The Knights of Rose

by RebukeX7

Faith, Charity, Justice, Sagacity,Prudence,Temperance,Resolution,Truth,Liberality,Diligence,Hope,and Valor. These are the virtues that are adopted by those whom choose the life of a knight. In a world overrun with evil, these are the virtues adopted by desperate individuals whom seek to protect their only chance at salvation-a reluctant heroine turned Empress. Mankind's last hope.

22. The Empress

Disclaimer: *shameless af plug* I don't own RWBY but I do own Presence: The Marked by L.J. Branch (To those who did buy it, its delayed sequel and a 2nd edition of the first book will be released later this year if the world doesn't blow up again).

One question that's probably on your mind is at what point does the "original" Time-line (Where the first chapter took place) diverge from canon and become AU. After much thought, I decided to cut it at Volume 7 to stop myself from writing myself into a corner.

This doesn't mean elements from volume 8+ won't play a factor but rather they may or may not be implemented differently depending on how the narrative goes.

Holy shit, you guys showed love! I literally got more reviews in one chapter than some fics get period.

Thanks!

Quickly I'm going to put the original time-line again because it's been a while since the fic was updated. I'll also include a romance guide at the end to help refresh your memories.

(B.R.E= Before Rose's End).

26 B.R.E- Ruby Rose was born.

11 B.R.E- Ruby joins Beacon/Beacon Falls.

10 B.R.E- Team RNJR is founded.

7 B.R.E- Ruby knights Jaune.

6 B.R.E- Beacon is reclaimed/ Ruby is crowned.

5 B.R.E- The Empire begins expansion.

5 B.R.E-2 B.R.E- Dark Era (Dark period of Empress reign) all Kingdoms besides Mistral fall to the Empire.

2 B.R.E-Time of Prosperity, Empress' light restored.

0 B.R.E- Final Battle, the Fall of Empress Ruby Rose I.

Hope That helps!

Featured BGMs:

Go Fight! Show Your Power!-Maple Story OST

Carry Me [Emotional Vocal Orchestra]-Eurielle

Betaed By: Will S. LaVi (finally got a break to edit…but not really)

The Empress

-Beacon: Glynda's Classroom: 3 Hours after the defeat of Willow-

"I…I…" Winter trailed off unable to form a coherent sentence as she tried to wrap her mind around the story she was just told. "What you're saying is impossible."

Hell,even Weiss, Yang, and Blake were looking at Ruby in disbelief. Ruby said nothing as she stood by herself near a window, staring at the sky as if lost in her thoughts.

Each had been given heavily doctored accounts of what was happening by their mentors but this was the first time they had the entire story so blatantly laid out before them. For the first time, they were all on the same page.

"Your mother just came back from the dead, twice, today," Qrow said before taking a deep drink from his flask. "Whether something was possible or not stopped mattering a long time ago." Qrow pointed out, getting an annoyed glance from Winter.

Still, as much as she hated to admit it, Qrow had a point.

"So, you four are from the future," Winter said as she looked at Glynda and team JNPR, minus Pyrrha. "And your goal is world domination?"

"Well, technically the goal is to save the world," Jaune corrected. "It's just that the only way to do that is through world domination. It's the means, not the end."

"Unbelievable," Winter muttered shaking her head at the thought of world domination being a mere step toward a goal. "Let's take a second and deal with the most immediate issue. Vale is going to be attacked, you know by who and how, and you haven't apprehended them? Why!?"

Jaune took a deep breath and sat on one of the desks before seemingly aging before her very eyes. Jaune gave her a look of a man who had the world on his shoulders, it was a tired sort of look she had only seen on Ironwood.

"Make no mistake, we aren't doing nothing," Jaune said, feeling the need to address that first. "Every mission we've done and the plans we have regarding the upcoming attack is centered on evacuating and protecting the innocent. The only losses we want are property losses and we'll strive to minimize those as well."

"But why let the attack happen at all?"

"As you said, world domination," Jaune answered dryly. "Should Vale fall, something will be ready to take its place immediately after. The docks were just the beginning as we stop more attacks, our publicity will rise. The people will have a new face to turn to and with Vale being the climax the Kingdom will beg for new leadership."

"So what? We're supposed to just let these terrorists roam free just so you can take over the kingdom?" Yang questioned, unable to believe what she heard before turning toward Nora as if begging her to say otherwise.

Nora remained silent as she refused to avert her eyes from Yang.

Yang was going to continue but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Jaune," Weiss took over as she gave Yang's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Surely you can see why we're having trouble accepting this plan of yours."

"I understand completely, it's a hard pill to swallow," Jaune admitted. "But here's the thing, it's not my plan."

Weiss blinked owlishly at that as Yang and Blake both appeared bewildered.

"Then whose–"

"Mine." Ruby interrupted, still not looking at them.

"R-Ruby?" Yang questioned. Even after everything she had experienced firsthand, Winter even had trouble thinking that the youngest huntress would want the capital destroyed.

"You're all concerned about the attack, and for good reason, but you're missing out on something important." Ruby continued. "This isn't just about seizing power, it's about saving lives. That's all this has ever been about. Saving. Lives."

"But how does letting the attack happen, save lives?" Blake questioned. "Even with your precautions, you can't claim to save everyone."

"No, but she can save most of them," Weiss muttered, finally catching on, and even with her back to them, they could see Ruby smile slightly.

"And that's why you're my partner."

"Weiss?" Yang questioned, still confused.

"Think about it, they stop the attack on Vale, and what happens?" Weiss questioned rhetorically. "The kingdom is spared a few months, maybe a year or so until the real threat does something else. Something more drastic that they…" Weiss gestured toward the Knights. "…won't know about. How many people do you think might die then?"

Pyrrha smirked and nodded. "Well said."

Weiss turned to the others. "At least this way they can save more lives as they'll know what to expect, deal with the perpetrators, and should they seize control they will have far more resources at their disposal to deal with any follow-up attacks," Weiss explained and even though it troubled her sister and the rest of her team, they could see her point. "As much as I hate to admit it-no-I take that back, I don't hate to admit it. I am impressed,Ruby."

"As was I," Jaune said with a nod. "You can probably tell from the docks that our plan was not to let the attack happen. We tried to kill the perpetrators there but they got away. We tried our best over the last two years but our bodies still can't handle the full strength of our aura so we have to limit ourselves for the time being."

"Limit!?" WBY said incredulously, knowing how absurdly powerful the Knights were. Even Winter looked taken aback by that as she was sure they could give her challenge if not defeat her at their current level.

"Yep! In our prime, we were different beasts entirely!" Nora said with a grin, punching her fist into her palm with enough force to make the room tremble slightly.

"You think it's hard to find a challenge now, Pyrrha, wait until you gain experience and your aura and body strengthen through time," Jaune told his partner with a smirk. "You went all out against me and reached your current cap but you'll be an entirely different animal in a few more years."

