Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY or any of the franchises referenced in this work
Note: The start of this chapter takes place in an AU version of vol 7, some minor spoilers may be inside. Not a lot of action in this one.
Chapter 18: A better world
Inspiration: Justice League
"Welcome back, next viewing is ready." Blank said once his audience had taken their seats again.
"So what are we watching this time? More demon killing?" Ruby asked.
"No, this time it's two possible futures set in a timeline where the fall of Beacon happened." Blank answered.
"Oh." The mood in the theatre tanked instantly save for Cinder who started smiling again, knowing that her plans had succeeded.
"Wait, two possible futures?" Weiss asked in confusion.
"Indeed, due to a deliberate mishap involving large quantities of gravity dust and magic, the two futures intersected, you'll just have to see."
"And I win in both, excellent." Cinder said.
"You win the battle and lost the war shortly after. It does not end well for either of your future counterparts." Blank said before his audience could start rioting and attempting to break through the barrier again.
"What? But if I succeeded at Beacon, than I must have the full power of the maiden. Losing, isn't possible with that kind of power." Cinder argued.
"In a straight fight perhaps, but your enemies will never give you one in those futures. Least of all Jaune Arc." Blank said.
"Hmmph, so far I've seen three different versions of that boy, but they're all from different universes. The one in mine is a joke of a huntsman, killing him will hardly be a problem." Cinder smirked as she recalled browsing through the files of all the Beacon students, Jaune Arc rated so low even a dog would have a greater chance of messing up her plans.
"Keep talking. Just keep talking." Ren growled out, his anger rising even with his semblance suppressing his negative emotions.
"I've already said it before I think, but you do have a habit of creating your own worst enemies Cinder Fall. It's just a question of how far you're going to drive them to fight against you and your master." Blank said.
"Is there even such a thing as too far? Salem is a monster that needs to be stopped no matter the cost." Ironwood said.
"I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions. Now, on with the show." Blank said and flickered, the lights dimmed and the screen came to life afterwards.
"Their numbers are endless!" Harriet swore as he put down another sabyr attacking her. Mantle was burning as the Grimm hordes continued pouring through the breach in the walls, swarming into the vulnerable city. The ace ops plus Nora and Ren were doing their best to stall the Grimm while civilians evacuated to the safety of Atlas.
Metal crunched as Ironwood tightened his grip on his armrest hard enough to deform it. "That's Mantle and the ace ops, what the hell's going on!?"
"Salem's forces are trying to claim the relic and the power of the winter maiden, this is part of their plans." Blank answered.
"Well, well, well, looks like Atlas will be joining Beacon as nothing more than a memory soon. Do you get the hopelessness of the situation now?" Cinder laughed as the good guys were powerless to do anything but watch.
As a new wave of Grimm surged towards the huntsmen, green lasers started raining from the sky and a burst of rose petals tore through the Grimm lines, reducing them to dust. Penny and Ruby regrouped with the rest of them and received several thankful nods for the reprieve.
"Ruby! Have you seen Jaune anywhere?" Ren asked as the scarlet reaper approached.
"What? No, I haven't." Ruby replied mid swing as the sabyr disintegrated after being bisected by Crescent Rose.
"Damnit, Jaune has the lamp, he said he was getting it to safety, but there's no way to tell if he made it with all these Grimm around. We can't reach his scroll either." Ren said, visibly struggling between the need to stay and protect the evacuation efforts and trying to find his missing teammate.
Ruby blinked in confusion, unable to comprehend Ren's words. Hesitantly reaching behind her, she pulled out the relic of knowledge. "What? But… but he can't have the relic, the lamp is with me."
"Relic… that's one of those things that gave archer Jaune his power, right?" Ruby asked, recalling the last time she heard that term.
"Indeed, that lamp is the relic of knowledge, it houses a spirit that can answer any three questions accurately as long as it doesn't involve the future." Blank said.
"That's classified info." Ironwood frowned at Blank's casual revealing of one of Remnant's best kept secrets.
"So they brought it to Atlas, I assume Lionheart tried handing it to Salem and failed?" Ozpin asked.
"Indeed."
"One of the relics out in the open, how foolish, you might as well just hand it over to me, it's faster that way." Cinder smirked, expecting to see herself swoop in and steal the relic from them.
"Grrr… wait. If Ruby has the relic, why did Jaune say he had it and run off?" Yang asked.
"Bait." Blank replied succinctly.
Jaune huffed as he sheathed Crocea Mors, the Grimm corpses already disintegrating around him. Sucking in a deep breath to ease his burning lungs, he wiped away the sheen of sweat on his forehead.
His scroll buzzed again but Jaune ignored it, probably his team wondering if he got the relic to safety. Glancing around at the deserted warehouses and ruined streets, this was about as safe as he'd get in the middle of a Grimm invasion.
Not that he intended for things to stay that way for very long.
The undamaged lamp hanging at his side clinked as he rose to his full height suddenly. Jaune's face became void of emotions as he felt a shift in the air, the scent of ashes growing stronger all of a sudden.
"He cut his hair? It's… not a bad look actually." Yang admitted with a shrug.
"He has a lamp as well, how? Did someone make a second relic?" Pyrrha asked.
"That's impossible, you can't just make a copy of a relic like that. It has to be a fake of some sort." Ironwood said.
"Correct." Blank confirmed.
Jaune exhaled slowly, releasing the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. The sound of clapping reached his ears as he turned around to face the newcomer.
"A little far from home aren't you little huntsmen. Hand over the relic and your death will be swift." Cinder raised a hand in expectation as Jaune glared at her.
"No. I don't think I will." Jaune said as he lifted his lamp into the air for all to see.
"You intend to fight me for it? Hahahhahahah! Still the same fool with a death wish. Haven't we been through this song and dance already, don't you learn? You're so far out of your league it'd be hilarious if it wasn't so pathetic." Cinder mocked, several balls of fire spawning into existence courtesy of her magic.
"If he already knows what I'm capable of and still insists on standing in my way, then he's an idiot." Cinder said, trying not to think about why her future self was now wearing an eyepatch.
"Grrr… just you wait, fearless leader is gonna kick your ass." Nora growled out.
"And there I was thinking it was just Arc who was delusional, evidently it runs in his team." Cinder smirked as she watched Ren and Pyrrha struggle to keep Nora from trying to tear her seat from the ground and hurl it at her.
"And you're so predictable it'd be hilarious if it wasn't so pathetic." Jaune fired back without missing a beat.
"What?" Cinder blinked, not expecting the comeback.
"If it's not the maiden's powers you're after, it's the relics. You're so one dimensional I'm not sure whether to laugh at you or pity you." Jaune let the lamp fall to the ground with a thud.
"You. Dare?" Cinder growled out, her fingers twitched, itching to send the fireballs towards the impertinent fool before her and burn him to ashes.
"Oh I more than dare, your presence here just proves my point. All I needed to do was announce I had the relic for you to come running, some praise is in order, I think. Good dog." Dark laughter emanated from Jaune as he raised his foot up and stomped downwards, smashing the lamp to pieces.
