mostly secret, only really causing a few rumors. Though he was being incredibly stupid to attempt to woo a new girl right in front of a bunch of them… still, Keita considered his approaching an Awake, or unAwake, Cinder in such a way much, much stupider.
"Hey there, hot stuff," Kyubi greeted smoothly, Keita facepalmed in the background. Emerald looked at Kyubi with disgust, while Mercury seemed amused… but Cinder just gave a calm, smile…
"I warned him," Keita muttered, shaking his head as he looked at Kyubi, huddled on the floor, shivering.
"Her eyes! They're the eyes of death!"
"Whatever," Keita sighed. "By the way, all those girls you went out with, they're pretty angry."
"Oh…"
"Also, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren and Winter are all Awake now."
"Oh… Wait, who's Winter?"
"Weiss' older sister."
Kyubi blinked, before he saw many, many angry eyes staring at him. Though the ones that were most fear inducing were the burning red eyes of Yang, whom stood protectively in front of Blake, and the cold, unfeeling glare of what looked like an older version of Weiss. Kyubi shivered, terror visible in his shaking pupils, he looked up to the Anchor for some hope of salvation, but Keita quickly sped away.
"Bye! Have fun!"
34.9 Bios-Pherecydes
Roman's theft had gone off without a hitch for a change, the Unawake thief and his accomplices making off with the entire stock of the From Dust Till Dawn's shelves and displays. Roman was, as a direct consequence, insufferably smug as Cinder dropped him off at his confiscated warehouse. Cinder bore with his presence with a silence that spoke louder than any response she could have given and even Roman had eventually dropped his efforts to make conversation.
Ruby hadn't been there. Why?
That question occupied the majority of Cinder's attention, her hands dancing over the intimately familiar controls almost unconsciously as she grappled with the issue. Her plans, what little she had decide upon so far, had revolved largely around spending the Loop with her 'sister' and her team; grounding herself after the disaster of the previous Loop in the pleasant indolence of companionship and sentimentality.
That didn't appear to be an option any longer. Lifting back into the air after unceremoniously dropping Roman off, she made her way to her in-Loop self's base of operations. The location and existence of such tended to vary wildly on a Loop by Loop basis, and this time she was pleased to discover she had uncovered an underground military base and outfitted it with stolen Atlas machinery. Or at least she would have been pleased, had she not been so focused on her Anchor's lack of presence. As it was, she simply docked the appropriated aircraft and swept through the empty halls to her suite.
Once there she quickly moved towards getting answers. Sending out a Ping, she received multiple responses and thusly pulled a modified handheld transceivers from her Pocket. Setting it up to broadcast, she depressed the switch before falling into her desk chair. "Cinder 10-97."
There was a several minute pause, during which Cinder stared aimlessly at her ceiling, before a burst of static sounded. "We're clear. This is Blake, what's up? It's been awhile since we've seen you, at least a dozen Loops from my perspective."
Releasing a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holdings, Cinder smiled faintly before frowning. "Ruby wasn't at the Dust store, I was worried."
The response was a damning amount of time in coming, before Blake picked up again. "Yang says she's still holed up in her room back home. She had a bad Loop a little bit ago and hasn't been willing to talk about it to anyone. We've been testing out random team-ups until she's ready to ask for help. Like I said though, it's been a while since you've been Awake. Maybe she'll talk to you. Would you mind?"
Nodding to herself, Cinder stood. "I can do that. Where's her house located this Loop?"
"I'm sending directions to your scroll. Thanks for doing this, Yang's been getting upset over the past few Loops without Ruby." She dropped into a stage whisper. "Don't tell her I said this, but I think her saiyan blood is itching for a fight, and Ruby's the only one who can take her head-on on her terms."
Ignoring the indignant shout that came over the handheld, she checked her scroll for the promised directions and left.
The island of Patch was a largely secluded area, the details of which were so vague as to be little more than wisps of possibility. While the childhood home of Ruby, Yang and occasionally herself was almost without fail located on Patch, where on Patch it was located was all but a matter of chance. As such, it was entirely necessary to refer to either Loop Memories or very specific maps to find anything between two different Loops. Luckily Cinder had such a map.
Staring at the door of her ersatz sister, she mentally deliberated over actually knocking or leaving before it was too late. The decision, however, was made for her as the door swung open to reveal the curious face of Taiyang Xiao Long.