"This is hell," Pyrrha whispered as WBY paled at the thought of Pyrrha getting stronger. "I'm going to be stuck fighting the same handful of people for the rest of my fucking life."

Pyrrha almost cried.

"This is why we are so hard on you guys when we train," Nora explained. "Because what's true for us is true for our enemies and the fights you're having now are nothing compared to the fights you'll have later. The first time you're punched through a building will be a humbling experience."

"She's not wrong," Ren murmured.

"As it stands, the strongest one in the room is easily Glynda," Jaune said as he gestured toward the older blonde. "She came back to her body in its prime."

"Yes, but unfortunately in exchange for my power I seem to have lost the control I developed through time." Glynda sighed. "With my aura reserves over twice as big as it once was, I can't go all out without causing collateral damage. Had I truly joined your fight with Willow, one of you would have died."

"Which is why Glynda is on standby," Jaune explained. "Last time she lost control was when she was first 'knighted' in our time and enemy or not, I don't want to see someone disintegrated again."

"D…Disintegrated?" Weiss squeaked out and even Winter paled.

Glynda's cheeks flushed. "It's a long story."

As everyone tried to digest that, Ruby spoke again.

"Look, my situation is a bit more complicated than theirs," Ruby said with a sigh. "I didn't time travel. I am this timeline's me, so Yang, you know I wouldn't suggest this if there was a better way but I need my throne. We won't survive otherwise."

"Then why keep to yourselves?" Winter questioned. "Surely General Ironwood or Ozpin–"

"Hell no!" Nora snapped, her voice like thunder, and everyone minus the Knights and Ruby flinched.

"Ozpin, no, Ozma." Ruby corrected. "Has a bad habit of believing he knows better. He would die before he hands over this kingdom to me. And Ironwood? I'd rather die than seek his council."

This made Winter frown.

"With all due respect, General Ironwood is a–"

"Clown." Nora interrupted. "A fucking clown." Nora met Winter's glare head-on.

"Nora, please." Jaune interrupted which made Nora grit her teeth. "You don't understand, Winter, you look up to the man, I know, but he's a failure. His arrogance cost both Vale and Atlas everything." Jaune continued. "He almost cost us the Empire. The only reason we let him be apart of the empire was that he had soldiers, which we needed. I looked up to him a bit myself, but only when I became a real leader did I realize he didn't know shit. His semblance is a liability."

Whatever Winter was going to say next died on her lips.

Not many knew of Ironwood's semblance, even now many people would theorize and debate on what it was. For a moment, Winter thought that maybe Glynda had told them but the way Jaune spoke, the anger in his voice, Winter could tell he knew of it first-hand.

"Mettle." Jaune scoffed. "He thinks it lets him make hard decisions, no. He just picks one and loses the ability to be reasoned with. His 'resolve' is glorified stupidity."

"Wait, his semblance is stubbornness?" Weiss questioned incredulously and despite the situation, Yang snorted.

"You're joking right?" Yang said with a laugh but soon both her and Blake's eyes widened when everyone else remained silent. "Oh my God, you're not joking."

"Some people just get the short end of the stick with it comes to Semblances," Qrow muttered before taking another drink.

"I'm going to present to you a scenario and I want you to tell me how he would respond so that you can understand why we follow the leader we do," Jaune offered. "Want to give it a try?"

Winter frowned but nodded.

"You're the leader of a nation during a war and you're in a stalemate with the opposing army." Jaune began. "You have a weapon strong enough to wipe out their nation. It would end the war but you will kill countless lives. Do you use it and win or do you continue your stalemate until the loss of lives eclipses that which would have been caused by the weapon? How would Ironwood proceed?"

Nora closed her eyes at this question and both Ren and Glynda frowned slightly, clearly remembering something. Silently, Ruby just continued to look up at the sky, the breeze from the window blowing her cloak as petals floated through the room before vanishing.

Winter struggled to try to envision the scenario and try as she might she could not come up with a suitable answer.

"What kind of question is this?" Winter asked. "There is no right answer, there is no way to answer that wouldn't make General Ironwood look like an idiot or a monster!"

"What if I told you this wasn't a hypothetical question?" Jaune asked confusing them. "What if I told you that this was a real scenario, one I lived through, and a decision that Ruby here will have to make if we don't get her to rise in power in time."

Jaune's answered silenced them and Yang felt sick at the thought of her baby sister making such a decision. What was worse was that the more she heard of this story, the more one burning question continued to echo in her mind.

"Where was I?"

"Y…you're lying…" Winter said weakly, desperately, but not because she didn't believe him but rather because she didn't want to believe him, to believe that the world had truly gotten so bad that such a terrible decision had to be made by someone younger than her baby sister.

"I could show you," Ruby said her voice soft yet cutting through the room like a blade. Even the Knights seemed to be caught off guard by what she said.

"Your Highness?" Glynda questioned and when Ruby turned to them, they could all see her eyes glimmering.

"I could show you," Ruby repeated her eyes never leaving Winter's. "I could show all of you that decision. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, I refuse to live in the past, but I can tell you won't understand until you see it for yourself and the last thing I need is for you to be on Ironwood's side and not mine. So, I'll ask you. Do you want to see the difference between me and Ironwood?"

"I…" Winter trailed off as she could tell Ruby was not bluffing. Somehow, in some way, Ruby would be able to show her the results of such a hellish decision she had once made. Still, something in her wouldn't let her refuse and Winter was confused until she was able to pinpoint exactly what it was.

Loyalty.

On one hand, Ironwood saved her from her family.

On the other, Ruby gave her the tools to save her family.

The Atlesian specialist was at war with the Royal Knight within her for the control of her future and Winter knew that if she took Ruby's offer, only one of the two would walk away. Winter swallowed and nodded her head.

"Show me."

"Wait, I want to see too!" Yang interrupted, getting Ruby's attention. "Please, I just…I just want to understand what's happening to you."

"As would I," Weiss answered as Blake nodded her head.

Ruby closed her eyes as if she both expected the requested and feared it before nodding her head.

"Fine, I expected this was going to happen which is why I asked you to send Penny away for now," Ruby informed Winter. "Penny needs to keep her innocence for a little longer."

Those who new her well were saddened to hear her imply that she had lost her own.

"Understand," Ruby began before turning to the knights. "That I will only do this under extreme circumstances."

"Ruby?" Jaune began cautiously. "What are you about to do."

"Help them understand," Ruby answered. "The…the other me showed me how to show others memories, either mine or those she has shared with me. You all have been doing so well, healing from the past, and moving forward. If I do this, please don't ever ask me to do it again. Do you understand me?"

"I do," Jaune said after a moment of thought and eventually the others nodded their heads as well. If Ruby truly had a way to view their timeline then he understood exactly why she would keep such an ability close to her chest.

Whether it be past pains or past triumphs, viewing the past could be addicting for those as scarred as they were.

Dangerously so.

And they all had to move on.