"What!? You! That's… a fake!?" Cinder sputtered as she saw the replica shatter and be ground to dust under Jaune's heel.
"Oh no, you're retarded too. Did you get your brain power burnt off with your face or were you always this stupid? Did you really think I'd run off to the middle of a fucking warehouse district with a relic in the middle of a Grimm invasion?" Jaune returned the slow clap Cinder gave him earlier as he mocked the irate maiden.
"Did it never occur to you that maybe, just maybe I'm using it as bait to lure you out? No of course not, you don't have enough braincells to process that."
"Ha! You fell for it completely!" Ruby crowed happily and pointed at a scowling Cinder.
"So I did." Cinder grimaced as she had to admit that point, then her smirk returned.
"And now your friend is all alone without anyone to save him. What do you think I'm going to do now?" Cinder asked and Ruby's grin faded into a frown.
"Come on Jaune, you must have some kind of a plan." Ruby muttered under her breath.
"You think you're funny don't you? In the end you're nothing more than a failure with a death wish." Cinder said.
"I am a licensed huntsman now. As to being funny… you know, one of my missions here in Mantle was to act as a crossing guard for children, see them safely to school. Even got to sit in on some of their lessons, one of them happened to be arts and crafts. That fake you chased me all the way here for? Barely an hour's worth of work. So yes, I do think it's funny." Jaune's glare sharpened as he deployed his shield and used it to block the incoming fireballs.
"I. Am going to kill you slowly. First Nikos and now you, I suppose I'll be paying the last two members of your team a visit after this." Cinder threatened as she backflipped over a gravity blast Jaune released from his shield.
"You, will not be getting anywhere near them! I'll kill you here and that's a promise." Jaune roared and dashed forwards with Crocea Mors at the ready.
"And who's going to stop me? You? A pathetic waste of space? I killed your partner at Beacon, then I showed you the difference between our levels at Haven, you think that just because this is Mantle that's going to change? You're nothing more than an insect." Cinder mocked as she fired wave after wave of magic attacks at Jaune.
Jaune did his best to parry or block the incoming attacks but was slowly forced back by the power of the maiden. When one of Cinder's attacks dematerialised inches from his shield only to reform inside his guard, Jaune was sent tumbling back as it detonated with incredible force, his sword and shield sent clattering across the floor.
Coughing in pain as he struggled to rise again, Cinder formed a glass spear and prepared to launch it at the down huntsman. "End of line for you. Die."
As the spear fired, Jaune's grin widened. "Bet."
A black aura surrounded his fallen shield and it shot towards the glass spear with incredible speed, striking it and shattering it into countless obsidian shards.
"What!?" Cinder's cry mirrored her on screen counterpart, neither able to believe their coup de grace was stopped just like that.
"That's… my semblance… how?" Pyrrha asked but got no reply as Blank chose to remain silent.
"What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost." Jaune rose to his feet and stared at Cinder, one formerly sapphire eye now a blazing emerald green.
"This is impossible." Cinder narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out what kind of a stunt Jaune was trying to pull.
"One last gift to me from a dear friend." Jaune smiled sadly as he reached up to scratch at his glowing eye. That expression quickly faded away, replaced by one of murderous hate scorching enough to get Cinder to take an involuntary step backwards.
Raising his hands, Jaune recalled his sword and shield, plucking both out of the air with ease. The ground rumbled and the sound of metal warping and tearing could be heard as Jaune used his polarity to start ripping at everything made of metal in the area. The roofs of the warehouses, the random metal debris lying about, and even the metal foundations holding the buildings in place, piece by piece metal was torn free and started circling him, forming a barrier between him and Cinder.
"So, you somehow managed to gain Nikos's semblance, do you really think it's going to make a difference? It didn't save her from her destiny." Cinder's smirk was wiped away when an iron nail shot past her face fast enough to go through her aura and tear open her cheek, the follow up sonic boom nearly deafened her as well.
"Gah!" She screamed in a mix of shock and pain as she reached up to clutch her bloody cheek.
"I am not my partner. I will admit, I don't have nearly as much control over polarity as I would like, I only figured this out a few days ago when I was practicing extending my aura. But, I found out mixing it with my own aura amplification means I'm a walking cannon, if you get hit… well you already know what happens." Jaune bared his teeth and started firing metal fragments at Cinder, effectively forcing the fall maiden to dance or be killed.
When Cinder tried counterattacking with a blast of flames or glass weapons, the wall of metal floating around Jaune simply closed in to form a veritable fortress.
"You can't keep this up forever boy. I can tell, you're barely able to control this power and your accuracy is abysmal. Sooner or later you'll slip up and then you'll die." Cinder said as several metal bullets went wide, not even requiring her to dodge them.
"Maybe so, but I've said it before. If I die buying my friends time, then it's worth it. They're the ones that matter. I lured you here to kill you, and I don't mind not returning if I succeed at that. They'll understand eventually." Jaune admitted freely, even with his new power, fighting and beating a full powered maiden in a one on one battle was anything but easy.
"Damnit Jaune, you can't seriously believe that." Ren muttered and clenched his fists.
"He intends to sacrifice himself?" Ozpin asked with a frown.
"If that is what it takes. As he sees it, a one for one trade to remove a maiden from Salem's clutches is an unbelievably good deal." Blank said.
"There's no way we'd let him throw away his life like that right?" Ruby pleaded, hoping that their future selves had nothing to do with Jaune's plan.
"You wouldn't, and you'd probably be able to talk him out of it as well." Blank said.
"So that's why he's not answering his scroll, he's already committed to it. Damn fool, and what do you think your death would do to your friends?" Roman said, muttering the last bit too softly for anyone except Neo to hear.
As the fight wore on, both combatants started taking more and more damage. Several of Jaune's improvised missiles piercing through Cinder's legs to cripple her movement while the maiden returned the favour by slipping several glass daggers into his chest when there was a gap in the slowly depleting wall of metal.
"This cannot be happening, I am a maiden! You're just a nobody!" Cinder roared as another shard of metal punched straight through her thigh, bringing her to her knees.
"My magic should be destroying you!" A blast of fire was blocked as a metal door was hurled into its path, melting away into a pile of molten slag and leaving Jaune unharmed.
"Yours? Not yours, never yours. You stole something you had no right to, and now I'm going to tear it from your cold lifeless corpse." Jaune said as his breath came in ragged gasps, constant usage of two semblances burning through even his sizable aura reserves rapidly.
"Magic didn't save the previous fall maiden from you, it will not save you from me."
"NO! My destiny was promised to me! You will not! Get! In! MY! WAY!" Cinder yelled and fired another glass spear towards Jaune. When Jaune tried to block it, she had the glass spear shatter mid-flight into countless smaller fragments, some getting blocked by the floating shields, others making it past and slamming into Jaune with the force of a bullet.
Jaune's aura shattered under the strain of protecting himself from the attack and keeping up his defences. Tossed backwards by the attack, he rolled several times and came to a stop. When he tried to rise again, his chest plate was dented and pockmarked from all the impacts it stopped, blood ran freely from his arms and legs where the glass fragments had struck true.
