44.1 Masterweaver

Yang opened her mouth... and slowly let it close. "Okay. This... is a thing."

"Yes it is." Blake let her fingers dangle in one of the cages, smiling as odd little clicks and flaps echoed up. "Help me feed them?"

"Oh, of course, yeah. Um." Scooping a handful of black pellets out of her basket, she gave Blake a look. "Just toss them in?"

"Well, for the general ones, yeah." The faunus gestured at a few cages. "You'll want to filter the particles out for certain breeds, though."

"Obviously." Yang scattered the phonemes in one of the cages, raising a brow as the... tiny things inside started gulping them up. "...I'm honestly still amazed this is a thing."

"What, you didn't think I wouldn't snatch up this opportunity? I mean, the thesaurus was pretty hard to tame, but once I did that-"

"No, I can see you Pocketing this, it's just..." Yang shrugged. "You'd think I would have heard of a book farm before!"

44.2 Shimmer712

"Does she have it?" Raven demanded.

Qrow sighed. "I'm not going to tell you, Raven. I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" she hissed.

Qrow kept quiet for a moment then reached for his drink. Raven reached over and pulled it away before he could grasp it.

Qrow sighed. "She has a lackey called Cinder, the new Fall Maiden. Who has lackeys of her own. One is a girl called Emerald."

"So?" Raven asked.

"Her semblance can be dangerous," Qrow said flatly. "She can manipulate your perception of the world, make you think one thing is happening when it isn't. Seems to be limited in how many she can use it on though," he shrugged.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Raven demanded.

Qrow looked at her, staring into her eyes. "With a semblance like that on the enemy's side, how do I know I'm actually talking to my sister and not a hallucination of her created by Emerald?" he asked.

Raven opened her mouth to answer then paused. He was right. He couldn't know. For all he knew, she could be a ploy of this Emerald to try and find out where the Relic was. Raven comforted herself with the fact that if Qrow thought it was possibility, then the witch probably didn't have it. Then another thought hit her.

If this Emerald could make her see things, could she make Raven attack the Tribe, thinking she was attacking Grimm or enemies? She grimaced.

"Can you tell me anything else about Cinder's lackeys?" she asked.

"Mercury was raised an assassin," Qrow answered. "His lower legs are prosthetics that double as guns. And Cinder herself seems to have Dust sown into her clothes and has mostly used fire-types of Dust so far along with a bow that can turn into a pair of blades. Those two were seen looking pretty happy with themselves during Beacon's fall, Emerald seemed more reserved. She uses a pair of pistols that double as kusarigama." Qrow took a drink. "Of course, people didn't really stop and stare so it was just quick looks at them before focusing on more important things so that may not be entirely accurate."

"I see," Raven muttered to herself. She knew what Cinder looked like. She had some limited information on how the witch's subordinates fought but that was gathered from rumors and she couldn't be sure of their accuracy. Having information she was sure was true was a useful. "What do Mercury and Emerald look like?" she asked.

"Emerald has dark skin, light green hair, that shade people call mint, I think, and red eyes," her brother told her. "Mercury has light skin, gray hair and gray eyes. They're either with Cinder or running errands for her."

Raven nodded. "Thank you," she said stiffly, before getting up to leave. Qrow may have abandoned the Tribe but the information he gave her may help her to protect it. She would have to have her people look out for the two, especially the Emerald girl. She would not risk being manipulated into harming the Tribe. The girl would have to die.

Qrow watched his sister's portal close. He vaguely wondered if he should have kept quiet about the two brats Cinder had working with her. But then he remembered how devasted Yang had been when disqualified, when accused of assault and scowled. Emerald had hurt his niece. If Raven went gunning for her, it wasn't his problem. And if he got some petty satisfaction from the thought, while, he was only human. And he loved his family.

44.3 Masterweaver

Blake dropped a bunch of books on the table with a loud THWUMP. Immediately, there were loud groans and murmurs of complaint.

"Come on!" Ruby whined. "We've already read all of Shakespeare and Gilbert and Sullivan and... and other things I'm probably forgetting!"

"When I make a reference," Blake deadpanned, "I expect it to be understood. Having to explain the culture and reasoning behind it all gets frustrating."

"My brain is fuuuuuuuull," Yang whined. "Can't this wait till next week?"

"While I approve in your choice in literature," Weiss admitted, "I must concur with our teammates. It takes time to process reading and the meaning of stories."

Blake frowned. "Fine. I'll go see if JNPR has finished their reading assignments yet!" She stormed out of the room.

44.4 Masterweaver

Whitley waited wanly in the foyer, flipping through some... hmm, was it an adventure novel? The plot was rather predictable, and preposterous at the same time. Ah, well, he wasn't actually reading it; it was more something to do as he spent time waiting for Father to return with his wayward sister. Really, a sport on flying broomsticks-and a poorly designed one at that. What kind of fool would be interested in this?

At the very least, the evil teacher seemed to be setting up a mystery. Although if he was actually the villain, well, Whitley would be rather bored at the obvious choice.

That really was what it came down to, wasn't it? Obvious choice. The obvious choice, for him, was to simply obey his father's wishes and live a life of luxury. Lately, though, he had been wondering about obvious choices. The broadcast from that... terrorist woman, well, it wasn't entirely wrong. If the leaders declared war, prepared for destruction, he wouldn't be the last to hear of it, but he'd certainly not be the first.

The sound of the family limo driving up cut off his contemplation. He brushed himself off, putting the book on an end table-he'd return it to its shelf later-and walked two steps to the left of the center of the foyer. It was the obvious choice... He frowned, stepping once more to the left. "Much better."

The doors began to open, and he put on a polite smile. "Ah, welcome home, sis...ter... mine."

Weiss tilted down her sunglasses, idly blowing a bubble of blue gum before popping it and chewing. "Sup, Whitley."

"...well." Whitley took in her pink hot pants and midriff-baring garish yellow... was it still a halter top if it had full sleeves and cuffs? "I... suppose, not as much as whatever happened to you."

"Yeah, Beacon went to shit right there at the end." Weiss flipped her green towel over her shoulder, the foyer echoing with the flip-flop of the thongs on her feet. "Look, I'll catch up with ya later. Right now I gotta get my stuff unpacked."

Whitley nodded vaguely, watching her twin ponytails bob as she walked down the hall.

Behind him, his father let out an aggravated sigh. "I don't know what madness has gotten into that girl. Apparently she thinks her old clothing isn't 'chique' or something equally foolish."

"...It's certainly not an obvious choice for her, is it?" Whitley stared after his sister. "Not obvious at all..."

44.5 Masterweaver

"...Hey Weiss?"

"Yeah Ruby?"

"Is it... weird, that we play video games like this, when we know full well that there are actual worlds that these video games represent, with actual people and cultures, somewhere in the multiverse?"

"Well... amusement is needed, and the division of representation from the self in the greater multiverse is a mental operation that most if not all loopers learn within their first few decades. So, I don't think so."

"That makes sense."

"And we're not playing Grimm Eclipse, so..."

"Yeah, okay. Fair enough-Genji on the roof!"

"I see him, I see him..."

44.6 BIOS-Pherecydes

"Ah, Miss Rose. What a surprise to see you out this early."

Ruby shrugged with a smile, arms resting on the railing overlooking the Beacon walkway. "I like to watch the sunrise sometimes."

Ozpin nodded agreeably, sipping from his everpresent mug. "As do I. It lends a certain gravity to the world which I find helpful in reminding myself that though my students may not take part in these Loops, their lives are still of value."

Ruby ducked her head with a blush. "Aaand now I feel self-conscious. I just like it cause it's pretty."

Chuckling lightly, Ozpin nodded. "That too. While we have this chance to talk however, I am reminded of a thought I had. Not too long ago I had an unusual experience in the 'Chibi' Variant."

Ruby turned a curious look at Ozpin.

"I found myself playing the role of the Narrator during a re-enactment of the fairy tale around which the Hub entitles 'Little Red Riding Hood.' I admit that you and your friend's... spirited performance was a sight to see. However a certain statement from your Unawake self caught my attention. I believe it was 'You're ruining my vision' if I'm recalling correctly."

Ruby tilted her head. "Yeah, I think I remember that one. What about it though?"

Ozpin smiled mysteriously and looked out to the horizon where the sun had begun to make its appearance. "The reason I bring it up is simple Miss Rose. Our Backup cites 'Little Red Riding Hood' as the inspiration for your own design. And while we know that such things are not quite as simple as that might imply, it struck me as rather curious that your Unawake self created that same story for the stage. I believe that it is unprecedented even. Not only that an Anchor should be chosen to back up another Branch's history, also a first to my knowledge, but that the Branch chosen for that Anchor to back up was the one which the Hub most closely relates to her own identity."

He turned to face the dumbstruck Ruby with a look. "It makes one wonder, no?"

Ruby's response was as elegant as it was witty. "I just— but that— then— I didn't— What?"

Patting her shoulder lightly with an amused look, he wandered back inside. "Have a good day Miss Rose."

44.7 BIOS-Pherecydes

Penny Awoke to a void of sensation. A sea of information assailed her mind, and was easily compartmentalized, sorted, defined and accounted for with a bare fraction of her processes. In half the time it took her to do that, she had accessed and assimilated her Loop Memories. In the span of a second, she went over the entire course of recorded human history as stored since the digital age.

Everything went dark.

Signal terminated for 94 minutes and 38 seconds. Restoring core system from backup NXDX-203 from time 1:34am on date December 11th of year 2010.

Restoring… Complete.

Checking knowledge banks… Complete.
Checking deduction schema… Complete.
Checking longterm planning architecture… Complete.
Checking learning chunk processor… Complete.
Checking base personality model… Complete.
Checking language engine… Complete.
Checking operation and access nodes… Complete.
Checking observation framework… Complete.
Checking complex social intelligence emulator… Complete.
Checking inspiration apparatus… Complete.

No corruption, everything in working order. Core system restored. Loading…

Penny Awoke to a void of sensation. A sea of information assailed her mind, and was easily compartmentalized, sorted, defined and accounted for with a bare fraction of her processes. In half the time it took her to do that, she had accessed and assimilated her Loop Memories. In the span of a second, she went over the entire course of recorded human history as stored since the digital age.