"Give me your hand," Ruby instructed before grabbing Jaune's hand. "Uncle Qrow, grab my other one. Now Weiss hold Pyrrha's, Yang you're with Nora, and Ren you're with Blake. Winter, you grab Glynda's, and together we need to all form a circle."

Hesitantly, they all did as she instructed.

"Now look at me," Ruby said and when they all looked at her, her eyes began to glow. All those who were knighted had their eyes turn silver as well and as result, a strange power seemed to spread from them to WBY. "Look at me and see what I saw back then."

The next thing they all saw was a flash of silver light.

-Empire of Rose: Royal Palace: 2 Years Before Rose' End-

When the light died down, all those gathered could see that they were not in Glynda's classroom anymore. Instead, they were in what appeared to be an extremely lavish bedroom that even managed to impress Weiss.

Yang frowned as she looked around the room, noting its red and gold color scheme. "Where are we?"

"Beacon," Ruby answered. "But it's not a matter of where…"

"…But when," Jaune muttered as he turned around and saw a sight that made his heart stop. Following his line of sight, the rest turned and looked on with varying degrees of surprise when they saw a much older Ruby lounging on a couch in a crimson silk robe being pampered by a pair of twins.

A pair of familiar twins.

Though unlike the current time-line they were nearly completely indistinguishable as their long hair, make-up, and black gowns were identical. The only way to tell them apart was by the small red and white roses they each had embroided over their left breast.

Pyrrha blinked before turning to Jaune with a raised eyebrow only for him to chuckle sheepishly.

"M-mom?" Yang stuttered out before shaking her head. No, when she looked closer it was easier for her to tell that the woman being pampered wasn't Summer but rather her baby sister who appeared to be all grown up.

Though her eyes were sharper and her body was fuller, Yang knew without a doubt that the woman was Ruby.

"Honestly, must we do this every day?" The Empress complained to her attendants.

"Must you complain every day?" Melanie questioned as she ran a brush through The Empress' long silk-like hair for the hundredth time.

"Seriously, Your Majesty. Only you would complain about being pampered day and night by a pair of beautiful twins." Militia said as she finished painting the Empress' nails.

"Yeah, that's Ruby," Yang said with a snort. Her team smirked at that and even Qrow chuckled. This was a nice change, he had only seen the Empress at her worst before this, to see her laid back and, happy, brought a smile to his face.

That is until he remembered exactly why they were seeing this.

"How modest." The Empress said dryly but the twins were unfazed by her sarcasm.

"Hey, I always say if you know you've got it, act like it," Melanie spoke up. "You're the baddest bitch in the Empire which, in case you forgot, consists of the world. Act like it, girl."

The Empress just sighed and shook her head, even her closest of Knights didn't talk to her like these two did which was saying something considering her Battle Master was Nora.

"You two just gave up on formality, didn't you?"

"And you wouldn't have it any other way," Melanie said with a grin as Militia stuck her tongue out at the Empress. Despite herself, the Empress just shook her head with a wry smiled before reaching toward a plate of cookies. However, the Empress scowled when the back of her hand was slapped by an irritated Militia.

"I literally just did your nails, girl, come on," Militia said with an eye-roll. Then, with practiced ease, she grabbed a cookie, dumped it in milk, and placed it in the Empress' mouth before she could retort.

"Look, Your Majesty, the single most important resource the Empire has is your image," Melanie said while she continued to brush the Empress' hair. "We were hired to maintain it. Your image, your beauty, is a work of art that the two of us have to keep up day in and day out until we no longer can. So, when you ask if we have to do this every day, the answer is yes because if you appear as anything less than perfect, lives will be lost."

Those who watched the scene were stunned by the surprising amount of depth the twin showed. It was then that they realized that this wasn't some simple job the twins were assigned, that they weren't just glorified maids.

No.

They dedicated their lives to upholding the image that the Empress displayed to the world. One of hope, strength, and beauty so that the common man could sleep peacefully without worrying that they placed their lives in the hands of the Empress.

This hit Weiss particularly hard as she was no stranger to the need to be perfect. Though for her it was personal, it was her pride on the line and a desire to be seen as worthy of her family name.

For the Empress it was different.

Weiss could tell the woman, like her leader, couldn't care less about how she was perceived on a personal level. The need to be perfect wasn't a selfish desire, it was a necessity to protect the minds and hearts of those who followed her.

With that much at stake, those who knew Ruby best could understand why she allowed herself to participate in such blatant vanity.

"Now sit up straight, I have some new eye-liner I want to try." Militia said with a smile. "It'll have everyone looking right at your eyes." Militia smirked. "Including your enemies."

With that, the Empress perked up.

"Why does that excite you?" Winter questioned in confusion.

"Honestly, I'm not too sure," Ruby admitted. "This part confused me too."

"It's because, as much as you love Crescent Rose, it's not your strongest weapon," Jaune answered and Ruby looked at him as if he had spoken blasphemy but still seemed intrigued enough to hear his input. "Sorry Rubes, but your eyes, bar none, are your strongest weapons. I've seen the Empress slay over a thousand Grimm with a glance."

Jaune's words made the non-time travelers pale at the thought of such power.

Even Ruby paused, having not seen that particular memory yet.

"Directing her opponents' attention to her eyes was an extremely intelligent move." Ren mused as Nora nodded. "If you make contact, the fight is pretty much over."

Before anyone could respond they heard a knock.

"Enter." The Empress called out and soon, Glynda entered the bedroom.

Qrow whistled and smirked at Glynda.

"You sure aged gracefully."

Glynda rolled her eyes but didn't respond. The truth was she didn't look that much different in the future. She had slightly less muscle mass, a few grey hairs, and faint crow's feet in the corners of her eyes but that was it. Truthfully, if she hadn't been so stressed, she would have likely looked exactly as she did now.

"Your Majesty." Glynda greeted with a small nod.

WBY and Winter were shocked at the greeting because they could hear the respect behind the title. The powerful huntress didn't greet The Empress so formally out of formality but rather because she truly believed that the younger woman deserved the respect that came with the title.

"You have a call from the others." Glynda continued and the Empress gestured for Glynda to approach.

"Patch them through." The Empress ordered and Glynda typed something into her scroll before placing it on a table in between them. The scroll flickered before projecting large holographic images of Jaune, Nora, and Ren.

"Your Majesty." Jaune greeted with a small smile.

"What's up, Empress!?"

"Nora…" Ren sighed which made the Empress chuckle as he shook his head. "Your Majesty."

"Oh wow," Yang said as Weiss and Blake blinked owlishly and felt their jaws drop at the sight of the older knights. Jaune, Nora, and Ren were already formidable huntsmen but the sight of them older made them realize exactly what Jaune was talking about.

Each one of them projected an image of power, grace, and lethality that they could practically feel.

And they were just holograms.

Pyrrha glanced between the older Jaune and Ruby and nodded to herself.

The Champion definitely liked what she saw.

A smirk graced Pyrrha's lips and for some reason, both Jaune and Ruby felt chills run down their spines.