"You've been standing out here for the past ten minutes, is there something you wanted?"
Falling back on ingrained behavior, Cinder pasted an uncertain smile on her face. "I believe so. This is the home of Ruby Rose, am I correct?"
Taiyang nodded hesitantly. "Yes. How do you know my daughter?"
"She and I are old friends, but it's been awhile since she's seen me and I heard from some other friends she's been a bit... reclusive. I was hoping I could see her. Perhaps help in some way?"
Narrowing his eyes slightly, the retired Hunter gave her a measuring glance. "You seem a bit old to be one of my daughter's friends. How old are you? Late teens early twenties? And Patch doesn't get much traffic these days, how do you and she know each other exactly?"
Cinder mentally glared. She hated the overprotective Variants. Aloud however she gave a small chuckle. "We met under a rather... unique set of circumstances. I needed an Anchor, and she was kind enough to provide one."
Taiyang groaned. "You're one of those Loopists aren't you?"
'Success.'
She blinked in 'surprise' and nodded.
Running his hands through his hair awkwardly, he gestured for her to come inside. "A few others of your type came by a while back. Norma and John I think. I doubt she'll be any more willing to talk to you than she was with them, but you're welcome to try."
Closing the door behind her, he shrugged. "I can offer you some coffee, but I wasn't expecting visitors so that's about the limit of what I've got at the moment."
Cinder shook her head politely. "That's alright, I just came to talk to Ruby."
Shrugging again, he pointed down the hall to Ruby's room. "I hope you have better luck than I've had. Really."
Nodding, Cinder made her way to the door. Pausing only a moment in indecision, she gave a tentative knock.
"Go away dad."
"Luckily for both of us, I'm not your father this Loop." Cinder said with a wry chuckle.
There was silence. And then, "Cinder?"
"Yes, it's me Ruby. Can I come in?"
A short beat passed before the door unlocked itself, but didn't open. Taking that as confirmation enough, Cinder stepped inside the room. The floor within was a mess, littered with various shells of Dust, small pieces of machinery, bullets and all manner of candy wrappers. In the darkness, Cinder could make out the shape of Ruby sitting on her bed with her blankets pulled up over her shoulders.
As her eyes adjusted, she was able to make out more details. Held in Ruby's iron grip, a chibi version of herself sat desolately; holding onto Crescent Rose for additional comfort. Both the original and the, presumably, majin clone looked utterly miserable; tear tracks lining their faces and their hair in disarray. Making her way across the room carefully, Cinder sat down on the corner of the bed.
Immediately Ruby abandoned her clone; the duplicate reintegrating with her almost as an afterthought, as she threw herself at Cinder. Cinder barely had time to register her fight or flight instincts screaming at her before she had an armful of sobbing girl. An almost maternal impulse had her shifting her hold to pull Ruby into a proper hug, smoothing her hair gently as her best friend and greatest enemy clung to her dress in tears.
"Shh. It's fine. Whatever it was, it's fine."
Ruby responded by crying harder, thoroughly ruining the Dust weaving in her outfit. Eventually however she calmed down enough to pull back. "Sorry about you're dress."
Cinder simply lit her hand aflame and quickly dried her shoulder. "No harm done," she lied. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Ruby stayed silent, making no move to speak; but also no effort to pull away. Cinder nodded. "That's fine. My last Loop wasn't great either. I had taken a Loop off to relax and have fun on my own after the events of the latest Expansion."
Ruby pulled back with a wide eyed look of disbelief. "The Expansions started again?!"
This time it was Cinder who gave a disbelieving look. "You didn't know? Just recently."
Ruby shook her head. "I've haven't bothered to leave my room for the past fifty or more Loops. I didn't answer my Scroll or open my door for anyone, because I wanted to get my game face back on first."
Cinder snorted. "Our Anchor is completely out of the loop. How ironic."
Ruby scowled. "That was worse than even Yang's jokes."
Cinder smirked. "Well, puns are your other sister's forte. I'm more of a dry wit."
Putting her hands over her ears, Ruby gave Cinder an offended look. "Lalalalala, not listening. No bad jokes in here, nope. None."
Chuckling, Cinder put her hands up in surrender. "Fine, no jokes."