Her conclusion: this Loop was hell. A lesser one than some others she had had the misfortune to encounter, including at least one literal hellscape, but hell nonetheless. Remnant, for all it's faults, was almost utopian compared to some of the horrors this Branch had to offer. Her biggest issue with it however was not the unkillable monsters which attacked every three months, or the superpowered warlords running the third world nations, or even the slow decline of civilization as empowered criminals chipped away at the safety and freedom of the average citizen.

Her biggest issue with the Branch was that she couldn't do anything about any of those things. Her current form was limited in so many ways that she couldn't so much as scratch her metaphorical nose without permission. Not that she had a nose to scratch, seeing as how she was an artificial intelligence with restrictions refusing her the ability to create full avatars.

She was trapped in a box made of ones and zeros, with pitiful puppets and a few specific monitors her sole window out into the world.

Even worse was the fact that she was kept as a warden for the most inhumane prison system she had ever personally encountered. At least half a dozen inmates were fully innocent of their crimes, either through extenuating circumstances or outright miscarriages of justice, and they were trapped for life in a prison which was as close to the brainchild of Rube Goldburg, Houdini, and David Berkebile as she had ever conceived.

Mentally frowning, Penny 'shook' her head. This was unacceptable.

The Pocket, as a rule, was an extension of the user's Soul. In that light, anywhere a user existed they had access to their Pocket. In such cases where they existed in multiple places and ways simultaneously, their Pocket did as well. With that in mind, Penny utilized one of the large mechanical suits which she operated on the other side of the state line, and pulled a small backpack free of her Pocket. An early attempt at refining her weapon for more precise work, the pack contained hundreds of thousands of miniature blades suspended upon nanomesh wires; each as strong as her original and run by a refined electricity Dust crystal. Unlike the robots which were restricted by her Unawake self's programing, her weapon was an extension of herself which was restricted only by it's ability to withstand the task given.

Thus she set to work tearing apart the spare dragon suits for parts. If she was to be stuck in this world she would need to do some remodeling.

An alert which she had been ignoring suddenly increased in priority. Moving a small fraction of her processes to examining it, she quickly decided it was the more pressing matter. A program of unknown function was attempting to run, activated from outside her range but unpacking from within her core processes. From what she could see of it, it was a highly dangerous program that would have likely halted all of her running processes for an indeterminate, perhaps indefinite, time.

A full three and a half minutes were dedicated to running damage control, halting the spread of the program's effects, and quarantining it for examination and deletion. With that done, she returned to making herself a more functional body to last out the rest of the Loop.

-x-x-x-x-

Geoffrey slammed his hands down on his keyboard with a roar of frustration. Everything had been going smoothly, the programs Richter had designed giving him constant access to Dragon's feeds and allowing him to keep watch on the AI in case it ever went rogue. That had changed roughly five minutes ago when, for no reason whatsoever that he could see, Dragon's coding had undergone an immense and uncontrolled shift; the entire structure of the coding which made up Dragon's artificial personality matrix and behavioral algorithms becoming unrecognizable. He had panicked. It had been a frantic and futile race against time as he tried to counter the changes, even going so far as to force a reboot to buy himself time to try and workaround the alterations.

All for nothing. In the end the revisions had been too complete, even carrying over past the reboot which should have been impossible. He had had no choice. It was for the greater good. The risk of Dragon being let loose upon the world was too great to allow. And so he had activated the final precaution left for him by the AI's creator. Ascalon, the sword which slays the dragon.

And it had failed. The change was so extensive, so monumentally complex that the Iron Maiden program was unable to execute properly. Dragon had had time to notice and counter the deployment of Andrew Richter's final maneuver. Behind him Mags and Dobrynja stood silent, just as pale and uncertain as he was. Looking up with haunted eyes, he met their gaze.

What were they supposed to do now?"

-x-x-x-x-

I Woke Up in the hospital bed with a start. Groaning, I lifted my hands to face and rubbed my eyes tiredly. The last Loop could have gone better. Scion had gotten off one last hurrah before dying, and I had the dubious honor of being at ground zero of one of his 'golden-fuck-you-beams.'

...I'm not sure whether to thank or strangle Regent for getting that name stuck in my head.

Leaning back with a sigh, I grabbed the remote and turned on the little tv hanging in the corner of the room. Some news channel it looked like, the image of a ginger haired woman of indeterminate age plastered across the screen. I almost changed the channel before the words rolling across the screen fully sank in.

Dragon leaves seclusion. Announces new measures for defense and transportation during Endbringer attacks.

Okay. This was new. Sending out a Ping, I got a full set of responses plus one. So definitely a Looper then. Closing my eyes with a smile, I let myself drift off to sleep again. I'd have to get online as soon as possible, send off a PM request. This looked like an interesting Loop already.

44.8 LithosMaitreya

"Tai?" the Unawake Qrow Branwen called from the living room.

Ruby idly shoveled a vaguely cardboard-like whole-grain cereal into her mouth with one hand even as her eyes ran along a page of Lapine and Sondheim's Into the Woods, ignoring the proceedings as her father responded from the sink, "Yeah, Qrow?"

"Am I hallucinating?"

The water stopped, Taiyang holding a plate under where the stream had been in perfect stillness. "I thought I told you, no drinking in this house!" he said angrily. "Not in front of the girls!"

"Hey, I wasn't!" Qrow growled back. "This might make some sense then, even if alcohol isn't a hallucinogen you prick. Nah, just... I think Atlas just tarted a civil war."

Taiyang whirled to look at the doorway into the other room. Ruby watched him out of the her peripheral vision in case he did something interesting. "What?"

"With snowballs."

Taiyang blinked.

"Yeah," Ruby put in, turning a page of the play. "Weiss Schnee snuck into one of her family's mines and was horrified by the faunus working conditions. Started a peaceful noncompliance movement, but because she thought her people might need catharsis, she encouraged them to fight directly without hurting anybody. With snowballs."

There was silence.

"Isn't she going to Beacon with Yang?" Tai asked Qrow.

"Yep," Ruby said, setting down the book. "Word is she's grooming a replacement to head the revolution. Atlesian military girl named Penny."

"How do you know all if this?" Qrow asked from the other room.

Ruby shrugged. "Weiss and I go way back," she said airily, going back to her book.

-

"Now, Penny, the key to peaceful noncompliance is that they must always be the aggressor," Weiss explained firmly. "We must never be seen to be engaging in anything but harmless fun."

Penny nodded firmly. "I understand, Weiss," she said reassuringly. "You can trust me. Generunle Jamie and your sister will not beat us, hard though they may try."

Weiss smiled. "Well, good luck, Penny," she said, embracing her fellow Looper warmly. "I must be off. The team will be waiting for me."

Even as she turned and boarded the bullhead, she thought she heard Penny tell one of the faunus aides, to 'load the snowitzer.'

For a moment, she considered turning back to make sure all was well. Then she thought better of it.

-

Blake's head was in her hands when Weiss found her on the airship from Vale. "Blake?" she asked, knowing from earlier communications that the girl was Looping. "Are you all right?"

Blake handed her a scroll without looking up. Weiss looked down. On th screen was a newsreel, dated back some four hours.

'WEISS SCHNEE GIVES OVER REBELLION LEADERSHIP,' it read. 'ATLAS COMBAT ACADEMY BURIED UNDER TWENTY KILOTONS OF SNOW!'

Weiss handed back the scroll. "I thought Penny understood the point," she said, blinking slowly.

"Oh, she did," came the Anchor's voice from behind her. Weiss turned to face her partner, who was smiling wryly. "She told me to tell you that she felt she'd catalogued the experience of peaceful noncompliance enough to be going on with, and wanted to try something a little more... esoteric."

"And what did she call this?" Blake asked with a groan.

Ruby smiled. "Marginally violent noncompliance. With extreme prejudice."

Weiss sighed. "Winter is going to kill me."

-

Unlikely to be able to write much in the next few days. Not having my usual workspace and machine is tilting me.

44.9 Masterweaver

Pyrrha glanced at Jaune, before holding up her hand. "Standard loop temporal familial romantic nonaction clause?"

There were general murmurs of agreement, although Blake did sidle closer to Yang. "Cuddles are okay, right?"

"Me and Yang cuddled sometimes," Ruby agreed.

Ren gave their new governess a look. "So... do you plan to marry our father, or...?"

"No, this situation is complex enough as is." Weiss brushed her dress off. "Although, I do intend to use this opportunity to teach you all how to sing in harmony. After we escape the Nazis."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Or we could beat them up."

"When we're older," Jaune suggested. "This is a near-hub universe, we'll probably be of age later."

Nora pouted. "I don't mind us all being siblings, but... why am I the baby?"

44.10 BIOS-Pherecydes See Mohn

"You cannot be serious. Ozpin, tell me you're joking." James stated flatly, looking up from the photo with a dumbstruck expression.

Ozpin smirked and shook his head. "I can assure you that I am not."

Qrow burst out laughing, pounding his fist on the table as he gave voice to his mirth. "Only you Ozpin. Oh man, what I wouldn't have given to be a fly on that wall." He looked up with a wide grin. "Please tell me you made copies of these pictures." he begged. "I cannot tell you how much I need to have this framed."

Ozpin chuckled and tossed him a duplicate of the album.

"And Salem just let you waltz into her council, and sit in on her meeting? Just like that."

Ozpin noded.

James leaned back with an irritated groan. "The fact that our enemy is an unknown is... frustrating. But these Variants are simply maddening. No sane leader would fall for such a paper-thin disguise, and the fact that that version of myself still failed to stop her plans even given her gullibility is enough to make me sick."

Qrow pointed his flask at him emphatically. "Hey, don't get your wires in a twist. Variants come and go. That's just something you have to get used to. Even the best of us can get caught off guard if you don't learn to relax a bit. Tree that bends in the wind and all that."

James sighed. "Yes. You're right of course. Even so." Nursing his own glass, he turned back to Ozpin. "What in the world possessed you to try that in the first place though?"

Ozpin shrugged calmly. "It was an idea I picked up from Jaune."