"Jaune," The Spymaster acknowledged his long-time friend. "You have a beard now?"

"What can I say, the frontier has been long and hard, been too stressed to do anything about it," Jaune said as he rubbed his beard. "Why, does it look weird?"

"Nah, but it's definitely not going to help you get rid of the legion of real thirsty moms that want you." Nora pointed out which made Jaune groan.

"Real thirsty moms?" Pyrrha questioned in confusion as Jaune groaned.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"What's the matter Captain, aren't you flattered?" Nora questioned before she burst out in laughter. "How many of them have called you daddy at this point?"

"Yeah, yeah laugh it up," Jaune said dryly. "How many sapphic paramours are you up to now again, Valkyrie?"

Nora's laughter stopped and it was now her turn to groan.

"Sa…sapphic paramours?" Blake questioned and Nora groaned.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Your entire squad of Valkyries must have confessed to you at this point." Jaune continued which made Nora place her face in her hands."

"I don't know what it is, why do people keep coming out to me?" Nora asked helplessly.

A now red-faced Yang pointedly refused to meet anyone's eyes, especially those of her mentor.

"It's the smile, gotta be," Jaune answered.

Yang refrained from nodding.

"You're strong yet adorable, makes sense," Ren said easily and it was true. Nora had only grown more beautiful as the years went by and her power was second only to Empress Rose. Still, much to her annoyance, her height remained the same, and practically all of her subordinates towered over her. "See this is why I keep to myself, no fangirls in the shadows."

"Want to switch jobs?" Jaune offered but before Ren could respond, Glynda cleared her throat.

"As amusing as it would be to see Arc attempt to complete a stealth mission or see Ren lead an army, you called for a reason did you not?" Glynda questioned, cutting through the banter and getting everyone back on task.

At this, the faces of the Knights turned grave.

"Salem is holed up deep in Menagerie." Jaune began without preamble. "I have a few squadrons with me but her entire army is there along with countless Grimm."

"Do you need me to rally the rest of our army?" The Empress questioned.

"I'm not sure," Jaune admitted before releasing a long breath. "I'm concerned about the civilians in Menagerie. Particularly, all of those innocent faunus who didn't side with the White Fang but are trapped within the border regardless. Should we go all out, Salem will respond in kind. The civilians will be wiped out and we'll lose our men. What's worse is that Salem is making new soldiers faster than we are killing them, my men are getting tired."

"And if I only send enough knights to replace yours, we aren't solving a thing," The Empress muttered. "The stalemate will continue and over time the loss of life will be greater than if we just went for an all-out attack."

"Exactly," Jaune confirmed. "Every one of my men with me, human and faunus, chose to lay down their lives to protect the innocent. They're willing to die to save the civilians but…"

"That will never fly back here," The Empress said with a shake of her head. "All our citizens will see is me trading the lives of honest loyal men for the enemy. Not to mention the idea of losing any knight is appalling."

"The racial tensions are high," Jaune said. "With our enemy being almost exclusively made of faunus and Grimm, the civil unrest will divide us."

"I suggested we use Valhalla," Nora spoke, her usual cheer gone. "It's why we made the damn thing. We put Valhalla online, prep a God Blast and erase Menagerie off the map. We will lose the civilians, make no mistake, and we'll have to live with that. But our men will survive and Salem will lose her army."

"And in return, we just lose our souls," Jaune muttered before raising a hand to stop Nora's protest. "I didn't disagree, Valkyrie, but like you said we will have to live with that. An entire continent, damn near an entire race, will be erased and Salem won't even die."

"But she will be trapped," Ren murmured. "Whenever she pulls herself back together, she will be stuck within the Empire, the four former kingdoms acting as her cage and giving her nowhere to run. She will still have the Grimm but we have been fighting those since the dawn of man."

"What the fuck…" Yang muttered, her face pale and Winter looked appalled at the idea that such a weapon could even exist. Beside her, Weiss raised a hand to her mouth, unable to speak, and Blake's ears flattened as a look of despair crossed her face.

"No…" Blake whispered. "You can't…you can't just destroy my home and erase most of my race!" Blake practically snarled before turning to the knights. "Tell me you didn't!" Blake pleaded. "Tell me you didn't destroy the Menagerie!"

To their horror, none of the Knights spoke.

"Ren, you've been behind enemy lines for several weeks now. What's the status of Menagerie?" The Empress questioned and Ren closed his eyes.

"Hell," Ren answered, and only then when they heard the waver in his voice, did they realize he was doing his best not to weep. "Grimm patrol the streets. Crime is rampant. Faunus are being forced to breed like cattle to make Salem more soldiers. Those she chooses to transform are getting younger and younger because the despair of their mothers makes the Grimm even stronger."

"Damn," Qrow muttered, his disgust obvious. "Killing them would practically be a mercy."

Blake fell to her knees when she heard Ren's words.

Next to her, Weiss lowered herself and embraced Blake along with Yang.

Weiss hated the White Fang and was indifferent at best to faunus but this…this…was just inhumane.

"Who the hell is this bitch?" Yang questioned angrily, her red eyes shining brightly.

Winter herself was conflicted. General Ironwood had only allowed her the bare minimum of information when it came to this war against Salem. Until now, Winter had no true idea of how evil the woman was.

"This isn't a war that should have been fought in the shadows." Winter realized. "The public should have known about this centuries ago. Would there have been panic? Yes, but at least we could be somewhat prepared."

Winter then had a startling thought, from what she had seen and heard this empire led by the little girl-no-young woman had toppled all four kingdoms and put them under one banner just as the old king of Vale could have. This empire born from desperation was able to push Salem back.

"How old is the empire at this point?" Winter questioned.

"Four years," Jaune answered. "This happened two months after we pushed Salem from Vacuo and took it over."

"Remarkable," Winter muttered, not meaning to say that out loud. "They got this far in four years? What could they have done with more time-"

Winter paused.

She finally understood.

That same train of thought was what motivated the current Knights so much. Sooner or later their knowledge of the future would be useless, if they could get the Empire up and running before then, even a year alone could stop this hellish future from coming true.

And in hindsight, if Vale had to be attacked to accomplish this then that would be a small price to pay compared to the one Menagerie was about to pay.

"If…" Winter began, swallowing a lump in her throat. "…If you are successful in taking over Vale this year, how much more time would that give you compared to this timeline?"

"Four years," Jaune answered and Winter took a deep breath.

Four years.

In four years, they could take over the world and still have another four years before this mess could even happen. Winter didn't like it, but now she finally understood for if she were in their shoes…

…she'd let Vale be attacked as well.

"This is your decision," Jaune told the Empress. "How do you wish to proceed?"

"What the hell kid?" Qrow growled at Jaune. "You just dumped that choice on Ruby?"

"Yes," Jaune answered, not averting his gaze. "Because she could make the right call. Because she was the Empress. Soon, you'll understand our devotion. So please, just watch."