Several wet coughs tore their way free from Jaune and when he reached up to wipe his mouth, his hand came away bloody. Glaring at Cinder who was getting back up onto her feet, Jaune struggled to do the same.
"Any last words? Suicidal fool, you should have known how this would have ended." Cinder growled out as she prepared to kill her opponent.
"Hahahaha…. HahahaHAHAHAHAH!" Jaune burst out laughing upon hearing her words.
"Yeah, I figured even with Pyr's semblance it might not be enough to beat you. Did you think I wouldn't have taken that into account? Look around you, do you know where you're standing in right now?" Jaune swept his hands outwards, gesturing to the ruined warehouse district.
"It's just a… wait I recognise those warehouses. That's Atlas's mainland dust storage!" Winter said, paling rapidly as she pieced Jaune's plan together.
"Dust stor-oh no. That'll wipe out everything in a two mile radius at least." Ironwood whispered.
"What? What's he planning?" Nora asked.
"Taking you with me huh… shit, kid doesn't do things by half." Qrow commented.
"All these warehouses? They contain dust for the Amity project. One little spark and boom. You set up the breach, didn't you? I thought I'd return the favour." Jaune said, getting Cinder to pause in her tracks.
"That'll kill you as well, and everyone else in the area. You don't have the guts to do that." Cinder called his bluff, and Jaune just smiled tiredly.
"Hahahahah… we're the only ones here, everyone else has already been evacuated thanks to the Grimm. I promised I'd kill you, an Arc never goes back on his words." Jaune flicked his right arm, revealing a detonator in his hand.
"No. Stop!" Cinder's last ditch attempt to shoot the detonator out of his hands failed when a shard of steel launched off the ground and struck her in the back of her knees, bringing her down again.
"Pawn. Takes. Queen. Checkmate!" Jaune slammed his thumb down on the switch, triggering every bomb he'd planted in the warehouses earlier in the invasion. In the instant before the dust explosion would have wiped the area clean, his expression of triumph morphed into one of shock when a burst of red petals caught his eyes, Ruby had somehow tracked him down to this place and was now in the blast zone.
"Jaune!"
"Ruby! No! Get away!" Jaune made it two steps before the stockpile of gravity dust stored away inside the warehouse combusted all at once, and the world was consumed by an all-encompassing violet light.
"…D-did he just kill all three of us?" Ruby asked in a small voice, not expecting her future self to be caught up in the blast as well.
"No! Both of them!? What kind of ending is that!?" Yang roared, her eyes crimson and hair leaking embers into the air from her rage fuelled semblance.
"Easy dear, it's not over yet I think. Our host did say we'd be seeing two futures intersecting, this must be the cause of it." Summer said, getting her daughters to calm down while assuaging her own fears. Taiyang sat by her side and said nothing, simply giving her hand a comforting squeeze.
"Cinder, are you okay?" Emerald asked as her boss started shaking in her seat from barely suppressed anger, ignoring Mercury's rapid slashes across his throat to get her to read the mood.
"I'm. Fine." Cinder growled out, thoroughly displeased with seeing her future self get taken out by a suicidal play of all things. Hook, line and sinker, and the problem was, with a relic as bait and a lack of competent help, she'd probably fall for the trap nine times out of ten. Frustrating didn't even begin to cover it.
Jaune's body was wracked with pain and he hurt in places he didn't even know existed. 'If I'm dead, why does everything hurt so much?'
Forcing his eyes open through sheer willpower, spots danced in his eyes as he tried to focus, and blink away the blurriness. The first thing he noticed was Cinder's prone form lying some distance away from him, rage blossomed in his heart as he noticed the rise and fall of her chest.
The power of hate granted him the strength to crawl to his knees and slowly make his way towards the one person he hated above all else. Crocea Mors had been destroyed in the blast and only a jagged edge remained attached to its blackened hilt, he grit his teeth as he tightened his grip on the destroyed weapon, it would be enough to carve out Cinder's cold blackened heart.
His pursuit of vengeance was halted when a cough came from the side. Turning his head to identify the source of the coughing, Jaune's eyes widened when he noticed Ruby lying off to the side in a slowly expanding pool of red.
"Ruby!" Sparing Cinder one last hateful glare, Jaune started crawling towards the fallen form of his friend instead. His aura was still heavily in the red but he didn't have time to worry about it for now, if he could get to her and start the aura transfer, it could save Ruby's life.
Leaving a bloody trail of his own as he crawled over to Ruby, he placed his hands over her and started pumping what little aura he had left into her, as the soft white yellow glow covered her, Ruby's laboured breathing started to ease up as her conditions stabilised.
"You're gonna be okay, I won't lose anyone else, you're not dying on my watch." Jaune whispered to himself as he dug deep and pulled out every thing he had and put it towards healing Ruby.
His vision blurred again when he stripped away the little bit of aura left keeping him conscious. Forcing himself to stay up until Ruby's breathing returned to normal and her wounds were completely closed, he heaved a sigh as the darkness rushed to claim him.
Collapsing next to Ruby, he swore he saw the darnedest thing right before he fell unconscious. There in the distance stood two giant statues, one of Pyrrha and the other of Ruby.
"Whew… they're fine, they're both fine." Yang slumped in her seat after seeing both Jaune and Ruby survive the explosion.
"What's with the statues though? What kind of a future is this?" Weiss asked.
"You had the statues commissioned after taking over as head of the SDC. You had them constructed as a memorial." Blank answered.
"Memorial? Oh no…" Blake's ears flattened against the side of her head as the implications of a Ruby statue sunk in.
"Tch, they survived, how lucky can you get?" Cinder folded her arms in anger as both Jaune and Ruby had survived the blast while her own fate was still up in the air.
"Kuh… my head… gha! It feels like there's a beringel dancing around inside." Jaune groaned as he came to. The grogginess was quickly replaced by confusion and a bit of panic when he found his arms and legs chained in place to some contraption. He was locked up inside a cell, three steel-grey walls and a hardlight barrier between him and freedom.
"Hey! What gives!?" Struggling against his bonds, there was a flash of purple light before vertigo hit him hard and his strength drained away, leaving him to slump in place and try to avoid emptying his stomach on the spot.
"Please do not struggle against your bonds. It might cause your wounds to reopen." A placid voice informed and Jaune noted the bandages on him before looking up. He froze in place when he noticed a bull faunus standing there, red hair and SDC brand out in the open for all to see, allowing Jaune to recognise the man from Blake and Yang's reports.
"Adam Taurus."
"What's he doing here!?" Blake hissed upon seeing her old mentor.
"Heh, so much for safety, looks like the white fang have your friends… too bad." Cinder said, smiling at the unexpected turn of events.
"Something's wrong with him… he doesn't look all there to me." Roman said, Adam's one good eye had a far off look in them that didn't sit well with him.
'They did something to his mind. No one's home.' Neo displayed her scroll for Roman to see and the master thief just stared at the faunus on screen, shivering when Neo's explanation just happened to fit.