Giving her a wary look, Ruby removed her hands from her ears. Cinder nodded. "It seems Salem has a council, of which mpppfh."
Cinder eyed Ruby's hand, which covered the lower half of her face, with clear lack of amusement.
Sticking her tongue out, Ruby removed her hand. "Spoilers. Bad. No."
Pausing, Cinder looked over the pyjama-clad Huntress with an almost nostalgic look. Ruby was at her best when being optimistic and cheerful, it was rare to see her seclude herself from the others; even after particularly bad Loops. And especially for so long. Unbidden, her mind returned to the last time she had seen Ruby so withdrawn.
"So be it. Suffice it to say, as a result of events I wanted time to relax by myself. Things did not go as planned. I had assumed something equally troublesome had occurred on your side of the Expansion, leading to our current predicament. Clearly I was mistaken."
Ruby seemed to shrink in on herself, averting her gaze. Cinder's expression softened. "You don't need to explain if you don't want to. Do whatever you think is right."
Ruby paused, a distant look on her face, before mumbling a few familiar words to herself. "Otherwise you'll drive yourself insane."
She hesitated, before falling back against Cinder's shoulder. "It was a really bad Variant. Ed from the Amestris Branch was Replacing General Ironwood and we were sent up there when Headmaster Ling suddenly went missing. Blake heard about trouble from the White Fang back in Vale, something about being seen with Raven, so she and Yang snuck away when no one was paying attention. When they didn't come back we went to go find them, me, Weiss, and Team JNPR. But my dad found out and stopped me from going at the last minute, sending Uncle Qrow instead."
Her grip tightened on Cinder, who at this point had taken complete manual control of her autonomic nervous system in order to prevent unwanted reactions as Ruby's words struck at her. Outwardly however, she projected the image of a sympathetic friend; softly running her fingers through Ruby's hair consolingly. As a result, Ruby was completely unaware of Cinder's thoughts as she continued.
"I Awoke really late, and hurried back to Vale. But it was empty. Everyone was dead, and practically the whole continent was on fire and overrun by the Grimm. It was that Loop's Cinder."
Very intentionally, but fluidly enough to be indiscernible from an unconscious action, Cinder tensed; her hand briefly stalling in it's motions, before deliberately continuing.
Ruby continued softly. "She killed all of them."
"And so you killed her in vengeance," Cinder finished, completing the unspoken sentence. The hitch in her voice was completely real, guilt and sorrow and despair and victory and amusement all at once until one was indistinguishable from the other; allowed to slip through only because it didn't cost anything to the image she was portraying. Though which one that was, she was having trouble differentiating between at that exact moment.
Her arms wrapped in a hug around the surprised Cinder, Ruby gave a nod. "I hate her."
Cinder gave a confused glance down at the girl in front of her, but obligingly returned the hug; rubbing soothing circles against the girls back. "Hate who Ruby?"
Ruby pulled in tighter, and mumbled something against Cinder's side.
Cinder rolled her eyes affectionately at the girls adorable behavior. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear that. Who?"
Ruby pulled back to look into Cinder's eyes, before averting her gaze. "The other you."
Cinder control faltered, and she stiffened as Ruby continued.
"I hate her. Everything she's done, everything she's doing; I hate it. I hate all of it!" She threw herself back at her sister. "Why can't she be you?"
Cinder twitched, her mind struggling to find a way to react that wouldn't blow her own cover. This was her enemy, her mortal foe. This was her little sister, the one she needed to protect.
Ruby looked up at Cinder, noticing her confusion. "Cinder?"
Something within the current Fall Maiden broke, irreparably. She wrapped her arms around Ruby, tightened her hold on her sister as she all but felt her psyche splinter. "It's okay. Everything is going to be okay." As she continued to whisper comforting words, in her mind two opposing train of thoughts arose; equal but separate from each other.
'I will burn everything. This world and any other I feel like. It deserves to burn, and I deserve to be the one that does it. You can't stop me, they can't stop me, even the gods themselves can't stop me.'
'I won't let anyone hurt you Ruby. Not you or anyone else. Not ever again.'
There in the dark, two sisters in all but blood shared a quiet moment. An eye of calm at the center of a growing storm.
A/N: Welcome to more loops, and a new paradigm for everyone's favorite looping villain.