"She's going to make the choice," Winter said and Jaune nodded his head. Winter felt her heart thumping in her chest, morbidly curious to see just which route the young Empress would take.

"Prep Valhalla and get it ready for the God Blast," Ruby answered without hesitation. "I want Menagerie wiped off the map before sundown."

The Knights were taken aback by how swiftly the decision was made but they had agreed to let her make it. As one the three nodded.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Ren, stay online, the rest, dismissed." The Empress turned to Ren as Jaune and Nora went offline. "Send me a copy of your map of Menagerie."

"Your Majesty?" Ren questioned, puzzled by the request as he sent her the file.

"I just want something to remember them by, that's all." The Empress said with a sad smile. "Now get out of there before Nora kills you."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty," Glynda spoke up after Ren disappeared. "That could not have been an easy decision."

"It was extremely easy." The Empress said before turning toward Militia. "Finish my make-up and dress me, I'm going for a walk."

"Oh dear," Glynda muttered as she rubbed her temples, remembering this situation all too well.

"A walk?" Blake repeated looking stunned and no one could truly fault her for the glare she sent Ruby's way. "You order the destruction of my home, my people, and you're going for a walk!?"

Even Yang winced, that was cold of her sister even she had to admit that.

Weiss just pursed her lips but said nothing.

"Just watch," Ruby said softly.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty," Glynda began with narrowed eyes. "The last time you went for a 'walk', Mistral bent the knee."

"Oh?" Pyrrha questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"What can I say, I take very enthusiastic walks." The Empress said with a small smile. When Militia finished with her make-up, the Empress stood up and began to take off her robe.

Those watching the memory were about to avert their eyes to give respect to Ruby but stopped when, like a train wreck, they saw the woman's body and the scars that covered it. They looked brutal, lethal even, as a sizable wound on her chest seemed to have a matching scar on her back indicating that she had been run through by something.

Even though she was still furious about the ease in which the Empress discarded her species, Blake flinched at the sight of the wounds.

Weiss remained silent, but one could see that she had grown furious at the thought of someone attacking her partner with such ferocity.

"You've fought many battles," Winter murmured as she saw the physical evidence that Ruby's crown was not simply handed to her.

Qrow grit his teeth, no one was supposed to ever hurt his precious niece. Qrow was angry, angry at the world Salem made but even angrier at himself for not being there to teach her, to protect her.

As far as Qrow was concerned each one of those scars was his fault.

"Ruby…" Yang whispered, her eyes watering and even Ren and Nora looked caught off guard by the sight of them. Jaune just grimaced, having seen them all before. Try as he might, his semblance could never get rid of the scars completely, just the injuries.

"You did your best, captain," Glynda told Jaune, though they all heard her. "No one could have mended her wounds better than you."

"I'm supposed to stop the wounds in the first place, not mend them, Glynda," Jaune muttered.

"I didn't know her injuries were this severe," Ren muttered as Nora clenched her fists tightly, her eyes glowing an electric pink and sparking with power.

"Melanie didn't lie, her image was our greatest asset," Jaune said with a shake of his head. "You know the people viewed her as something more than human so we went to great lengths to hide her mortality."

"But you all hid it from us, too?" Nora asked helplessly.

"It's not an excuse, but we didn't want you to worry." Jaune before turning to Ren. "Besides, as Ren once told us, once a secret is known by more than four people it's just information at that point. Glynda and the twins rarely ever left the castle and the only reason I even knew is that I had to heal her."

"Fair." Ren acknowledged begrudgingly. "The less our enemies know the better."

"Aren't you all being a little paranoid?" Weiss asked but Ren just shook his head.

"You can never be too paranoid when it comes to our enemy," Ren muttered.

When Militia placed The Empress' cloak on her, Melanie scowled and glared up into the Empress' eyes.

"You break so much as a nail and we're going on a week-long shopping spree."

The Empress absolutely did NOT flinch at that threat, thank you very much.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Someone has too." Melanie scoffed.

"Mel." Militia warned her twin who just released a long breath.

"Look you're the most powerful woman in the world," Melanie said as her expression softened. "Just like anyone else I'm scared of your power. But you know what? I'm more scared of what will happen if we lose you. So, if I have to risk my life and call you out on your shit, I will even if I am little more than a glorified maid."

Melanie smirked.

"People will die if your Knights don't follow your orders without hesitation," Melanie continued. "Worst that will happen if I speak out of turn is getting tossed in a cell, so it's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Thank the Brothers," Qrow muttered, relieved that Ruby was able to get criticism from somewhere.

"Those twins, I knew I liked them for a reason." Nora snickered and Ren nodded as Jaune smiled slightly.

"They were the voice of reason we couldn't afford to be at the time." Ren mused. "They may have been little more than maids, but they did wonders for the Empress' mental health."

"Agreed, they could heal the wounds I couldn't." Jaune chuckled.

"Well, disrespect aside, I appreciate the sentiment," The Empress said honestly before making her way out of the room. When the door closed behind her, The Empress made her way through the corridors, nodding at the knights that were on patrol. "Show me my shield and hammer." The Empress murmured, her eyes beginning to shine.

"Woah!? What's going on!?" Yang questioned as their surroundings began to become distorted. Soon, the scene shattered like the glass of a mirror and they all found themselves on a cliff of an Island north of Menagerie.

"The Empress is watching over us," Jaune answered as they saw him and Nora standing on the cliff with a couple of Valkyries strapping what almost looked like a small jet to the back of Nora's armor. WBY noted that the armor Nora wore was identical to what she was wearing during the attack at the docks.

"The Empress is watching over us," Jaune murmured as he and Nora's eyes turned silver.

"Huh, déjà vu." Jaune joked getting a nudge and eye-roll from his partner. When they looked out over the ocean, the non-time travelers paled when they saw Menagerie. It was little more than an outline on the horizon but even then, they could see the dark energy emanating off it and flowing into the ocean. Above the continent, they could see dozens, if not hundreds of Wyverns flying above it.

"What the hell are those!?" Yang questioned as Weiss and Blake paled.

"Are those even Grimm anymore?" Weiss questioned, taken back by the sheer size of the Grimm. "How do you even fight those?"

"Very creatively," Jaune muttered. "Which reminds me, we still have that Wyvern sealed in Mt Glen to deal with."

"Th-there's one of those things in Mt. Glen!?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"And no one felt the need to inform the public?" Winter questioned only imagining the destruction that would come if the kingdom was caught blindsided by the large Grimm. All it would take is one bad day-

-Winter paled when she remembered the attack intended for Vale.

"It got freed in the attack didn't it?" Winter asked though it was clear she knew the answer as did Weiss, Blake, and Yang.

"Yeah, and it went straight toward the tower," Jaune muttered before looking at Pyrrha. "It might have interfered in your fight which got you killed."

"Hm, then it's official. I'm going to kill it." Pyrrha swore.