"Before you start panicking, relax, your friends are not in the hands of the white fang, in fact in this timeline, the white fang no longer exists as an organisation." Blank said.
"Adam's there, there's no way the white fang is gone." Blake denied.
"It is gone. Most white fang members have already been executed by firing squad for their actions during the fall of Beacon." Blank said, stunning the entire audience.
"W-what? By who? How? And what about Adam then?" Blake finally found her voice and started firing off questions at a rapid pace.
"You all happened. In this timeline, you successfully convinced the councils to declare the white fang traitors to all living things for handing Vale to the Grimm. Subsequently, a kill on sight order was placed on every member of the white fang, those who surrender are executed on the spot. As for Adam Taurus and the rest of the white fang leadership, they were captured and lobotomised, their subsequent 'service' an example to all future would be rebels." Blank answered.
Silence filled the theatre before Ruby broke it with a quiet 'why'.
"To set an example. Everlasting peace, by any means necessary."
"What are you doing here!? You're dead! Guh, let me go!" Jaune started struggling in his bonds and the purple light flashed again, causing another wave of vertigo to strip him of his senses. This time, he did void his stomach, shaking in his bonds until the light subsided.
"You won't get away with this." Jaune glared at the faunus and spat in his direction.
For his part, Adam barely reacted to Jaune's outburst other than to reiterate the advice that Jaune not struggle against his bonds with a small headshake. "Please, relax. You are confused, it will pass soon. Lady Schnee will be here with the captain soon, they will explain everything."
Adam gave a small bow before turning around and leaving.
"Lady Schnee? Wait, come back! Where the hell is Ruby!? What have you bastards done to her!?" Jaune roared and started struggling again, leading to him getting hit by a third wave of nausea that nearly sent him back to dreamland.
"Lady Schnee? That's… so… wrong. Adam would die before he addressed any Schnee with that kind of respect." Blake squirmed in her seat, on the one hand, Adam had been dealt with and paid for his crimes, on the other… this was plain disturbing to watch.
Jaune stewed in silence for several minutes before the sound of heels clacking on metal steps drew his attention. Raising his head, he was greeted with the sight of Weiss standing beyond the hardlight barrier.
"Weiss? What's going on? Where's Ruby? Is she alright?" Jaune asked, and a sense of disquiet grew in him when Weiss remained silent.
"Weiss, where's Ruby? She's not…"
"Ruby Rose is fine, she's in the cell next to yours actually but she hasn't regained consciousness yet. Allow me." Weiss pulled out her scroll and keyed several commands into it, there was a short burst of mechanical whirring as one of the walls sank into the ground to be replaced with a second hardlight barrier.
Beyond it, he could see Ruby strapped into the same contraption as he was, and despite the strangeness of the situation, Jaune couldn't help but sigh in relief as he noticed that Ruby was safe and sound. "Ruby… thank god she's safe."
"Okay they're both fine… but Weiss-cream what's the big idea locking them up like that?" Yang turned to Weiss with a frown.
"I… how would I know? I'm not that Weiss." The heiress replied.
"Precautionary measures I think. If Ms Rose is dead as I suspect in this timeline, having her suddenly appear would raise questions, as well as the possibility of a second Mr Arc running around." Goodwitch said.
"That is a possibility, I'd probably want to know what's going on if a second me suddenly showed up one day. As to the lock up… safety measures, no telling if it's one of her tricks." Qrow acknowledged, slightly displeased with having to agree to the logic of locking up his own niece.
"…You really are Jaune Arc." Weiss said with a complicated expression on her face.
"Of course I'm Jaune, what's going on anyways? Why are we locked up here, what happened to the Grimm… invasion… Cinder! Where's the bitch!?" Jaune's eyes widened when he recalled that Cinder hadn't died in the explosion he caused.
"Grimm invasion? No, never mind. Fall is currently being held in a separate maximum-security facility while we figure out what to do with her, rest assured she will not be escaping any time soon." Weiss informed.
"Okay… so why am I locked up again?"
"Your presence here… complicates things."
"I don't understand." Jaune said, still trying and failing to make sense of the situation. He received his answer shortly when a new set of footsteps approached, and a second Jaune Arc appeared in front of him.
"What? H-how is this possible?" Jaune asked, the shock evident in his tone.
"You're asking the wrong guy. Even Jinn doesn't have an answer for us. Although, your Jinn has been most helpful with trying to solve this little mystery." The other Jaune replied.
"Our Jinn? What?" Jaune was thoroughly confused.
"I suppose we should introduce ourselves, I'm Captain Jaune Arc, an Atlas specialist. You've already met, but this is Weiss Schnee, current head of the SDC." Weiss gave a small curtsy at the introduction.
"SDC… isn't Jacques-"
"My father lost his head a while back, I've taken over the SDC in his absence since sister is still with the military and Whitley has no intention of leaving his position of head of R&D." Weiss corrected.
"I'm sorry?"
"Don't be, I executed him myself when I found evidence of him trying to sell out Atlas and Mantle to Arthur Watts." Jaune recoiled at the sheer nonchalance in Weiss's admission of patricide.
"I did what!? He did what!?" Weiss was starting to hyperventilate when her sister moved over to her and started rubbing circles into her back to calm her down.
"Calm down Weiss, I'm sure there's an explanation for that… right?" Winter directed the question to Blank with a glare.
"In an attempt to secure more power, Jacques Schnee attempted to run for a council seat, but to say that he isn't popular among the masses is an understatement. He attempted to cheat by working with Arthur Watts to hack the votes and shift them in his favour. The Weiss of that timeline found proof of the treachery, had him arrested mid council meeting and publicly executed him for high treason a few days later." Blank said.
"Ahem, to get things back on track. We've checked with Jinn, you attempted to kill Cinder Fall by luring her into a trap and detonating a massive stockpile of dust did you not?" Captain Arc asked.
"Yeah… but she survived even that." Jaune growled out.
"Technically, you did too. We're not a hundred percent sure yet but our current hypothesis is that the relic of knowledge's close proximity to so much gravity dust going off at the same time tore a hole between worlds instead of just exploding. Which led to the three of you being dumped in the middle of one of Mantle's parks." Captain Arc replied.
"I see… so what happens now?" Jaune asked and Weiss raised an eyebrow at his quick acceptance.
"You're taking this awfully well."
"In the last year, I've found out magic is real, met two people who can turn into birds and found a boy with my dead headmaster in his head. Then I found out Atlas's floating is once again due to magic. At this point, I've learnt to just roll with it, besides, unless this is some kind of incredibly detailed illusion, I am literally talking to myself right now." Jaune did his best to shrug in his bonds before giving up, not wanting to be hit by the prisoner containment measures again.
'So I'm dead and have already reincarnated.' Ozpin thought to himself and heaved a small sigh when none of his students appeared to catch the slip.