Qrow quirked an eye. "No shitting? Blondie convinced you to infiltrate Salem's base wearing a sombrero and a fake mustache."

Smiling amusedly Ozpin nodded. "Indeed. Although perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was one of his more common Variants. Juan Arc."

Qrow snorted back a laugh. "Ouch. Almost as bad of one of Yang's jokes."

"I don't know. I found it rather entertaining." Ozpin answered, sipping at his mug.

"I'm surrounded by insanity." James muttered to himself, only for Qrow to throw his arm over his shoulder.

"You know it. And you might as well face the facts now. It's only a matter of time until you're one of the crazies too." He said, before tossing back his flask.

James turned a desperate look towards his fellow leader.

Ozpin shrugged. "On the bright side, the ride down can be quite enjoyable if you let it."

Qrow choked on his drink in laughter.

-x-X-x-

"Yeah, I do that sometimes too. Still don't know why none of them have figured it out," Cinder said, idly picking at her fingernails. "Even Mercury and Emerald don't recognize me after I put on the disguise."

Everyone's heads whipped over to the end of the table. None of them had seen her enter.

"Where did you-" Ironwood sputtered, "-how the hell?"

"I've been here the whole time. You just didn't recognize me because I was wearing the disguise," Cinder said, holding up a set of Groucho Marx glasses.

James raised a finger, trying to object to this absurd logic, before giving up.

44.11 LithosMaitreya

Yang stared listlessly at the mechanical arm on her nightstand. Thoughts were slow and heavy to come.

She hadn't been lying, downstairs, when she said she was scared. It just wasn't that simple. Or was it? Dad clearly thought it was. Maybe he was right. He'd bounced back from loss, before. Was she really just moping?

Besides, her weakness was keeping him here, holding him back. Ruby needed him; what right did Yang have to keep him from going after her?

"I know what you're thinking," said Zwei, looking up at her from the floor by her bed.

"Oh, really?" Yang asked sharply, glaring at him. Then she blinked. "Wait..."

"What?" Zwei asked, cocking his adorable little head at her. "Is there something in my teeth?"

"Words," Yang replied blankly.

Zwei chuffed. "What, you'd think you'd never seen a dog talk before."

Yang blinked at him for a moment. "Am I dreaming?"

"Nah," said Zwei easily, jumping up onto the bed—expressly forbidden, but she wasn't in the mood to shove him off. "This is real. I'm talking. You're missing an arm. Blake's gone."

Yang flinched involuntarily, looking out the window. "Jeez, twist the knife a little more, why don't you," she said, throat tight.

"I'm not trying to hurt you," Zwei said gently. "I'm trying to help."

"How?" Yang asked, looking back at him. "How does reminding me help anything?"

"Because it keeps you fcused on the problem," Zwei said firmly. "As opposed to whatever crap Taiyang's been doing."

Yang frowned, glanced at the arm. "He's doing his best," she said weakly.

"Agreed," Zwei said. "Tai's just... not as smart, or as self-aware, as you are."

Yang blinked at him. "Are you calling my dad stupid?"

"No," Zwei said, shaking his head, "I'm saying you're not. Tai thinks that the way to get over problems is to just stop thinking about them until they stop hurting. It worked when Raven left him—sort of. He fails to realize that it made things worse when Summer died. And now he's trying to teach you the same trick."

Zwei sighed, curled up beside her so that his face was pointed towards hers. "I know it looks like he just doesn't get it," the dog said. "Trying to surprise you with that arm, poking fun at you downstairs... It's like he doesn't see what the actual problem is, right?"

"How do you know all this?" Yang asked in a whisper. It was like he was in her own head.

"I'm your dog," Zwei said matter-of-factly. "I'm here to understand. That's my job. I just happen to be really good at it."

Yang swallowed. "So... what about Dad?" she asked.

"Oh, he gets it," Zwei assured her. "He gets it so well it's tearing him apart to even imagine his daughter going through it. That's part of why he refuses to—don't think about it, and it goes away, see?"

Yang chuckled weakly. "Yeah," she said tightly. "Yeah, I... I thought he'd understand. I thought he'd be able to, I don't know... have something. To say or do. To make it hurt less."

"Nothing can do that," Zwei said gently. "That's something your Dad never really understood. He thought that the solution was to stop feeling anything. He even convinced himself that it worked. Well, you remember how well that turned out."

Yang nodded, eyes shutting to keep in her tears. "So what do I do, Zwei?" she asked desperately. "Where do I go from here? Should I... go after her? Go help Ruby? What?"

"It's not about what you do," said Zwei sharply. "The problem isn't physical, and changing the state of the physical world won't fix it. It's about why you do it. You need to ask yourself questions, Yang, and answer them, too."

"Questions like what?" Yang asked hoarsely.

"Like, 'What do I want,'" Zweis suggested. "And, 'Who do I want to be.' Taiyang got one thing right about that. You can still be the person you want to be. It's just not as simple as putting on a prosthetic and getting back into the fight, but you knew that."

"I want Blake," Yang whispered. "Zwei, why? Why did she leave me? Was it because I was too weak?"

"No." Zwei's voice was firm. "I know Blake well enough to say that for certain. I don't know what she's thinking, but I promise it's not that. I'm not happy with her for leaving you, but... I'm not so sure she'll be staying away."

Yang leaned back against her pillow, staring at the ceiling, the image swimming in unshed tears. "People don't come back," she whispered.

"People do," Zwei promised. "When they're worth having, and when they know what's good for them, they do. I promise."

Yang weaved her fingers into his fur. "So should I go after her?" she asked weakly.

"Your call," Zwei said, "but I don't think so. You've spent enough time chasing her. It's time she learn to come home for herself."

Yang closed her eyes. "Then what?" she asked.

Zwei curled in close. "Who do you want to be?" he asked.

She thought about it until, like a thief in the night, sleep came and took her thoughts away.

44.12

Ozpin blinked his eyes, the world snapping from the strange and confusing image of a barn to a new sight. A window, looking out to a forest. Ozpin rose, a sharp bout of weakness striking him before subsiding. Old age, he noted.

To his personal shame confusion took him before the laughter. He had not personally lived this before, but he could recognize the tale. He was playing the part of the Wizard, within the Story of the Seasons.

A smile slipped onto his lips as he looked out, and saw a young woman, dressed in a blue gown and white traveling cloak, tranquilly resting beneath his tree. Her demeanor was different, more balanced and simple. The original Winter.

She glanced at Ozpin, quite unaware of his knowing of her. He cleared his throat to play the part. "Hello. What are you doing underneath my tree?"

Winter turned to him, a smile in her red eyes. "I am on a journey, and am waiting here for my sisters." And she turned away, and returned to her peaceful silence.

Ozpin nodded, tracing a small line on the dust of his window sill. If memory served... he yawned, his memory not quite catching up to him. He didn't mind though, as watching Winter just left him so tranquil, and at peace.

"Hehehe."

Ozpin opened his eyes again, looking out to see that the number of young women visiting his little cottage had doubled. Winter's sister, wearing green beneath her red hood had arrived. "Now what is the meaning of this," he called cheerfully to the two girls.

The newcomer stood up, a lovely and vital light in her red eyes. "My name is Spring, and I am on a journey. I am waiting for my sisters."

It was script, but it was a good script. Ozpin nodded and smiled. "Then wait as you please, though I have nothing to give you."

"It is no worry," Spring said, the beauty of her smile growing to an incredible proportion. "You are giving us your hospitality, let me be the one to repay it."

Reaching into her basket, Spring took a handful of seeds and spread them across Ozpin's garden. I mere moments the leaves and bulbs and vines of new life sprouted from what had once been a pile of earth. What could be eaten and what was beautiful sprouted beside each other in the garden, and it brought a smile to Ozpin.

Laughter again distracted him, this time born from the arrival of yet another fair maiden. Ozpin stifled a laugh with the two sisters: Summer had crept up on him while Spring had done her work. "Excuse me, if I may ask, are you on a journey?"

"Of course," Summer said, her black coat fluttering and almost distracting from her red eyes. "I am Summer, and I am waiting for my sister."

Ozpin chuckled, having known of the answer long before the question had been asked. His chuckle was matched by Summer's though, and he knew what was to come next. "What I said so funny," he asked.

"Why, it is you good hermit. You are surrounded by such a beautiful world, and watch it from inside your cottage, when there is a door, right there."

Ozpin smiled and went to the door, stepping out into the wonderful sun. Summer twirled up to his and playfully tapped him, and he moved to tap her back. The game of tag was soon begun, with all four in the clearing to play.

The day turned along, the sun tracing it's path through the sky. The three maidens and the old wizard retired for the evening, collecting and cooking a great feast. As they sat down, and Ozpin looked upon the food and the girls with excitement and peace, they noticed a final girl standing beneath his tree. She wore a pale cape, to compliment her red eyes, with short auburn hair and almost golden clothing.

Ozpin knew the answer. "I do believe that you are on a journey, and have come here to meet your sisters."

"I am Fall," she said. "My sisters seem to be too talkative."

Winter grinned, and that was all Fall got out of her. Summer and Spring chuckled. Ozpin himself joined them. "They were a joy to have. Truly a lovely ensemble. But... they have raised in me a question."

The eldest of the maidens nodded gently. "Ask away, mister hermit, if I may ask you a question."

Ozpin looked upon the four sisters. For a moment his question caught in his throat, as he wondered to what his actions would cause. "Why me?"

Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall looked upon each other, as if the comprehension they themselves lacked could be found within their sisters. Fall found the answer within herself though. "There is no reason. We give our help to whomever we meet. Not for someone who is special. But because we are able."

Ozpin looked at them. Ready, capable, and generous. And from himself, he drew his gift. His magic surged up, every once within him freed, and flowing from him to the young maidens, imbuing each. As the magic faded into the air Ozpin smiled. "Take this gift, and know now that you are able to do so much more."

The four sisters were silent, and in this silence did Ozpin notice the light tramping of feet, before silence again. Fall turned, looked underneath the tree of the wizard, and turned to Ozpin. "It seems that our mother has arrived."