"Pyrrha died!?" Weiss asked unable to even picture it but then again, she realized that Pyrrha was surprisingly absent in this memory and now she knew why. Then she realized that it wasn't just Pyrrha missing. "I, no, we die, too don't we?"

"Not in the attack, but later," Jaune answered before shaking his head. "I won't tell you how, not yet. You have a right to know but telling you now would just distract you and get you killed again later."

Weiss' eyes narrowed. "But you will tell us."

"I will."

As if to prove Jaune's words, a silver ethereal projection of the Empress appeared beside them. Though they could sense her watching them, it was clear that they couldn't see her.

"Your wings have been successfully attached, Battle-Master. You are ready to take flight." One of the Valkyries told Nora as two more Valkyries approached with a heavy black metal box that had the word "Mjolnir" etched into it. The weight was obvious as both Valkyries each had to grab a side with both hands.

With visible effort, they attached the box to the back of Nora's wings and the woman didn't even seem to notice the additional weight.

"Mjolnir secured. You are now ready to reach Valhalla." The lead Valkyrie stated as she knelt before the Battle-Master.

"Good, at ease," Nora said as Jaune shifted his blade into its greatsword form and stabbed it into the ground.

"Alright, just like we practiced in the drills." Jaune began. "I'm going to give you everything, this will likely attract the Wyverns in the distance so please don't take too much time getting set up. We need you back here on Remnant as soon as possible to deal with the Grimm that come our way."

"Understood," Nora said as the thrusters on her wings began to ignite. "I'll see you on the other side Captain," Nora said as she lifted her hammer. "Ragnarök."

With that word, Nora's armor locked itself in place as a helmet formed around her head. Beside her Jaune, began to recite the oath, his aura spiking drastically which caused the Valkyries to crash to their knees as Nora remained in place.

"What exactly is the God Blast?" Winter questioned having been confused by the preparations she saw. She had also tried to wrap her mind around the sheer amount of power Jaune was producing that seemed to make the entire island shake. She had known he was a powerful amp, the fight against Willow showed that, but this was absurd.

"It's Nora's strongest attack," Jaune answered and Winter nodded before pausing and doing a double-take at what he said.

"I'm sorry, but did you say her attack?" Winter questioned and this made WBY and Pyrrha pause as they realized the implications.

They, like Winter, had thought it was some sort of bomb that was going to be dropped on the continent. But to hear that it was an attack almost made their hearts stop.

"Yes," Ren answered for his Captain. "The God Blast is the single most powerful maneuver the Empire has to offer. It was developed by Nora and enhanced further when we could get the needed resources. Honestly, it's pretty genius."

"Aw, you're making me blush," Nora said with a grin as she hugged Ren.

"You're telling me that Nora is about to personally wipe a continent off of the map?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"That's not possible," Blake said, trying to wrap her mind around that.

"Well, you've seen the attack yourself." Jaune pointed out, confusing Blake. "The docks?"

Blake's blood went cold.

She remembered now, the moment Nora obliterated the docks with a swing of her hammer after proclaiming herself to be a god.

"But destroying the docks, as crazy as that is, is nowhere near the same as an entire continent," Yang said unable to believe that anyone could have that much power. "That's not possible."

"Not unless you get creative," Nora grinned.

"Now!" Jaune ordered after finishing the oath. Immediately, Nora blasted off into the sky as Jaune ripped his blade free and aimed it at Nora. At once, all of his gathered aura exploded from his body and slammed into Nora.

"WOOOOHOOOOOO!" Nora cheered after receiving all of Jaune's aura. She immediately disappeared in a pink flash that was swiftly followed by the sound of a thunderclap that echoed throughout the region. Tired, Jaune fell to a knee but was helped up by one of the Valkyries.

"Thank you," Jaune said before frowning when saw a few of the Wyverns begin to fly in their direction. "Now get ready, we're going to have a heck of a fight on our end," Jaune said before closing his eyes and whispering. "Ruby, watch over her."

Beside him, the Empress nodded and vanished.

This time when the scene shifted, the onlookers had to do their best to not freak out when they found themselves floating in the void of space. Winter, in particular, felt her eyes widen when she saw an oddly familiar sight.

"Is…is that Amity arena?" Winter questioned and sure enough, they could see what looked like the floating arena floating in the void.

"No, it's Valhalla," Jaune answered and as they floated closer, Winter could see that the floating base easily dwarfed Amity arena in size. "We used Amity arena as the basis of the blueprint."

"How…how did you make this?"

"Well, Pietro made it." Jaune corrected. "The design that is. Our enemy killed his daughter and, well, this was his way of making them pay before he decided to join her." Jaune said solemnly. "He left us the blueprints and we had launched the next day."

"You built this in a day!?" Winter questioned. "How?"

"Magic," Jaune answered with a smirk.

"Son of a bitch, you used the staff?" Qrow asked having figured out just how such a feat would be possible.

"Atlas was little more than a memory by that point," Jaune explained. "With no floating kingdom needing to be upheld, The Empress decided we had a better use for the relic. Though granted, despite performing multiple drills and designing it I don't think she ever expected for us to use the damn thing."

"Something's happening!" Weiss called out and when they looked at Valhalla, they saw it beginning to split open. Turning to the side they saw Nora approaching the base which was now beginning to resemble the barrel of a gun.

Landing inside of Valhalla, Nora detached her armor from its wings. Turning the wings around, Nora detached Mjolnir from them and began to walk deeper inside with the case beneath her arm. Behind her, the wings' thrusters ignited again and they began to fly back to Remnant, leaving their owner behind.

As this went on, the ethereal form of the Empress continued to follow Nora every step, watching over her friend as they got deeper into the base. Once they reached the back of the barrel, the wall opened up and let Nora walk into what could best be described as a garden.

As they looked on, WBY gasped as they saw statues immortalized in the walls of the garden of Valhalla. There were statues of huntsmen they didn't recognize, and…themselves. Pyrrha frowned when she saw a statue of herself in the center, kneeling with WBY behind her.

Stopping before Pyrrha's statue, Nora set the case down and placed a hand on the statue.

"Never forget," Nora murmured, bowing her head for a moment before getting back to work.

Though the action was brief, it hit them hard as they realized that despite having come from the future, the Knights had still been their friends. Friends who loved them and watched them die, likely for their sakes.

They may have needed them for their own goals, but that didn't mean that the love the Knights had for them was any less real.

"I miss you all, so, so much." The Empress whispered. "You have no idea how much I need you."

At her words, WBY looked down sadly as Winter couldn't help but stare at Weiss' statue. Her little sister had grown so much but even then, she could tell the carved image was much younger than the huntsmen her age that lived. Weiss couldn't have been more than a couple of years older than she was now when she…

…she…

…Winter closed her eyes and let her tears fall silently.

When Nora opened the case, she revealed a large cylinder that contained a dust crystal floating in a silver liquid. The crystal, unlike other dust crystals, shone with a bright silver light that was almost blinding to look at.