"Hahahah… when you put it that way. In any case, we can't let you walk around in public right now. That would cause a bunch of unnecessary headaches. Once things have calmed down a little more, you'll both be free to go, I'll even give you a tour of this place, and you can see how different things are from your world. I'll release you from your bonds but I must insist you remain here, it'll be good for when… when Ruby wakes up." A bitter expression crossed the captain's face momentarily before he wiped it away.
"I… I saw the statues. What happened to your Ruby?"
"Don't, ask a question you don't want an answer to." Weiss replied and keyed several more commands into her scroll, there was a small hiss and the shackles unlocked, allowing Jaune to move his limbs freely again.
"We have work to be done so we'll be leaving now. Nora and Ren will probably drop by to visit soon, Yang and Blake are in Vacuo on a diplomatic mission so I'm afraid they won't be joining us." Weiss said.
"And please try not to escape, we won't be here but your statuses are being monitored, you've already felt it, but the gravity dust inhibitors installed in the walls will stop any escape attempt, they were designed to hold Hazel until his execution after all, and I've made a few tweaks just for you." Captain Arc said.
"You say that like you've thought of everything."
"Just everything you'll ever think of. We're not your enemies, we just have to sort out having three interdimensional travellers suddenly drop in." The captain replied, a black aura surrounding the now empty shackles and raising them for a bit to prove a point.
Jaune kept the frown from his face as he saw that his copy had Pyrrha's semblance as well, so much for the idea of using it as a trump card if it came down to a fight. After contemplating trying to break out anyway for a few seconds, he sighed and plopped himself against the wall to rest and regain his strength.
"Fine, I know when I'm beat." Jaune closed his eyes as the alternate Jaune and Weiss nodded and left him to stew.
"He's just going to give up? That's not like Jaune." Pyrrha said.
"There's not much he can do right now, not with Ruby also in custody and his trump cards already accounted for." Blake replied.
"Why do they feel so… cold?" Ruby squirmed in her seat, hate filled Jaune was bad enough and these two versions of her friends were somehow even more disturbing than that.
"The death of Pyrrha Nikos hit your teams hard, then you died at the battle of Haven. The survivors snapped and came to the conclusion that your methods weren't working, too many monsters deserving of death in Remnant for non-lethal methods to work. Then, if the only path to peace and prosperity is over a mountain of corpses, you might as well climb that mountain with a smile on your faces. After Beacon and Haven, it really wasn't hard to convince General Ironwood to back your plans of ramping up the war effort." Blank said.
"Oh." Ruby sank lower in her seat and was immediately scooped up into a hug by Summer.
"Did it work?" Ironwood asked.
"James!" Goodwitch scolded.
"The no compromise stance did weed out Salem's agents and eliminate the white fang, all it cost was turning the entire world into a police state. Any dissension is stomped out immediately to ensure Salem's agents do not get a foothold. It's a future not too different from the ones where Mantle wins the great war." Blank said.
"The people would never stand for that. The councils have too much power as it is." Roman argued.
"The people don't have a choice. Not after Beacon and Haven, not after the revelation of the existence of Salem and her machinations. They gladly sacrifice their freedom to gain security from the queen of the Grimm and her monsters. It's a new world order." Blank replied, silencing the entire audience with the implication of his words.
A small groan came from Ruby as she finally woke up as well. When she noticed her bonds, she was about to start struggling in them before Jaune's voice stymied the attempt. "Don't, struggling will just cause you to hurt yourself."
"Jaune? What's going on, why are we locked up? Do you have a plan to get out?" Ruby asked.
"We're… in a parallel universe now, supposedly something to do with the relic of knowledge… how that's possible I don't know since I didn't have the lamp."
"Oh. Erm… I might have been carrying the lamp with me when I found you-what were you thinking!? You tried to blow yourself up!" Ruby accused as the fog in her mind receded and the memories cleared up.
"I was trying to eliminate Cinder. You weren't supposed to be there, none of you were." Jaune said.
"What!? Jaune… you were trying to kill yourself. Why?"
"Cinder needed to be stopped, she won't stop coming after us for the relic, and she wants you dead. My death for hers was a worthwhile trade in my opinion, I won't allow her to take anyone else." Jaune admitted.
"…You can't really believe that." Ruby managed to squeak out.
"It is what it is, but the point is moot now. Cinder still lives and we're all stuck in prison in a different world." Jaune sighed and closed his eyes again.
"Different world? No, do you have a plan to escape?"
"No, I don't."
"Don't have one yet or-"
"I mean I'm not going to have one. The other me… he has the same abilities I do, the same line of thoughts… I can feel it, anything I can think of has probably already crossed his mind. And I… don't think you're alive in this world… not anymore."
"So what do we do then? Wait?" Ruby rattled her shackles to emphasise her point.
"Not much else we can do. Ren and Nora are supposedly going to drop by in a bit, our conditions are being monitored anyways. We try anything and they'll know, and it's not going to end well." Jaune pointed at the pile of vomit on the floor from his earlier struggles.
"This stinks, we should all be on the same side." Nora threw her arms up in the air in frustration.
"Betrayed by your own friends, how deliciously unexpected." Cinder grinned at seeing the two stuck in jail.
"You're captured as well, I do wonder what they're doing to you right now since you're responsible for the deaths of two of our friends here." Ren fired back, shutting Cinder up instantly.
Ren nodded to the guards of the prison complex as he entered, a small smile on his face. Jaune had already filled him in on the situation and he'd be lying if he wasn't excited to see a dead comrade again, even if it was one from another universe. A second Jaune would be… weird, but he could deal with it.
He chuckled when he wondered how they would deal with Nora's idea of a welcome, his partner was busy raiding every snack shop in the city to prepare a feast for their new guests at the moment while he went ahead to meet them first.
The smile was wiped off his face when an alarm beeped on his scroll. Pulling it out, his eyes widened when he checked the feed from the cell block cameras, Ruby was hanging limply in her restraints and her vitals had flatlined.
"Ruby, no!" Ren put the scroll away and started sprinting down the hallways. When he reached the holding cells, the other Jaune just gave him a dead look as he dashed past and unlocked Ruby's cell.
"Nononononono." Ren swiped his scroll and unlocked Ruby's restraints, preparing to carry her off to the medical ward. Before he could do anything though, a small fist had already socked him in the face before he could get his aura up, the force of the blow sending him backwards, unconscious before he hit the ground.
"Sorry Ren. But I'm not staying here any longer." Ruby rubbed her wrists before grabbing the unconscious Ren and locking him in place with her old restraints. Grabbing his scroll, she moved over to Jaune's cell and unlocked the door for him.
"Ehm… sorry?" Ruby ventured with a sheepish gaze as Ren and Nora turned to look at her.
"How?" Jaune asked.
"I used my semblance to transform my heart into rose petals, made it looked like I didn't have a heartbeat anymore. If… I really am dead in this world, then maybe they'd come and check and I could escape." Ruby shrugged as she reactivated the cell doors, sealing Ren in.
"Transform your heart? I didn't know you could do that."
"Neither did I, but I had to think of something since you weren't going to. So what now?" Ruby replied.
"Your semblance can do that?" Yang turned to her sister with a questioning look.