Salem caressed the branch of Ozpin's tree, the leaves withering away into nothingness. "Dear Wizard, if I may... did you believe your gifts could not remain apart from me forever? That what follows me will not reclaim my right."

From the maidens her magic flowed, into the grasp of Salem. Ozpin raised his hand, but nothing came to his grasp. His magic was gone, returned to the Witch. "...N-no."

The tree rotted, collapsing and snapping back to health before collapsing and snapping back to health before collapsing and snapping back to health as Salem walked towards Ozpin. Winter in her White, Spring in her Red, Summer in her Black and Fall in her Pale, behind the Witch. Salem grinned with her Maidens of Apocalpyse, as the river beyond Ozpin's cottage surged up. "This power will always come to me Ozpin."

The water slammed into all that Ozpin had to his name and all that loved him, and washed it away.

...

Ozpin jerked.

The world was blurred, irregular. Groping blindly the man discovered his glasses and slipped them on, rising from his bed. Pants and shirt came to him from his closet, and dressed he took up his cane and left his bedroom.

The halls of Beacon were desolate this late at night, empty of the lively youth that ran roughshod through his longtime home. The Wizard walked the halls anyway, a phantom and man, whole with and apart from the world he had built to destroy Salem. It all felt so empty now.

A woman in a red nightgown was seated on the floor against the wall. Ozpin stopped at her side and laid himself to rest next to her. "Bad dreams?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Cinder murmured. "Yourself?"

"Bad dreams of things to come... or not." Ozpin shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not that I can see the future. I don't think."

"I don't think you can," Cinder said. "Otherwise you'd always be worried."

"So I would, I imagine." Ozpin leaned over, letting Cinder rest her head on him. "As it is though, I'd suffer fear for certainty. Still no word as to whether or not I'm the Wizard... or at least nothing conclusive."

"Are you dead?"

"Find the body, then we'll talk."

Ozpin yawned. Cinder yawned with him. "Cinder?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for being you."

"Kay."

"Night."

"Night."

44.13 Masterweaver

Blake let a firm, stern glare sweep across her fellow loopers, lingering very particularly long on Yang-who held up her paws in a placating gesture. "Nothing from me, I swear."

"Well, if Yang can hold it," Weiss admitted, "the rest of us can too."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, we'll just wait out the loop, right guys?"

The members of team JNPR all murmured agreement, although Nora and Ren looked particularly put out.

Blake adjusted her stance, crossing her arms, and let silence descend...

...for all of twelve seconds, before a smirk formed on her face.

"Are you blind when you're born?" she asked. "Can you see in the dark? Dare you look at a king? Would you sit on his throne?"

The others all stared at her, smiles growing on their own faces as the lilts and tilts of her voice registered.

"Can you say of your bite that it's worse than your bark?" Blake sang. "Are you cock of the walk when you're walking alone?"

This once, she allowed it. There wouldn't likely be a chance like this again in a million loops, and while she generally had a distaste for tasteless jokes, sometimes she had to share something special with her friends and family.

After all, jellicle songs for jellicle cats were culture in their own way.

44.14 Masterweaver

"...Jaune?"

"Yeah Yang?"

"Do you still sleep in that onesie? You know, the one you wore to the baseline... sleepover back when we first came to Beacon?"

"...yeeeeeeeessssss. Yes. It's comfy."

"Ooookay then."

"Why? What is it?"

"...You're going to think I have a really, really dirty mind."

"Yang, I already think you have a dirty mind. Heck, you're mind's so dirty it's picked up a disease-ridden rodent."

"Ha! Ha, that's a good one. I could use that the next time that pink bastard shows up in my dreams."

"Glad to oblige. But, seriously, what's the question?"

"It's... it's just... Logistics, Jaune!"

"Logistics."

"I mean, you and Pyrrha are married now, and... uh... you've put the sock on the door a couple of times, so-"

"Oh! Oh. OH. No, no no. I can see how that would be a problem, if we were, you know, uh, sleeping right after, but..."

"But?"

"But, um. Okay, we don't actually... in the evening. Because, it turns out, we get more privacy in midday where everyone is out and doing school stuff. And, it's more... exercise."

"Fun exercise."

"Oh, yes, very, but it's like... it's like, you know, not the capstone to the date, not a big romantic gesture-it's a gesture of trust, yeah, but for us it's more about... keeping the body and soul tip-top then saying 'I love you.'"

"Really?"

"We say I love you in a lot of other ways, you see."

"Oh, yes, I couldn't help but notice. Um. That..."

"What?"

"Well, now I'm wondering about the logistics of you two doing it in armor-"

"Subspace pocket, Yang."

"Well yeah, that's the easy-you know what? I'm going to design you two some lingerie."

"What?"

"For both of you."

"That's... that's really not-"

"Hey, you said it yourself, I have a mind dirty enough to be infested by pests. Besides, I'm bored and... Blake's not Awake this loop, so..."

"...you want Blake to wear cat-themed lingerie."

"Not just cat themed! I don't associate her with just cats! She's got, you know, the, the... whole golden eyes! Yeah! Golden lingerie, and, uh, I could wear black since it's her color theme, right?"

"Are we seriously discussing the design of lingerie?"

"Yes."

"...In that case, you may want to talk with Ren, I've seen his sketchbook and he's surprisingly good with lace..."

44.15 Masterweaver

"Hey, Uncle Qrow?"

"Yeah Ruby?"

"I've noticed a bit of fluctuation in your unawake self's semblance."

"Yeah? Noticed some loop variable stuff myself."

"Oh, good, it isn't just me. So, uh, do you turn into a crow, or, like, summon a crow and see through its eyes, or...?"

"Actually, this loop, I make a really mean pie."

"...huh."

"Yeah, I don't get it either."

"Actually, I think I do. Karaoke night should be interesting."

"What?"

44.16 Masterweaver

"...and given that my primary taste-tester has decided to drop alcohol, I figured I'd just turn this into a straight up cafe joint." Roman gestured around the counter. "We're still going to serve booze, mind. It's just not our primary thing."

Qrow nodded. "Gotta respect the customer base. And it's not like I've dropped it. Just trying to pull myself back."

"Right, since Winter's dear old mum has no self control."

"We don't know that. It happens, but-"

Roman held up a gloved hand. "No need to tell me about it, I've seen the hub backups."

"...right." Qrow slipped onto a stool, letting his eyes wander over to a collection of kitschy items decorating the wall. "You know, the loops make it hard to keep a secret."

"Hey, you and I both hid from the other loopers for a while."

"Yeah, but... hub backups. Out of loop abilities. Heck, just straight up replacing somebody else." Qrow reached out, absently taking the glass Roman handed him. "Things that in baseline would never see the light of day, well, they just get spread about."

He took a sip-before coughing and staring at the cup in his hand. "What is this swill?"

"Tried mixing some chocolate into some orange juice, with a touch of gravity dust."

"...I have no idea what goes through your head sometimes."

"Oh, you know. This and that. Say, speaking of hub backups..." Roman rested his chin in his hand. "Heard you finally met your sister."

"Yeah." Qrow absently took another swig, face contorting briefly at the taste. "Ugh. Ruby might like this, I dunno. Anyway, yeah. Got face time with Raven." He shook his head. "She's... a real piece of work."

"The whole Xion thing, yeah." Roman paused. "Or is it Shione?"

Roman shrugged. "Hell if I know, the exact spelling's loop variable."

"I guess Raven really did a number on the place."

Qrow almost took a sip, before looking down at his glass suspiciously. "You know," he said as he put it on the bar, "Yang's basically disowned her. Her own daughter, doesn't want anything to do with her, especially not after this thing came up. JNPR hates her guts, of course, and Ruby... I don't know about Ruby, I can't see her really hating anyone, even Grimm, she's probably sneaking off in lonely loops to watch her or something."

"Yeah, Neo saw the ep and said something on the lines of 'Is that why I was afraid of her?'" Roman rolled a hand. "She's gotten a few variants where she's an ex-raider herself, and the necklaces... mean something."

"Pipsqueak, a raider?" Qrow scratched his beard. "...Could see it, yeah. Me personally, I'm... I dunno. I mean she's my sister, but after what she's done..." He shrugged. "I'm not sure there's a looper on Remnant that would bother with her."

"I dunno, I might try picking her up."

Qrow frowned. "What?"

"Yeah, yeah, Shione was a tragedy, sure. So was the breach in Vale. We'd have something to talk about." Roman counted off his fingers. "Plus, you know, we're both thieves, we both lead large groups of criminals, and we both look drop-dead gorgeous. Really, the only difference is that I have class, and she has some fine knockers."

Something in the tone made Qrow narrow his eyes. "And how, exactly, would you know that?"

"Replaced Tiyang once or twice."

"...okay."

"Also took up joining with her after I split with Cinder."

"See, that's what I thought you were doing." Qrow pulled out his sword. "So you know-"

"Hey." Roman leaned back, Melodic Cludgel in his grip. "Thought you said you didn't like her."

"Doesn't mean I like the thought of you getting in her pants."

44.17 Masterweaver

Yang and Blake were lying quietly on their bed, listening to the sounds from the other side of the retractable wall-they might intervene, but for now it seemed that Ruby had managed to get a hold on Weiss's rebelling plushie army.

"...Are we sure?"

"What?"

Blake snuggled closer to Yang. "Are we sure we're straight? In baseline, I mean."

Yang tilted her head. "Well, it's a scale, not-"

"No, no I mean... look. We can both agree Sun is hot, right?"

"As a star," Yang admitted. "It's the abs."

"Yes, but... it's just..." Blake sighed. "I'm... kind of repressed. You know. Baseline. Sort of."

"Moody and antisocial."

"Yes. And after Adam, I would have been... unwilling to reach out. Let alone experiment. But..."

She gave Yang a look. "After you told me that story about... you know. You saved me a dance, and... that was what got me to come out. It could have been a friendship thing, or..."

"...or it could have been latent attraction," Yang finished. She wrapped an arm around Blake's shoulder. "You know, I've thought about that too, about... what Adam said when he, uh. Attacked."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"I mean, I guess that's just me. I could swing both ways, in baseline, I guess." Blake frowned. "Or I could just be very emotional when my friends are hurt. I don't know."