Pressing a hidden code into the base of Pyrrha's statue, the base of the statue slid open. Like a battery, Nora plugged in the strange cylinder before closing the base of the statue. At once, Valhalla began to tremble as Nora made her way back out of the garden. When the doors closed behind her, Nora floated forward a bit before she landed on the barrel, using the electromagnets in her armor to cement her feet on the floor.

A silver electric current began to dance around the barrel, illuminating Valhalla in the vacuum of space. Raising her hammer, Nora braced herself as the powerful currents slammed into the rods in the back of her armor and into her body.

Nora's body thrashed from the influx of power, and with her semblance working in overdrive, the silver light that filled Valhalla's barrel turned bright pink as the intensity grew. So bright was the pink electrical energy, the Empress had to shield her eyes along with the onlookers.

The scene shifted and the onlookers found themselves back outside of Valhalla watching as what they now realized was a massive railgun charging with power as it moved to aim Menagerie.

"Such power," Winter muttered before turning to Nora. "And you can withstand that?"

"I can but it would take days for my aura alone to absorb that much electricity on its own," Nora answered. "Thanks to the Captain here, I can absorb a lot more much faster."

"What was that dust?" Weiss questioned.

"Something the Empress stumbled upon," Jaune answered vaguely. "With the SDC gone, she had to get creative with providing energy to the people and I'll leave it at that. Sorry, can't go into specifics till we know Winter's loyalty but know we were going to reach out to you about developing that particular dust later."

"M-me?" Weiss asked, surprised by the revelation.

"The Empress used your notes and theories you left behind," Jaune answered. "In a way, you were helping us succeed even if you weren't physically with us."

"He's right," Nora agreed. "Salem essentially knocked us back to the dark ages, only with your info did the Empress find a way to not only restore our tech but advance it further with Pietro's help of course."

"…You've already claimed him, haven't you?" Winter asked with a defeated sigh. "I've overheard the General saying that Dr. Polendina hasn't been returning his messages."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Jaune said not seeming apologetic in the slightest. "He was kind of a top priority the second we could get our bearings."

"You came to Atlas a year ago." Winter turned to Glynda. "You recruited him then didn't you?"

"Perhaps," Glynda answered with a small smile.

"I can't believe this," Yang said, feeling a bead of sweat slide down her face at the sheer power she was witnessing. "Nora's really about to wipe a continent off of the face of Remnant."

"Along with its inhabitants," Blake said darkly. "You told me to watch but seeing how my people got wiped out doesn't make it any better!"

"Keep watching," Ruby said, her voice a little subdued. "You'll see soon why out the memories I've seen so far this one bothers me the most."

"Because you let it happen?" Blake guessed and in response Ruby's shoulders slumped.

"Just watch," Ruby said again. "Watch and understand the weight of the crown."

Nodding to herself after seeing the God Blast successfully prepped and moments away from being unleashed, the Empress stepped back as her image vanished.

Once more the scene shifted and they all found themselves back at the castle, outside in the courtyard in front of them they could see the Empress now armed with Crescent Rose, and the sight of the scythe made Ruby's team do a double-take.

Weiss, for one, never thought she'd ever see the day she'd call Ruby's weapon beautiful but this was that day. That wasn't to say Crescent Rose hadn't admittedly impressed her before with its engineering and lethality, though she would have never admitted that out loud. But the Scythe she saw now truly was a work of art and dare she say as elegant if not more so than her Myrtenaster.

When they saw that the Empress was staring at the sky, they looked up to see what could best be described as a pink star. The only problem with that being was that it was the middle of the day. Having just seen Valhalla they knew that that was no star but rather the God Blast.

And it had just been fired.

"I…I'm no scientist but shouldn't the attack be faster than that?" Yang asked cautiously.

"Oh, it's going the right speed," Qrow muttered. "Look around." When they followed his instructions, they all noted that timed seemed to have stopped as birds could be seen suspended mid-flight, their wings seemingly frozen. "Damn it Ruby, you went through shit but you really didn't change that much."

"I wanted to be a huntress to help people, to fight the good fight," Ruby answered. "But at the same time, I never wanted to be more than capable huntress because if I made a mistake then it would most likely be me that paid the price. If it was just me, I could live with that."

Ruby closed her eyes.

"But then I became a leader, and before I knew it fighting the good fight didn't mean stopping Grimm attacks." Ruby continued. "It meant saving the world and if I make a mistake it's not just me that pays. It's my team, my friends, the world."

Ruby gestured toward the Empress who was quickly glancing over the map Ren had sent her.

"It's so easy for me to hate this woman, to hate her because she made plenty of mistakes. Big mistakes." Ruby said before she shook her head, she wasn't even sad or frustrated. Just tired. "But she did so much more stuff right that I can't help but love her just like her knights. She gives me hope and I hate that."

Ruby trembled.

"I don't want to be an Empress, but I have to," Ruby said as the Empress nodded to herself. "Because I can't deprive the world of someone like her, someone she claims has the potential to be even greater."

"Ruby…" Yang trailed off not knowing what to say.

"I'm my own hero," Ruby said finally and it was true. Once upon a time, it was Summer, then Yang and her Uncle Qrow but now there was only one face she could see when she thought of a hero.

Her own.

"You have no idea how terrifying that is," Ruby muttered. "To be lost and confused and instead of asking what would someone else do, you have to ask yourself what would you do and somehow try to not feel as lost as you already are."

No one knew how to respond to that.

"She's not perfect," Ruby said softly as a tired smile appeared on her face.

The Empress put her scroll in the front of her dress and pressed a small switch on her scythe which caused a holographic flag of the Rose Empire to appear on the back of her scythe that was made from hard-light dust.

"But she's me."

BGM: Go Fight! Show Your Power!-Maple Story OST

Crouching low, her flag billowing behind her, The Empress nodded to herself before running forward and disappearing in a burst of rose petals.

At that moment WBY remembered just what their leader's semblance was and understood why Qrow seemed irritated. The area around them disappeared but it didn't shatter like the earlier scenes, but rather it appeared as though their surroundings were just rushing past them at blinding speeds.

Eyes glistening, Blake turned to Ruby.

"You're going to save them."

"I couldn't let your people die, Blake," Ruby responded, her eyes never leaving the speeding burst of rose petals that shot through the lands, over mountains, and through valleys on its way toward Menagerie. The ocean water split as the Empress race through them and before they realized it, they had made it to the island the Knights had secured.

Reforming on the edge of the cliff, The Empress appeared next to Jaune who had just ordered the knights to prepare for battle. The Empress nodded to herself when she saw Ren's stealth jet leaving Menagerie. The Empress smiled slightly before kissing Jaune gently on his cheek as she moved past him and leaped off of the cliff and flew toward the Wyverns who appeared to have been frozen in mid-air.

"Aw," Nora teased which made red-face Jaune groan as he had no idea that had happened. The smirk he saw on Pyrrha's face told him he wasn't going to hear the end of that anytime soon.