"I don't know, I always thought it just speeds me up." Ruby said.
"Maybe your semblance isn't as clear cut as we thought." Blake said.
"Hmm, time for more practice then. No more slacking Ruby." Weiss instructed, getting Ruby to sigh in response.
"Now, we have two problems. Cinder is still here somewhere and needs to be dealt with. Then, they also have our relic since it's not on you." Jaune took Ren's scroll from Ruby and started running through the files inside, hoping to find anything that could lead them to either of their objectives.
"I'll go after Cinder the- we are not arguing on this Jaune, your perspective on her is warped and I'm not going to let you kill yourself. I'm going." Ruby cut off Jaune's protests before he could open his mouth.
"…Fine. I have their locations. The lamp is at the SDC HQ while Cinder is being held inside a maximum security prison on Mantle." Jaune displayed the scroll to Ruby who memorised the location on it and prepared to speed off.
"Why would something that important be at the SDC?" Goodwitch asked, unable to wrap her head around the fact the relic was at the SDC instead of say locked up in a vault.
"It's at the SDC since there's an abundance of dust and usually at least one Schnee present at all times. In a sudden emergency, this allows for multiple questions to be asked in short order." Blank said.
"That's impossible. The relic only gives three answers every hundred years." Ozpin said, even if the relic still had two questions left, that was still only two, no way to have multiple questions in a short time.
"True, that's where the SDC and Schnees come in. With large amounts of gravity dust, they've created a zone where time is distorted and flows far faster than normal. With a Schnee and Jaune Arc present to boost their semblance, using haste on the relic speeds time up even faster, so a hundred years can literally pass in the blink of an eye, resetting the relic's limit."
"Holy. Fucking. Shit." Qrow said and slotted some lien into Ruby's swear jar, his sentiment shared among all of Ozpin's group. Cinder and company paled instantly as that meant that potentially any plan they could come up with in the future would be instantly exposed.
As Jaune snuck into the SDC headquarters, he gave thanks for the full-face helm Atlas soldiers wore, his stolen disguise easily allowing him to hide his features and the pass codes he swiped from Ren's scroll took care of the rest.
Taking a monorail to his destination was an eye-opening experience. If he thought the military presence in his own world's Mantle was suffocating, it had nothing on this version of Atlas. Cameras lined every street corner and AKs were stationed everywhere with heavy weapons instead of the standard fare. Jaune could swear he saw several carrying cannons that wouldn't look out of place on a Paladin. And the people of Atlas itself, he couldn't feel any fear or rage from them, just a deep-seated resignation to the reality of the world.
'The greatest kingdom huh… something is very wrong with this place.' Pushing aside his worries for the flying city and the rest of the world, Jaune slipped through to the SDC HQ's inner chambers, leaving behind several unconscious guards who wouldn't let him past without a challenge.
Descending into the lower levels, Jaune found the relic sitting on a pedestal surrounding by high tech machinery. Flicking the switches to disable them and unlock the doors, Jaune stepped through and reached for the lamp.
Removing it from its pedestal, he cradled it in his hands, indecision warred within him over whether or not to try and ask a question. Eventually, he decided to go ahead with it, lack of information about the new Atlas they were in could prove fatal later on.
"Jinn." As soon as Jaune said the name, time came to a stop and the sound of machinery humming in the background ceased, leaving a world of silence. The lamp started glowing softly and rose into the air, blue mist leaking from it and eventually forming into a humanoid shape.
"Wonderful, tell me, what knowledge do you seek?" The spirit of the lamp asked and Jaune sighed in relief that the lamp still had at least one question left.
"I want to know, what happened in this world, where… where did our timelines diverge?" Jaune asked and Jinn acquiesced, pulling him into a vision to show him the divergence point.
And he saw it, he saw it all. Everything began and ended with the attack on Haven.
Unlike his own timeline where Adam Taurus had attempted to level Haven using multiple bombs, in this one he'd elected to use a single super powered one to kill everyone inside instead. Disarming it had proved impossible with the time limit and in the end this world's Ruby pushed her semblance past its limit to spirit the bomb away where it could detonate safely.
She never returned.
"He's dead, I don't care what anyone says, he's dead." Yang grit her teeth and spat out, damning Adam's name to the nine hells.
"I'll help you put him down. He's… the man I once I knew is long gone." Blake said, placing a comforting hand on Yang's shoulder, it wasn't enough for the white fang and Taurus to be responsible for the fall of Beacon, he had to go and try for a repeat performance with Haven. And in one possible future cause the death of her team leader, it wouldn't stand, not if she had anything to say about it.
Blank coughed in response with it sounding suspiciously like 'you do'.
After that, things only got worse for Remnant. The goal had shifted from simply stopping Salem's minions and safeguarding the relics to hunting them down and exacting vengeance on them. Ironwood had been easy enough to convince with the general already favouring a tougher approach from the very beginning.
Experimentation had led to the time trick with the lamp being discovered and from there it was just a matter of abusing it to identify every enemy of humanity and where they were hiding. With all knowledge in the world at their disposal, the white fang never stood a chance, most died when Atlas forces blitzed them when they were least expecting it. Taurus himself was captured and had his mind shattered, his fate publicised across Remnant to show that justice for Vale had been exacted.
Subsequently, the world moved towards being a police state, all dissension eradicated by the revelation of Salem and the existence of magic. The queen of the Grimm's plans foiled by having it all laid bare by the relic, Watts and Tyrian only made it into Mantle as part of a setup to draw out any treacherous elements within such as Jacques Schnee to give an excuse for even more restriction of freedoms.
As for Cinder herself, once her location was ascertained, concentrated artillery fire drove her out into the open where she was subsequently hit with poison gas, bringing her down and allowing for her capture. After her Grimm modifications were discovered, plans for her execution was shelved and by Ironwood's executive order, she was shifted to the labs for experimentation, lasting several months before finally expiring.
"What!?" Cinder whispered out in a hoarse tone, unable to believe the fate the befell her future self, her underlings shifted uncomfortably besides her. Their fates hadn't been mentioned and neither of them were able to tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"I did say that some of your fates end with you being experimented on. I wasn't lying." Blank said.
"Grafting of Grimm parts to serve as replacement limbs? How very interesting." Ironwood mused aloud and turned to look at Cinder, the villainess flinching from the cold calculating look in his eyes.
"James…" Goodwitch cautioned.
"If she's part Grimm, human rights don't apply to her anymore. Any findings that come from experimenting on her will go a long way to making up for her crimes." Ironwood said.
"There are lines we don't cross James." Ozpin chided.
"We will agree to disagree on that point Oz, I will do whatever it takes to safeguard the world from Salem. If that future is anything to go by, it works." Ironwood said.
"Yeah, but what did it cost everyone else?" Roman asked, receiving silence as his answer.
As the vision faded and Jinn returned to the lamp, Jaune was left holding it with his mind in turmoil. He was quickly snapped out of it when he heard the door open behind him with a hiss.