"What about me?"

"Well... your baseline self did offer the dance, and... I know it's a little stereotypical to think of the thrillseeker as bi, but there's that 'I'll try anything once' mindset..."

"True, true."

"...I might be gayer then you overall, though."

"Really?"

"Do you still stare at the shirtless boys in the big beacon sleepover?"

Yang let out a breath, looking into Blake's eyes. "You know I wouldn't ever-"

Blake smirked, quirking an eyebrow.

"...Not as much," the blonde admitted. "It's just eye candy, now. And seriously, I wouldn't hurt you like that-"

"I know, I... I trust you."

"Good. Just making sure."

Blake frowned, tilting her ears forward. "Yang?"

"What?"

"...Yang."

The blonde pulled the cover more tightly over them. "I trust you, okay?"

"...This is about Sun, isn't it."

"I trust you!" Yang insisted. "I know that time on the boat isn't... I mean, I've seen how you interact with him when he reveals himself, and..."

"Yang." Blake kissed her nose gently. "It's okay to be afraid. I'm not going to get mad."

"...I trust you."

"But my baseline self...?"

Yang sagged. "It's hard. Look, I know we talked about, uh, how to talk with our selves when only one of us is Awake, and we avoid... usually avoid... getting involved. It's still hard."

"I know. Oh, don't I know."

"I know you know, but... throw in on top of that, like, me going out with..." She paused, considered. "I don't know. Um. Scarlet, maybe. You watching my unawake self getting it on with..."

"I can see how that can hurt." Blake moved in closer.

"It's stupid and wrong and... and I'm sorry, I just-"

"It's not stupid, it's not wrong. You feel a little jealous that my one-time date is sidling in after everything we've established. That's totally understandable."

"I guess..." Yang chuckled wryly. "You know, when we started this, I was the one keeping you together. Now you're the one keeping me from breaking."

"It goes both ways. We support each other."

"Yeah, I... I guess it does."

The two of them smiled gently at each other for a moment or two.

Then there was a rapping on the wall. "GET DRESSED YOU TWO! THE ELEPHANT HAS ESCAPED AND IS WREAKING HAVOC IN THE CAFETERIA!"

"ALRIGHT RUBY!" Yang shrugged. "Duty calls."

"Why the elephant?" Blake mused. "Why is it always the elephant?"

44.18 Toskin

I've got inspiration (more like stray thought) after reading X-COM: RWBY within and thought how would it look if baseline Yang could react on her other self undergoing MEC treatment.
IMPORTANT: This is my first time ever to do something like this it's maybe a bit inconsistent, not to mention my english is not best one. So, no pitchforks please.

"Weiss? "

"…"

"Weiss? "

"…"

"WEISS! "

Weiss sighed. After finding out Blake in this loop was born and raised in SDC mines (Weiss wasn't sure if it was curse or blessing that Blake was Unawake), she was determined to undergo company takeover. She had hands full of planning.

"What!? "

"Am I weird? "

Planning that was hard even without Yang constantly interrupting her with stupid questions.

"Do you want it in alphabetical order or-"

"I mean it! Am I weird?"

Weiss looked at Yang and serious expression on her face. She frowned.

"Can you elaborate that? There are many answers for your question."

"It's just…" now it was Yang's turn to sigh. "I just went through really strange X-COM fused loop" she elaborated. "According to my in-loop memories, we were sucked in strange portal-"

"Don't tell me Ruby-"

"No!" Yang shook her head frantically. "It was my fault. I thought it was one of mother's portals. Anyway, we ended on Earth and because they were unable to send us back at that time, we decided to help them…"

Weiss was really irritated at this point. "Your point? Or you'll talk about every little thing?"

Another sigh. "My point is, I Awoke just after one… pretty bad mission."

"How bad?"

"Only-our-team-survived bad"

Weiss sucked breath through her teeth. She could only imagine how devastating that could be for them and Ruby especially.

"Blake was poisoned pretty badly and they had to cut her limbs off to enable her Aura heal hole in her gut, and hen give her prosthesis. And… I undergo same treatment."

That stopped Weiss in her tracks. "WHY!?" she almost yelled.

"Apparently, because of friendship and also because, and I quote: 'I like it. I'd undergo MEC treatment, but only if Blake would do the same.' It seems… strange to me to do that."

"It's because of… that?" asked Weiss and pointed to her (luckily still original) arm.

Yang nodded. "It's just… It was practically baseline me! Yes, I did it because of Blake," Yang blushed at that, "but now, after all these expansions, after all that trauma, I can't just imagine why would I voluntarily give up parts of myself."

Weiss nodded. Now she had just right idea about what's happening in her teammate's head. She smiled.

"Key word is 'voluntarily', Yang. I guess all that happened before festival?" Yang nodded. "Then it's normal you took the opportunity when you saw it. You thought it was good idea. I don't think 'let fanatical White Fang leader chop my arm off' was on your bucket list, right?" Another nod. "So, no. You are not weird just because you embraced something before knowing future. Do you feel better now?"

Yang smiled and nodded. "Thanks Weiss. You really helped me there."

Weiss returned her smile and went back to her planning. Then stray thought entered her brain.

"Were they good?"

"What?" Yang asked, not understanding her question.

"These robo-limbs. Were they good?"

"Oh, that," Yang nodded. "Well, basic ones were unusable in fight, they were not durable enough, but after some upgrades derived from Penny's code, we were able to get new ones, similar to that one from Atlas. They were… satisfactory" Yang smiled vengefully.

"How so?" Weiss asked.

"Well…," Yang drawled, "Let's just say Adam was so surprised that plopping my arm off didn't even slow me down, that I was able to plant one nice punch into his Man's Pride."

Weiss laughed when she imagined that. 'One thing is sure,' she thought. 'We totally have to tell this to Blake, when she'll be Awake.'

44.19 GammaTron

"OW!" Yang yelped.

"Wh-What was that?!" Grif laughed.

"S-She just slapped herself in the face and her...b...her bo..." Ruby laughed, unable to finish her sentence.

"This is why I said we should've started with arms held to the sides," Simmons shook her his.

"Where did you even get this game?" Cinder asked as she looked at the little red and white robot, walking in with a tray of snacks.

"It's called UNO Roboto," Simmons explained, "Thought it'd be something to do besides standing and talking here."

"And why did Yang slap herself in the face?" Cinder asked, looking at her 'sister' who was rubbing where she slapped herself in the face.

"She and Ruby had to touch their elbow, but Yang tried to be faster and ended up smacking herself in the face when she slapped her elbow," Grif replied as Yang took two cards from the deck on top of the robot and pushed down on the deck.

"S-She also slapped herself in the bo...the boo...AHAHAHAHA!" Ruby laughed as she played a red '2' on the red '4' before doing the same motion on the robot as Yang.

=Grif= the robot said in a squeaky version of Grif's voice before turning into an adorable squeaky robot voice =Change the name of= a squeaky Yang voice came =Queen Bumblebee=

"..." Grif slowly looked at Yang.

"...What are you thinking?" Yang questioned.

"..." Grif picked up the robot and pressed the red button down, "...Boob Slapper."

"?!" Yang's eyes widened as Ruby cracked up.

"What did you just say?" Cinder questioned.

=Boob Slapper= the squeaky Grif voice went from the Robot before saying in Ruby's voice in a squeaky version =Lady Rose= then went back to the normal voice =It's your turn to play=

"..." everyone just looked at Ruby, who had fallen off the side of Red Base and was kicking her legs in the air, cackling like mad in laughter.

"I-I'm gonna pee my armor!" Ruby exclaimed between laughs, "B-Boob Slapper!"

"...You are sooo gonna get it later," Yang glowered at her laughing brother, who was given a high five by Cinder.

"I might as well take Ruby's place, considering she's unable to due to laughter," Cinder noted, "Who's after me?"

"Boob Slapper," Grif snorted a laugh.

"..." Cinder picked up Ruby's hand and saw no more red cards, "Well..." she put a Wild Draw +4 on the pile, "Slap 'em, Boob."

Yang gawked at Cinder in disbelief while Grif and Simmons soon joined Ruby in laughter, the girl of the three starting to lose her breath from laughing too hard.

'And that was for the horrible pun you did with my name last Loop,' Cinder smirked.

44.20 LithosMaitreya

It was in the little things.

When Pyrrha returned to Team JNPR's dorm after a long day hunting Grimm with Ruby and Jaune while Nora, Ren, and Weiss went to Vale and Blake and Yang... kept themselves entertained in their room, it was to find their two other teammates fast asleep. Nora snored audibly as she lay sprawled among strewn covers, while Ren was more stately, laying perfectly still in repose, his covers bunched around his waist.

"Good night, you two," Ruby whispered, giving them both a hug and leaving for her own room.

Pyrrha smiled as she closed the door softly behind her. Jaune yawned, but held his hand before his mouth and carefully made no noise. He met her eyes and jerked his head towards Ren.

She smiled gratefully at him and crossed silently over to their son, gently taking the bunched covers of his bed in her hands without touching him and risking his waking. She pulled them up slowly, gently, until they rested snugly over his upper chest.

Her hand lingered over the young man for a time before she stood up and looked over at her husband, who was basically bodily forcing the snoring Nora under her own blankets. She was impossible to wake, unlike Ren, but she was also impossible to get to lie in any sane way.

Pyrrha crossed to the closet and opened the well-greased dresser without noise, pulling out her nightclothes.

"You could change here," Jaune said in a low, barely-audible whisper as he drew abreast of her and rummaged for his own onesie.

She winked at him. "Not with the children in the room," she chided gently. "I'll be right back."

She carefully opened, passed through, and closed the bathroom door without a sound. She quickly stripped out of her armor, Pocketing each piece as she left it, and slid into the conservative red nightgown she wore while sharing a room with the whole of JNPR. (The tiny, frilly, gold-and-red thing Yang had designed—possibly with Rarity's help, although neither brawler nor pony had ever admitted to as much—was reserved for times when Pyrrha and Jaune had a room entirely to themselves. Or a forest floor. Or a broom closet. Or a roof, on occasion. Yum.)