"I knew you'd come here, especially once I got word of Ruby boarding a flight bound for Mantle. It's what I would I have done." Captain Arc said, one hand resting near the pommel of Crocea Mors, ready to draw in the event Jaune decided to attack.
"This really isn't necessary you know. We're not your enemies."
"But you ain't my friend either. Jinn showed me everything you've all done." Jaune shook his head and returned the relic to its pedestal, freeing up his hands.
"And? We brought peace to this world."
"You brought tyranny."
"We brought security. Because of our efforts, Salem no longer has a foothold in any of the kingdoms, and eventually, we'll bring her down too."
"And the people? I saw the people of Atlas on my way here, do they even have hope anymore?"
"Hope is unnecessary in this new world. Individual freedoms have to be sacrificed for peace and prosperity, the councils were too lax, Ozpin was too lax, Cinder, Torchwick, the white fang, a cancer growing right under our noses and they just ignored it. Too afraid to escalate things and rock the boat, well that world died with the fall. Cinder proved one thing with her actions, the game has changed, playing by the old rules will only get us all killed, so we changed as well." The specialist admitted.
"Eighty years ago, the great war was fought over freedom for the people. Our great great grandfather fought in that very war to uphold that freedom. You've spat in the face of everything he ever stood for." Jaune said.
"That was then, this is now. Back then we had four kingdoms, now we have three and a half, it was damn nearly cut down to two. I saw your world thanks to Jinn, so similar to my own except you didn't push enough, and your Atlas is on the verge of falling because of it. Salem wants the relic, the relic keeps Atlas in the sky, what do you think is going to happen to Solitas if she gets it?" Captain Arc rebutted.
"If Atlas falls out of the sky, it'll wipe out the entire continent… possibly the entire world." Ironwood said softly, those who heard him swallowed hard.
"That… would be bad." Winter said after a while.
"You have a knack for understatements ice queen." Qrow muttered and started chugging hard from his flask, trying to wash away the image of a falling city wiping out everything.
'Death by falling city… not what I signed up for.' Mercury shook his head and hid his doubts, if Cinder's boss had that kind of endgame… he should probably be searching for safer employment, like being live Grimm bait. At the very least he could fight off the Grimm, how the heck was he supposed to survive a falling city?
"Even so, there must be another way." Jaune protested.
"No, there really isn't. We checked with Jinn. This is the optimal solution. With this system in place, we can stomp any threat before it grows large enough to become a problem."
"And you're not even going to try anything else?"
"We can't afford to. Too much hangs in the balance, this system is the only way to ensure humanity has a future. People forget, in time even the fall and everyone we lost there will be nothing more than a history lesson to future generations. Peace breeds complacency, and Salem can easily wait another century or two before trying again when we're all too dead to stop her. But as long as the system stands, Salem will never again be able to insert her agents. Criminals, terrorists, traitors, there'll be no one left for her to recruit because we'll have killed them all." Captain Arc said.
"He has a point." Ren quietly admitted.
"You agree with him?" Nora asked, a complicated expression on her face.
"I'm just saying he has a point. With constant surveillance everywhere and armed forces ready to react at a moment's notice. Crime will be a thing of the past, and… Kuroyuri might never happen again. If they can see the Grimm coming, they can be destroyed before they reach civilians or the people evacuated early." Ren said.
"I… see your point, but I cannot condone your actions. I'm taking my relic back, then Ruby and I will be finding our way home." Jaune said, slowly reaching for his stolen rifle slung across his back.
"I'm not going to fight you, and please there's no point in trying to fool me. You and I both know you'll use polarity to short out the lights and then try to bury me with metal once I'm blinded by the darkness." Captain Arc said, holding his hands up and gesture of peace.
"If you want the relic back so badly you can have it, the one you used is this world's version though, your relic is another wing of this facility. You want to go back, we'll help you on that. Heck, we'll even supply you with new weapons and gear for your own fight against Salem. I just ask that you please not cause us anymore trouble."
"You're really just going to hand the relic over like that?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. We already have our own relic of knowledge and infinite questions to boot, one more relic is really nothing more than an additional security risk. And security is our greatest concern, it's really not that bad, just think about it, a world without crime, victims or pain."
"A world without freedom or choice. Who elected you to install this system anyways?"
"No one. The problem with democracy is it doesn't keep you very safe. We saw that when the Vale council swept the Breach under the rug and proceeded with the Vytal festival despite all the warning signs. We elected them to lead us, keep us safe, we did not elect them to sign our death warrants." Captain Arc fired back.
"So you grabbed power instead. The councils may still be in charge of the kingdoms but the Atlas military is the de facto ruler of the entire world now since you paralysed humanity with fear of Salem." Jaune said with some resignation in his voice.
"And with that power, we made a world where no one will ever have to lose their partner because of some bitch with a god complex." Jaune's eyes widened upon hearing those words before his expression became downcast.
Grabbing his baton, he tossed it to the floor with a clang.
"You win."
"Oh that's a low blow." Roman commented with a wince.
"Is it though? They're the same person, both lost their partners, one lost another friend on top of that." Qrow replied, he wouldn't lie, if another version of himself showed up one day and pulled the Summer card like that, he'd fold as well.
Pyrrha sunk into her seat, depressed at seeing her death drive not one but two Jaunes to believing that preventing their tragedy from happening to anyone else ever again was worth crossing so many lines. Only a shoulder bump and a smile from Nora got her to raise her mood slightly.
"I can't believe this is Mantle." Jaune said as he drove in an SDC provided car. Both Jaune Arcs had left Atlas and descended to Mantle to collect Ruby and stop her from fighting Weiss.
"Where's the litter? The graffiti?" Jaune asked as he stared out at the streets, it was far cry from the Mantle he was used to patrolling back home.
"If you want people to respect the big laws, you have to enforce the small ones." Captain Arc replied.
Jaune simply nodded and pulled to a stop when the lights turned red.
"What are you doing?" The specialist turned to his counterpart in confusion.
"The small laws remember?" Jaune replied.
As they waited for the lights to switch again, a commotion from a nearby café drew their attention. An argument was brewing between a dissatisfied customer and the wait staff.
"I'm not paying for this! Crappy food, lousy service and you got the check wrong! Five and five make fifteen!? Who taught you how to count!?" The irate customer yelled at the waiter who to his credit remained perfectly calm.
"Sir, you're disturbing the other customers."
"Hah! You think I give a-" The customer's swear was cut short when two uniformed policemen walked up to him and put him in cuffs before he even noticed them approaching.
"You're coming with us." One of them said.
"Get your hands o- I… I didn't mean it." The customer's face fell and the rest of the patrons averted their eyes.
"I'm sorry! I'll pay whatever it is! And the food, it was good!" His ineffectual protests and apologies were ignored as the cops bundled him away into their squad car. Once it was gone, the remaining patrons and workers returned to their roles, as though nothing had happened, no one wanting to bring any more trouble on themselves.
"That's a little overboard." Ironwood said, disturbed by the display.
"A little? You're kidding right?" Roman muttered.
"But, but he was just complaining! That's enough to be arrested?" Ruby protested.
"Disturbing the peace, threatening behaviour, when I said police state it wasn't hyperbole. All dissension is stamped out quickly, all of it." Blank said.
"She'd love it here don't you think?" Jaune said turning away from the sorry sight to look the specialist in the eye.
"Who?"
"Pyrrha of course. She'd be so proud of you." There was silence between the two Jaune's before the specialist looked away first.
"Just drive."
"I really wouldn't actually." Pyrrha felt the need to speak up.
"I think we all get that bit." Yang said drily.
"I can see where they're coming from, but this is going too far." Blake followed up.
Sparks flew as a giant spectral sword slashed through a row of monitors, Weiss Arma Gigas retracted its blade as Ruby's petals swirled past the sword and reformed beyond it. Weiss growled when Ruby prepared to start running again. "Stop it Ruby, you don't even have Crescent Rose I don't want to fight you!"
"You're not very convincing!" Ruby shouted before petal bursting away from a slow glyph that appeared under her. Reforming elsewhere, she ran out the door and down the hallway of the prison complex.
Weiss had anticipated her arrival here and was already lying in wait before she even entered the front door. Negotiations had broken down when the Schnee refused to grant her access to Cinder, Ruby had simply shot past her with her semblance after that.
As far as Ruby was concerned, Cinder had to be secured before Jaune got it into his head to try another suicidal attack on her. What she would do after finding the fall maiden… she'd cross that bridge when it came to it, for now, dodging the summons and glyphs Weiss was throwing her way was the pressing issue.
Ducking under a boarbatusk summon that went sailing overhead. Ruby continued running until she eventually burst through to the medical wards, and her flight came to a screeching halt.
"What did they do to me!?" Cinder said in horrified voice.
"Cinder?" The fall maiden lay on a bed in front of her, hooked up to several machines and out cold. But that wasn't what drew Ruby's attention, no, it was Cinder's limbs. Or more accurately, lack thereof.
Her arms and legs were missing, fresh bandages indicated this was a relatively new development. Ruby took a small step back, then another, and another until she was out of the room, unable to comprehend the sight before her.
"Ruby! You shouldn't-ah, you already saw it. This is why I didn't want you to see her." Weiss said once she caught up and noticed Ruby's expression.
"W-what happened to her?" Ruby turned to Weiss with a haunted look.
"We checked with Jinn, this Cinder is just as much of a monster as our own was. We're still deciding on what to do with her, but no matter the outcome of that choice, she wasn't going to need her arms and legs anymore so Jaune cut them off and cauterised the stumps." Weiss said.
"W-why!?"
"What do you mean why? She's a clear and present danger, so to neutralise the threat, we took her limbs and lobotomised her. She won't be hurting anyone else ever again, I made sure of it personally." Weiss said in a matter of fact tone that was more scary than calming.
"You can be real terrifying you know Weiss?" Yang said, her mouth feeling dry all of a sudden.
"If it means anything, that me scares me as well." Weiss said.
"They cut of her limbs and lobotomised her, you're telling me, that was done before they even decided what they were going to do with her?" Ozpin looked to Blank.
"Indeed. It's a debate between experimentation and execution, the biggest question facing them is what would happen to the power of the maiden if she dies in a world that isn't her own." Blank said.
"W-what about mercy? Being the better person or something?" Emerald asked seeing that her boss was borderline catatonic now.
"The surviving members of RWBY and JNPR ran out of mercy at Haven, then they convinced the rest of the world that the word mercy has no place in a cruel world like Remnant. It's a race to the bottom in an effort to find a way to beat Salem." Blank replied.
"You two made quite a big mess." Captain Arc's voice broke the staring contest between Ruby and Weiss.
"Jaune! And… Jaune?" Ruby blinked before rubbing her eyes, but the two Jaunes were still there when she opened them again.
"Hello Rubes, snow angel." Both Jaunes said in unison.
"Please don't do that, it's giving me a headache. But if you're both here then I assume the situation is resolved?" Weiss rubbed her temples as the Jaunes exchanged a glance.
"You could say that." The specialist shrugged.
"Jaune, Cinder, they..." Ruby trailed off, unable to do much more than point to the medical ward she just left.
"I know, I heard. Nothing to be done now, it really couldn't have happened to a more deserving monster than her." Jaune said, he stemmed Ruby's protests by raising his hand.
"Enough fighting. They'll be helping us find a way home, hopefully we'll be able to bring something back to help with the situation in our own Atlas."
"Help… us… and what about this Atlas then? Have you seen what it's like out there!? We can't just… leave things like this!" Ruby protested.
"Haaah… I don't expect you to understand, but this is all for the betterment of mankind." Captain Arc sighed out, he sighed again when Jaune directed one raised eyebrow at him.
"But. I suppose we can look into making the system more humane, make sure only the guilty gets it, try to make a better world for everyone."
"Jaune?" Weiss folded her arms and awaited an explanation for his words.
"Later. I guess I… got a reminder about what matters most."
With that, the screen went blank and the lights came back on.
"And that's that." Blank said.
"What!? That can't be it! What happens next!? You can't just leave us hanging like that!" Blake shouted.
"Eh, after that, Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose find a way to return to their own timeline by way of their relic's connection to their world. They bring some new tech and strategies from this world to help their own and continue their fight against the forces of darkness. That's about it really." Blank said.
"And this world? What happens to it?" Winter asked.
"It remains a police state because despite everything, the powers that be still feel that this is the best way to secure humanity's future. There are some changes made to make it less oppressive, but the system is there to stay." Blank answered.
"Damn. Just… damn." Roman grunted out.
"And Cinder Fall, what happens to her?" Ozpin asked.
"Sent back to their world as well. It was judged that killing her in the other timeline held too many unknown variables and it'd be safer to send her back to face justice in her own world."
"Justice?" Mercury asked.
"Karma really. When a new suitable maiden candidate was found, Cinder Fall was awakened and shown her picture before her throat was slit, transferring the power on death."
"And how is that justice?" Cinder spat out.
"You stole the power, so it was stolen from you in return. That's just how it is, at least your death in that universe is a lot more merciful than the ones you normally get." Blank said.
"Well, that's all for now, go refresh yourselves. I won't tell you what to believe, make up your own minds on whether or not security justified such measures." Blank flickered away and his audience left to go freshen themselves up, whispering among themselves as they did.
Author's notes: Done, I wrote this because I was wondering what would happen to them if they lost Ruby after losing Pyrrha. You could argue that Ruby was the glue that held her team together, and definitely served that role for RNJR, so the idea of them losing their direction after she's gone wouldn't be too far-fetched, I think.
If Ruby dies Yang and Weiss are almost guaranteed to lose it instantly, Jaune will break down from losing someone close to him again and Ren will be pushed towards agreeing with hard-line tactics even more. Blake and Nora will be pulled along for the ride, Qrow will shut down completely, Ozpin will probably be blamed for it again and they'll buy into Ironwood's plan, creating an echo chamber that just makes things worse.
Inspiration list:
Jaune Arc as Batman
Ruby Rose as Flash