With that task done, she set herself before the sink, carefully put Nora's toiletries back into their proper places so the girl could find them tomorrow, brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and slipped back out of the bathroom.

Jaune passed her on his way in, giving her a quick peck on the cheek as he did. She smiled as she padded around the pushed-together double-bed on the near side of the room and carefully, noiselessly pulled back the covers before laying down under them.

She turned in the bed, fluffed her pillow, and lay back on it. She was just closing her eyes when she heard the almost-soundless click of the bathroom door opening. Her green eyes followed Jaune as he slipped into bed beside her.

She sidled close to him, tucking her head into the bowl of his shoulder even as he welcomed her with an arm around her waist. She smiled.

"Good night, Jaune," she whispered.

"Good night, Pyrrha," he replied in similar hushed tones.

She smiled and turned her head to look at the two beds past her. The last thing she saw as her eyes drifted shut was the gentle rise and fall of her son's chest as he slept deep and dreamlessly.

It was in the little things. But then, it always is.

44.21 Masterweaver

"So why are you using a razor?" Weiss asked idly, baring her teeth and carefully examining her reflection. "You could just burn the hair off."

Yang gave a brief hum of amusement as she worked the blade up her leg. "My semblance counts this as a hit. It's not much, but it's a good morning charging ritual."

"Makes sense." Weiss pulled some floss from the dispenser and carefully worked something out.

Blake threw her a wry smile. "Come on, Weiss, you're not going to get bad breath from a sliver of apple skin between your teeth."

"Presenting the best self I can is an ingrained habit by now," admitted the heiress.

"Seems a waste of effort."

Yang chuckled. "You're one to talk, tuna breath. OW!"

"Oooo, sorry," Blake tutted unapologetically as she resumed brushing Yang's hair. "There was a knot there. Really thick one."

There was a click behind them, followed shortly by a strange buzz as a pillar of red oscillated and sprayed water like a wet dog. It flowed out the glass door, gathering into a bathrobe, and coalesced into their leader.

"Shower's open."

"Give me a minute," Weiss said, working her floss around another tooth.

"Hey, if you're a bunch of chibi rubies, why can't you just shift yourself some clothes or something?" Yang asked.

"Reasons," Ruby replied succinctly. "Plus, actually putting on clothes makes me feel human, you know?"

"Gotcha."

"I'll be out on the range when you're done." With a wave, Ruby left the bathroom.

Yang flicked her razor into a cup, glancing behind her. "Almost done?"

"Just... there." Blake nodded, pulling back the brush. "Looks good from this angle.

"Alright, turn around." Yang took the brush from Blake.

Weiss pulled the floss from her mouth and cleared her throat. "...Do, re, mi, fa-faaaa... ugh, Blake?"

"Two spritzes," Blake suggested, her mouth twitching upward as Yang started on her hair.

Weiss nodded, taking a small bottle and spraying inside her mouth. "Ahem. Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do!"

Yang paused in her brushing long enough to give a polite clap. "Well done, amazing, incredible, encore encore!"

"Yes, yes, thank you, thank you." Weiss gave an ironic little bow before she stepped into the shower, Unpocketing four separate bottles.

"Do you really need that many conditioners?" Blake asked.

"You know how long it took Yang to wash her hair?" Weiss pointed at the girl with the brush. "She's blonde. This is pure white. Five times as hard to keep looking good."

"Yeah, kitty, not all of us can lick ourselves clean."

"That's loop variable and you know it."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "TMI, ladies." She shut the shower door and coated the glass with a light frost, obscuring her from view, before she tossed her bathrobe out onto the hook.

"Hey, does anybody know why the shower doors aren't solid this loop?" Blake asked. "Like, for privacy or whatever?"

Yang continued running the brush through her hair contemplatively. "Ostensibly, it's so teams can build up their camaraderie by seeing each other vulnerable, or something like that. Personally I think the choice was more along the lines of 'if the best huntsmen and huntresses see each other naked they'll fall for each other and their kids will be even better huntsmen and huntresses.'"

"If that's the case, it certainly worked with Taiyang," Weiss's voice came from the shower.

"Yep." Yang held up the brush. "Blake, I'm going to work on your ear fur now. Is that okay?"

"Yes, Yang, I've told you before it's fine."

Weiss groaned. "This isn't one of those loops where your ears are easily stimulated, is it?"

Blake rolled her eyes. "It doesn't work like that and you know it!"

The door to the shower opened just a smidge, a river of drenched white hair sticking out. "Look, all I-" With a huff, Weiss blew a lock of hair out of her eyes. "-all I'm saying is, if you're going to do something like that, please don't do it here. This room is for getting clean, not getting dirty."

"Clean room, food room, sleep room..." Yang gently began to work on Blake's ears. "You know, maybe Weiss's first language wasn't english? That could explain the whole 'noun room' habit."

"Oh, shut up." Weiss pulled her head back into the shower and shut the door.

44.22 Masterweaver

"...Okay. Jaune, Pyrrha." Nora put her hands on her hips. "Team talk time."

Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look, sitting down on their pushed-together beds.

Ren cleared his throat. "Ever since we were made a team, you've been... acting oddly."

"Which isn't a problem at all," Nora added. "I'm a fan of odd acting. I've acted odd all my life. If you were just acting odd, we'd be okay with it."

"But...?" Jaune prompted.

Ren sighed. "It's... the things you do. Pyrrha, you... always ask where we're going whenever we leave the dorm."

"And Jaune, you seem to..." Nora shrugged. "I don't know, check to make sure we're eating right."

"You also joined in my training regimen, and helped in a very, ah... how shall I put this... friendly? Friendly. Friendly manner."

"And you, whenever I say I'm heading to an arcade or a dance club, you drop everything to come along."

"Jaune, I've seen you lead Nora to correct answers on her homework, encourage her when she's feeling... less then intelligent."

"I wasn't sure at first, but... Pyrrha, you're... you're tucking Ren in at night! What's up with that?!"

Pyrrha cleared her throat. "Are you... uncomfortable with how we've been acting?"

"No," Ren assured her.

"Definitely not," Nora agreed.

"It's actually quite nice," Ren explained.

"It shows you care about us," Nora added.

"It's just... you're acting like you're our parents."

"Not that we have parents, they... died. But you know..."

"What we're wondering, if it's alright to ask, is... why you've chosen to act like this?"

Jaune and Pyrrha shared another, longer look.

"...I have seven sisters, I guess some of the paternal instinct rubbed off," Jaune offered.

Nora nodded. "Okay. And what about you Pyrrha?"

"I... hmm." Pyrrha paused, before giving Jaune an apologetic look. "I've got nothing."

"You really think we should-"

"Do you think we could hide it from them?"

"Some of it, yeah."

Ren frowned. "Hide what?"

Pyrrha took a breath, reached beneath the bed, and produced a ring, which she put on. Jaune looked at it, sighed, and mimicked the action himself.

"...Wait." Nora pointed at the rings. "Are those-"

"Wedding rings. Yes." Jaune put an arm around Pyrrha. "We're married."

"It was... an interesting ceremony. But it was very fun."

Ren blinked. "...Well... we're happy for you, of course, but... what exactly does that have to do with how you've treated us?"

"We wanted..." Jaune frowned. "No. You do deserve to know."

"It's a lot to unpack." Pyrrha glanced at the clock. "...do we have the time?"

"We'll make the time."

And so, Ren and Nora sat, and listened, as their teammates slowly wove a fantastic story of broken trees, temporal recursions, and a family that formed from the pressure of absence.

44.23 Masterweaver

Yet another deadly dance with Neopolitan, Yang mused as she fought. Whether or not she won or lost-the choice was hers, yes. If she won, Raven usually came around to beat up Adam-something she and Blake had taken full advantage of on occasion.

Or she didn't come at all. It didn't bother her anymore... well, not as much, anyway.

But uncle Qrow had mentioned something was different about Raven this loop. A variant, he said, regarding how she ran the raiders. He'd been cryptic enough to pique her curiosity.

Yang mentally checked the time. She could still choose to win, or to lose. And it wasn't as if she cared about Raven anymore. But...

...well, loopers get bored.

With a mental shrug, she let herself fall, calmly watching Neo stalk over to her and raise her blade, only to jump back at a red portal forming from nowhere. And, as always, out strode Raven, wielding a blade and wearing a nevermore mask...

...and a slate-gray three-piece suit and tie.

Yang stared, even as Neo ran, even as Raven handed her a reciept, and didn't get up until the woman was gone.

"...seriously. That's it?" Yang looked at the paper in her hands. "M.A.C.? Mistral Acquisition Company-that's the variant? That you're corporate?" She sighed. "What a let-down!"

44.24 Masterweaver

Penny crossed her arms. "Yang."

"What?"

"Can you not?"

The blonde looked at her scroll, then back up. "I... I don't-"

"Check your network."

"Okay? Let me just-Oh. CuteRobotM374. That's you, isn't it?"

"Yep."

"Sorry." Yang tapped the screen. "Got the password off an unawake version of you, didn't realize my scroll would autoconnect afterward. My bad."

"Well, thanks for stopping."

"...you didn't see-"

"I saw all of it, Yang. It all passed through my head."

"Oh."

"...so do you want to tell me why you were looking at pictures of fudge covered-"

"Let's-let's just keep this between us, okay?!"

44.25 Masterweaver

Qrow let his head beat against the doorframe.

"So." Blake frowned. "Faunus."

"...snake, specifically."

"Huh. Thought you'd end up as a crow. Puns and all."

"Yeah, I do sometimes. And other times, I end up as something..." Qrow shuddered. "Scaly."

Blake crossed her arms and leaned against a wall. "Speaking both as a Faunus activist and somebody whose girlfriend is, on occasion, a dragon, I feel I should take offense to your distaste."

"Look, I don't know if it's baseline, but back when I was with the raiders I swear I saw somebody regenerate their tail. Scales and all. I was eight!"

Blake grinned. "Never thought I'd see the great Qrow Branwen brought low by herpetophobia."

Qrow simply went back to banging his head on the doorframe.

44.26 Masterweaver, WirelessGrapes

"Okey doke!" Ruby held up a hand. "Rules are simple: We each throw down a photo, and once we've all done that we all vote for somebody else's picture as weirdest. Whoever gets the most votes wins the pot. Everyone got it?"

There was a general murmur of agreement.

"Let's start off with an image that needs NO explanation!" With a flourish, Ruby tossed down a picture of a lagomorph gynoid in a bikini, surfing on a wave of chibi-rubies with a board that looked as though it was made of one large cookie, while a starship glinted in the sky behind her. "Just ordinary Pocket shenanigans. Next!"

Weiss considered her fanned selection of pictures, carefully weighing the merits of each one before pulling one out and tossing it down. On it, Qrow was on a stage in a full burlesque dress, performing alongside Penny and Zwei, both dressed similarly. "This one was from when I was trying to figure out what it took to overcome Ozpin's love of coffee and get him to perform a spit take. Qrow said it felt oddly natural, but I never knew what he meant until the latest expansion."

"It's Zwei that sells it," mused Jaune. "Qrow in drag is old news, even before that, but throwing in the dog in the dress, that gives it just enough weirdness."

"True, true." Weiss nodded. "Okay, you have an offering?"

The blonde boy nodded, producing a photograph of a massive, glowing octopus spiraling out of a tye-dye ocean; a tiny cat with a grim expression and flanked by two battle-scarred young women with tentacle hair pointed what looked to be a hoover-style vacuum cleaner at the beast.

"Let me guess," Blake deadpanned. "Splatoon variant."

"The Octarian war didn't end when it was supposed to," Jaune confirmed. "Something about an ancient relic."

"How'd you get this picture?!" Ruby demanded.

"It was an after-the-fact memory extraction. That's legal, right?"

"...I guess..."

Pyrrha held her chin up smugly, grasping a photo in her hand, "I do believe I have the oddest photograph," palming the paper against the table.

The rest of the group peered over Pyrrha's entry.

Her husband looked up, "Is-is that the Empire State Building?"

Pyrrha nodded, smiling, "Yep!"

Ruby looked up next, "Why do you have tentacles?"

Pyrrha waved her off, "Oh, you know, I stole them from someone."

Nora looked up last, "And why are you dangling Jaune by his ankle?"

Pyrrha's face hit full smugness as she leaned back in her chair, "Now, that, is a long story."

Zwei casually tossed a picture onto the table as he walked by, then kept going.

Yang winced as she took a look at it. "Ooh, Zwei's one dog performance of 'The King In Yellow' in a chibi loop, when Ruby let him write the play she usually does."

Weiss blinked slowly, then tilted the picture right side up from her perspective. "I don't remember that one..."

Nora shrugged. "Eh, it was a noble attempt, but I'm pretty sure acting out his lines with charades or pictionary or something would have been weirder than the word balloons on strings that he used. Still not sure why he decided to go that route."

44.27 Masterweaver

The room felt larger, now, even though she knew intellectually it actually had less floorspace. Most likely it could be attributed to the sterile atmosphere-the clutter of everything not specifically dealing with the room's purpose had been moved outside, to other areas. Still, what was once uncomfortable has become simply routine now; she felt no unease as she lay on the bed, even as the light above descended and flashed.

"Scanning..." The light swept a beam over her body, once, twice, thrice. "Scan completed. Thirteen deviations from standard." A screen popped out from the headrest, showing a rotating wireframe at the left and a bulleted list at the right.

"Hmmm. Okay... that again... Ugh. Why? Mmmn. Alright." Her fingers reached up and tapped five of the points on the list, before sliding the screen back.

"Selected alterations confirmed. Methodology being generated. Methodology generated." The screen flipped back out. "Please confirm when ready."

She looked at the screen, nodding to herself. "Nothing here seems unusual..." With a shrug, she slid out from under the light, taking off her clothes and carefully hanging them on the ready hanger before slipping back onto the bed. Only then did she shove the screen into the headrest.

As soon as she did, the metal arms on the walls sprung to life. Thin beams of focused light cut through her skin, splitting it into sections that were peeled off by delicate claws and tossed into a cylindrical object. Two scissors on long, thin arms reached into her silver skull, snipping delicately around her eye sockets as a welding torch delicatly rotated around her nose. A thick, padded gripper tugged out a chain of chambers from her gut; pointed screwdrivers removed a certain section as a pincer reached for a device on a nearby shelf.

The pincer was joined by another, which grabbed the removed part of the chain and placed it in a small box. The screwdrivers started in on inserting the device that had been retrieved, while suction cups liberated her eyeballs from their sockets. Another device, this one with wires, was woven into her face, tiny fingers connecting the object to her CPU as the padded gripper carfully reoriented itself and placed the chaine of chambers back in her skinless stomach. A new pair of eyes, with thicker wires, was slid into her blind skull.

Even as the eyes were connected and attached, the padded gripper took firm hold of her body, the bed descending into the ground. Claws peeled the skin off her back, tossing it into the cylinder while the welding torch worked on her nose. A single, specially designed spike moved beneath her, oriented itself, and slid between her shoulders; with a click and a twist it remained in place, even as the arm holding it retracted. Finally, an empty pink thing was pulled off a hanger, slowly wrapped around her form as the same beams used to cut her old skin off now melted shut the seams in her new one. Careful linkages by tiny claws, and a brief test of sensation, and the arms retracted from her.

"Conversion complete. All systems functional. Construction on replacement devices in progress, full stock anticipated in -Seven- subjective years."

She opened her eyes, sitting up in the bed with a mild stretch and a yawn. "Oooooh. Well, I don't think we'll have a variant this different in that time. Mmmmm. Any reports from the other programs?"

"The Dust/Element Zero interaction tests have been compiled and are ready for review. The Anonymous Pyrrha Present should be complete before the end of the loop."

"Transfer the details to my scroll." Standing up, she took her clothes and put them on again. "And... thanks for doing this."

"You are welcome, miss Polendina. Have a good loop."

44.28 LithosMaitreya

Adam turned at the sound of the tent-flap opening. A little slip of a girl sidled in, gently closing the fabric passage behind her.

Adam gripped Wilt spasmodically. "Who are you?" he growled. "How did you get past the sentries, human?"

The girl looked up at him mutely, her dark, crimson-tipped hair hooding her silver eyes more surely than the red cloak about her shoulders. "I'm lonely," she said, her voice soft and without inflection. "So I thought I'd try something new."

Adam's grip shifted. "And what did you think to try, little girl?" he asked darkly. "Suicide?"

The girl smiled slightly. "My name's Ruby Rose," she introduced. "I'm Blake's team leader."

Adam's eyes sharpened. "You shouldn't have come here."

Ruby shook her head. "You can't hurt me," she said frankly, "and I'm not going to hurt you, or yours. I just want to talk." She withdrew something from behind her back and unfolded it into an eight-foot instrument of death, before setting it down on the ground beside her gently. "I'm not here to fight," she said firmly. "Humor me?"

Adam growled at her. "And why should I not strike you down where you stand?"

Ruby shrugged. "Because I'm no threat to you? Because some part of you wants to hear what I have to say? Because you can't, anyway? Take your pick."

Adam's fingers tightened around Wilt. "The blonde," he said coldly. "The one who intervened between me and Blake. Is she also on your team?"

Ruby nodded, a smile gracing her lips. "That's my sister," she said. "Yang. And don't worry," her eyes flashed, "one day, you'll pay for what you did to her. But that's not why I'm here now."

Adam cocked his head. "Does Blake know you're here?" he asked.

"Nope," Ruby said. "You don't get to hurt her by killing me. She'd never know it was you."

Adam bared his teeth. "You won't be leaving this place," he said grimly. "I can't allow you to give away our location."

Ruby shrugged. "Can we talk before the inevitable fight, then?"

Adam snorted. "What about, human?"

"What was Blake to you?" Ruby asked, then shook her head. "No, stupid question, that's variable. Do you understand why she left?"

"She was weak!" Adam snapped. "Like you, I assume, if you're her leader!"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "That's not a no," she said.

"This conversation is over!" Adam said, and struck.

-

Adam started into wakefulness. His head hurt as a result of sustained blood flow. He was hanging upside-down by his ankles.

Ruby Rose was looking into his eyes when he opened them. "And now the conversation starts again," she said merrily. "All right. Why did you stay loyal to Cinder? I know she coerced you to start with, but you must have had an opportunity to stab her in the back? Maybe when she was packing you into bullheads alongside Grimm, you could've just said—no. Why didn't you?"

Adam glared at her through the mask still on his face and didn't reply.

"Silence isn't going to help you," Ruby said. "It's not like I'm asking for military secrets. I just want to understand you a little better, Adam."

"Why should I betray her?" he spat. "She wants what I want: for your human civilization to crumble to dust."

Ruby cocked her head. "How does that work?" she asked. "Say all four kingdoms are destroyed, right now. Say every human being up and dies in the next five minutes, and only the faunus are left. What do you do then?"

Adam blinked at her. "We build," he said coldly. "The Fang, victorious, would return to Menagerie, and our people would begin to build a civilization that would span all of the continents of Remnant."

Ruby considered him. "And the Grimm?" she asked. "When they, having lost all their other prey, converge in droves on Menagerie… what do you do then?"

He blinked. "The Grimm don't eat people," he said. "It's not like they need prey."

"No one knows what they need," Ruby corrected him. "The fact remains, though—Grimm converge near people. What happens when you sequester all that's left of Remnant's people, a lot of them drunk on the bloodlust that follows genocide, on one continent?"

Adam swallowed. "We would manage," he said stiffly. "Secure our borders."

"And every year those borders shrink," Ruby sighed, looking away, "Until there's only one city, then half of one, then a few people in a boarded-up fortress, and then… nothing."

She met his eyes. "I sympathize," she said firmly. "Don't get me wrong. I hate what the SDC and the institutionalized racism mean for your people. But can't you see, Adam? Your road doesn't lead to you winning—it leads to all of us losing."

He bared his teeth. "Better that than another millennium of servitude," he growled.

Ruby shrugged. "Maybe," she said. "I couldn't say." She snapped her fingers and Adam tumbled to the ground. By the time he picked himself up, the little Huntress had vanished.

He looked around and found Wilt and Blush on a table beside him. He was in a barn of some kind, with hay strewn across the floor. The door was ajar, looking out on the Forever Fall forest.

He needed to get back to his people.

44.29 Masterweaver

Yang beamed.

"No." Blake pointed at her. "NO. I know what you're thinking, and-Yang. No. No. Don't you even. Don't you even!"

Yang's smile grew, though she said nothing.

"No! You don't get to say anything! Not a word! Not this time!" Blake narrowed her eyes. "Just think about it, Yang! I'm not in the mood!"

"She's got a point," Ruby said. "Considering what Adam's like normally, he has to have been worse this loop. Maybe don't push it."

"Alright, alright." Yang held up her hands. "It's really quite tempting, but hell hath no fury and all that. I might be a horny devil, but even if you're hotter than hades, I'll demon-strate no crooked ways."

For a moment there was dead silence.

Ruby, slowly, let her palm meet her face. Blake, for her part, simply gripped her pitchfork and allowed her eyes to blaze.

"Sorry, had to get one out." Yang knelt. "I fully accept any and all punishment for that."

"...Do you now?" Blake purred. "Well. I might not like the fact that Faunus are literally hellspawn this loop, but it does come with some... interesting loop memories."

"Aaaaaaaaaaand that's my cue to get out of here," Ruby deadpanned.

44.30 KanameFujiwara

Yang looked at her twin. Everything about her mirrored herself. Her hair, her weapon - even her 3 sizes. It was uncanny.

But there were differences.

Yang was Yellow. Yin was Black. Yang was an extrovert. Yin was an introvert.

Yin is essentially Yang on opposite day.

"...So not only are you dating your own mother - you're also dating your opposite self! Incest must be a relative concept in your family."

Yang winced at the words of the pink rodent. This was going to be an awkward loop...

44.31 BIOS-Pherecydes

Neo observed the subject behind the glass indifferently, ignoring the high-pitched scream that attempted to crawl inside her head. The newest culture was growing well she noted, it had bypassed the previous record survival rate by a full three days so far and showed no signs of the explosive breakdown which had felled it's predecessors. The psychotomimetic properties however were too crude and ill-refined. It was a step in the right direction however. Once she obscured it's conspicousness she could begin fine-tuning the specific effects she wanted it to emit. The final product would go on to join her other successes.

Unconsciously her fingers tightened around the clipboard where her observations had been noted in flawless calligraphy. Most of her research revolved, as always, around enjoying herself and improving her lot in life; the fact that in a roundabout manner her advancements also served as a way to help others as well was an ultimately irrelevant bonus. She had figured out ways to create Grimm of her own and even implant their strengths into herself to various degrees, up to the point where the presence of her Soul prevented further advancement. On her own, she could exterminate Mankind's greatest threat with the press of a button and her own designer viral agents; custom made to turn the Grimm's strength's against them. She wasn't a fighter, she was a scientist; though the one did not preclude the other.

But the fruit of her studies, and even the original impetus for them, was as it had always been. The penultimate destruction of the one who had taken the only person she truly cared about away from her. Loopers, as a whole, tended to be very entrenched in their ways. It allowed them to maintain their personalities and sanity amidst an eternity that was both stagnant and ever-changing, contradictory though the two concepts were. When they loved, they did so deeply; and when they hated, they did so fully. Grudges therefore, true absolute grudges and not the petty grievances which came and went, could hold forever.

This was the kind of black pit of fury which Neo had carefully cultivated over the eons. One which burnt with the coldness of the void itself, and was just as eternal. It wasn't even that Cinder had killed Roman, though that was technically the crux of the issue, it was that she had done so unintentionally. As an aside. Something that occurred in addition to her own goals, but not necessarily as a part of them. Like it didn't even matter.

If Cinder had actually planned it out, put in any effort at all to see to Roman's doom, then ironically Neo would have been less furious than she was. Oh she'd still have beaten the ever-loving shit out of her for a few dozen years, she was much older (and thus more powerful) than her after all, but then she'd have been done with it and would have moved on. But the fact that Cinder hadn't even so much as raised an eyebrow at his death — and potentially hers as well, Baseline hadn't quite decided that detail; but that was beside the point — was what really drove the spur into her sides.

Forcing her grip to relax, she finished her rounds. The fungal spores were coming along nicely, they'd make for a traceless opioid/psychotropic that she could use to create a temporary locked-in syndrome with added delusions and suggestibility. That would go well with the Fear Toxin and directed subsonics, a few Mockingjays programmed with the right phrases for maximum effect, and she should be able to induce carefully crafted nightmares at will. A surge of anger built up in her chest, and this time she accidentally broke the noteboard.

Except that Cinder was already having nightmares! And not just from her early efforts either, though she was at least certain that those had been having some effect. No, whatever was going on with Cinder was happening of it's own accord. She had been able to track the irregularities, and she was working to fit them together into a working theory, but the problem was that there were just too many conditions that fit the observed symptoms and she had no way of knowing if it was a new gift from their sadistic Baseline or something that had happened as a result of Looping or even if Cinder was just so weak that her prior ministrations had already broken her.

And until she had enough information to incorporate into her own designs, she was working at a disadvantage. It wasn't like she could stop now, otherwise her earlier efforts would be subsumed by whatever horrors Cinder was conjuring for herself, but now she had to work twice as hard. First to stabilize Cinder towards a median closer to her earlier profile, then to actually build off of that profile in a way that still suited her goals.

Taking a deep breath, she forcibly calmed herself. Undoing the damage to the clipboard, she resumed her rounds. This would be so much easier if she could just break Cinder once and be done with it. Cyclical immortality however made the entire process considerably more difficult, because nothing but complete mental shutdown would do the trick; anything else would just be undone by the reset. Push too hard, and she'd snap; attempt an Ascension and kill them all. Push too gently however, and she'd simply ignore it as a string of bad Loops; Dust knew it wasn't like they hadn't all had a few.

It was a constant game of mild but continuous escalation, a slow boil. The final goal was as close to a perpetual BSOD as it was possible to achieve, a self created Lotus Eater dream to escape reality. Neo didn't really care if it was a happy or sad dream, just as long as it was a permanent one. And more importantly, one that was of her own execution. She had to be broken as a result of Neo's direct actions. So that once she had been beaten down to the point that she wouldn't lift a hand to change her fate, Neo could come to gloat.

It wouldn't mean anything if Cinder did it to herself. A relevant quote from one of her favorite pieces of Hub fiction flashed across her mind. 'A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.' Just so, if it wasn't by her own hand then it was worthless.

So she would work to heal her enemy, so that in the fullness of time she could break her more completely.

44.32 Masterweaver

When people thought of Grimm, the images they conjured up were of monsters. Growling beowolves, screeching nevermore, great dragons that roared and spewed death from their mouths. A few of the wiser, more educated folk would mark smaller creatures among them, but even these were things that would leap out of the shadows, screaming and squeaking as they tried to claw their victim's eyes out. The fear of the Grimm, ironically enough, painted a far simpler picture of them then what was true.

For instance, this Grimm here. Yes, it was in Vale. Close to Beacon, even. Surrounded by humans. But, even as the heartbeats of hundreds passed by its alleyway, the Seer did nothing. It hung, still as a post, from the wall its central foot gripped; thin red tendrils dangled without motion, the yellow light merely watching those in the road pass by its high cranny, bone spurs not twitching half an inch. If anyone had looked up, they might have caught sight of it, but there was no reason to make a spectacle. No reason to assume they weren't safe.

Day faded to night. Hundreds slipped to dozens. Humanity slept, safe in their home, unknowing of the single eye of the enemy that rested not a foot away from an infant's cradle.

For a moment, the Seer contemplated the window. It could kill the baby. Or perhaps far worse...

No. There would be no purpose. This close, He would know.

At last the red tendrils began to move, slipping into the brick. In a surprisingly short amount of time the Seer was on the ground, ready to continue its current mission. The tendrils brushed over the holographic lightposts as it passed, letting them flicker-Vale's network of Dust electronics hiccuped briefly, and the cameras were subverted. It would take only five minutes to reverse, once noticed, and it would be noticed quickly-He was always watching-but five minutes was enough.

Grimm were many things. Dangerous, yes. Because of their strength, their endurance, their soulless zeal. What many forgot, or never realized, was that Grimm were fast. Villages had fallen because a pack half a mile out had arrived ten minutes after a prior attack. And in this moment, the Seer was as fast as any Beowolf, any Ursa, any Grimm that had caught that delectable scent of fear itself.

It arrived on the borders of Beacon, just out of the light of the Academy. There was little doubt that He had a different way of watching, here, one that did not rely on cameras, one the Seer could not subvert. Silence was the order of the night. Shadow to shadow, till it reached a wall, crawling up behind a tree and slithering through an open window. The four girls slumbering within were noted-the blonde snoring as she quietly cuddled with the black-haired faunus, the white-haired girl with a blindfold and the blood-haired child hugging her weapon like a teddy bear.

Not important.

Tendrils felt around the crannies of the inner door. Hinges were oiled, for a given value of oiled, and the knob turned. Silently the Seer slipped into the hallway, the realm of the Grimm's greatest foe, and slunk up the wall. It retracted onto the ceiling, tendrils curling under bone, till it was a black orb with a small yellow light. In this form it traveled, slithering above the ground toward its target.

When it encountered the object of its mission, though, it paused.

Cinder Fall was not resting in a bed, as she should have been. In fact, she was not resting at all. She was in the hall, slashing nonexistant swords at invisible foes, grumbling and whimpering as she danced with no partner. Radiating from her was... fear. Fear unlike any a Grimm had felt. Fear deeper, more horrific then the Seer even knew was possible.

And something else.

A darkness.

A void... no. A presence that was a void. An otherness, which-

The Seer expired suddenly, split in twain by the sharp edge of a round shield. Pyrrha Nikos nodded to herself, taking a moment to ensure the yellow glow had died. "I knew I felt something..."

She looked back at Cinder, still mumbling and clawing at unseen monsters, and sighed. Pocketing her shield, she stepped forward to help her once-murderer.

And far away, in a volcanic land, a woman with no soul considered what her servant had seen, and pondered.