Yang and Qrow both blinked and glanced over at Ruby who seemed a bit embarrassed. Sharing a look, the two realized they were going to have a much-needed talk with Ruby.

Reforming in front of the Wyverns, The Empress released silver flashes of light from her eyes that petrified the massive Grimm with ease as she flew past them.

"Incredible," Winter whispered seeing the strongest Grimm she had seen to date taken down in an instant.

With one more petal burst, The Empress appeared in Menagerie in the first town closest to the shore. It was a hellish sight just as Ren said. Grimm patrolled the streets and she could see men women and children being attacked in broad daylight by both Grimm and the White Fang.

With a glance from her silver eyes, The Empress cleared the streets of the Grimm before using her scythe to cleave in half a White Fang member who had a sobbing woman pinned to a nearby wall. Sheathing her weapon, The Empress fixed the woman's clothes and grabbed her and her child, who was hiding nearby, in her arms before she burst back to the island her knights resided in and dropped them off.

With a smile, The Empress wiped away the child's tears and though she knew she was moving far too fast for the child to even see it, she still hoped that she could reassure him that everything would be fine. Turning around, The Empress shot back to Menagerie before returning with two more Faunus.

Then she did it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

The Empress continued to grab and drop off each faunus at various military outposts around the world, never stopping, even as her stamina continued to plummet.

Blake fell to her knees, silent as she realized that yes. The Empress was going to try to personally go and grab every Faunus she could find.

Even Pyrrha felt her jaw drop at the sight of such heroism.

"Show me life." The Empress muttered as she leaped high into the air and gazed down at the town. Sure enough, she could see the aura of all the civilians in the town whether they had it unlocked or not.

"How?" Weiss asked as the Empress quickly went to work removing every non-White Fang faunus in the town before moving on to the next.

"Magic," Jaune answered chuckling when Pyrrha nudged him. "Seriously, magic. The Empress gave almost all the magic in her body to Nora but her eyes still had their own and through trial and error she developed her own 'spells' that she could cast with them-that were all pretty much sight-related."

"Do you get it now Ice Queen number two?" Nora asked Winter, getting an irritated "hey!" from Weiss. "This is why we followed her, long before thoughts of running a nation even came to mind."

Ren nodded in agreement as he thought of their days on the road as team RNJR.

"This is the answer to the question I gave you," Jaune told Winter as they watched The Empress single-handedly evacuate Menagerie. "There are always more than two answers. Just because I gave you two options didn't mean they were the only answers. They were just the ones presented to you."

"It's why we gave the Empress the two we had." Nora continued. "We know how she thinks, if both are shit, we can depend on her to find a better one because that just what she does." Nora turned to Ruby. "It's what you do."

"Look at her Ruby," Jaune instructed gently. "Someone even better than that. That's what we see when we look at you."

Ruby bowed her head at that.

In the capital of Menagerie, The Empress landed in a crouch, her Scythe resting on her shoulders as her cape surrounded her, its edges breaking off into rose petals that melded into her surroundings. In front of her was a massive black tower, and standing on its balcony was none other than Salem herself.

The Empress glared at Salem who seemed to stare right back at her even though that was little more than a coincidence as she was moving far too fast for Salem to see."

"What the fuck is that!?" Yang questioned, caught off guard by the monstrous woman.

"Salem," Nora answered, spitting the word out like a curse.

"So that's her," Winter murmured, disgusted by the sight of the woman. Shaking her head, Winter took in the scene and it was then she finally understood. Seeing the Empress standing in stark contrast like this with Salem allowed Winter to see the reality of the situation.

Loyalty to General Ironwood or not, it didn't matter.

The only thing that could stand up to Salem was the young huntress next to her.

Around her, she could see that those who had not time-traveled had come to the same conclusion as she had.

Suddenly a pair of hands appeared on Salem's shoulders and from behind her, The Empress could see the Tyrant grinning down at her.

"Who…who is that?" Weiss said as she saw a woman that disgusted her more than Salem. Likely due to how she had Ruby's face but with a twisted grin that looked entirely unnatural.

"A hallucination," Ruby answered. "The Empress…she had a lot of those."

"Why do you try?" The Tyrant questioned. "You know how this ends. For years you let the fear of me break down your heart, leaving it open and vulnerable for my darkness. Even if you defeat Salem, the darkness will just put you in her place and give birth to me, and really, who left alive can stop me? Give up."

The Empress glowered at her before smirking.

"Nope."

Yang smirked. "Yeah, you tell-er-yourself!"

"Excuse me?"

"Nope."

Qrow chuckled despite the tense situation. Yeah, that was Ruby.

"You haven't been paying attention, the future looks bleak, but I will find a way." The Empress swore. "If you haven't noticed, it's sort of what I do."

"This isn't a fairy tale you fool. There is no happy ending."

"There is and I'll find it. I don't know how we'll get there but trust me, we will get there." The Empress retorted. "I'm tired of being afraid of you. It's made the last couple of years hell and I refuse to be that person, living that life, anymore. I'll find a way to make my heart strong again, no, even stronger than it used to be. And when I do, I'll deal with you once and for all."

"Impossible." The Tyrant muttered and for a brief moment, the Empress said uncertainty flicker in the black and red eyes of her counterpart.

"Nothing's impossible," The Empress said before lunging forward, causing the hallucination to vanish as she shot past the unsuspecting Salem and broke into her tower to rescue the prisoners. This was the last spot on the continent, the place she saved for last.

When the Empress broke free from the bottom of the tower with the last prisoner, The Empress glanced back to see Nora above the tower, a storm of pink lightning surrounding her as Salem looked up with a stunned expression no doubt wondering what was even happening.

"Oh man, I wish I could take a picture." Nora groaned.

"You're insane," Pyrrha muttered as she looked at possibly the one huntress that she was hesitant to fight. Pyrrha loved Nora like a sister but she was insane.

Making her way back to the Island, The Empress sat the unconscious man down and shielded him with her body the moment Nora made contact. The shockwave that came from Menagerie slammed into her aura, shattering it instantly, and knocked her toward the side of the cliff. Doing all that she could, The Empress wrapped him in her arms and turned so that it was her that hit the cliff and not him.

The last thing The Empress saw before her vision went black was a bright pink dome of electricity on the horizon. A tidal wave raced toward her and her eyes closed when Jaune landed in front of her.

BGM: END

The scene changed and it was clear a little time had passed as the onlookers found themselves in an unfamiliar room.

The Empress groaned as she opened her eyes to find an exhausted Jaune next to her, using his semblance to patch her back together.

"Jaune? What happened?"

Jaune smiled seeing the Empress awake, but it was clear his smile was forced.

"You did it, you saved the people," Jaune said before grimacing. "But we almost lost you, you broke a lot of bones. Your back was shattered and it took me a while to find a way to get you somewhere safe without doing more damage have anyone see you."

"Fortunately, Ren here knows some ways to get around large crowds," Nora said as she stood at the edge of the bed with nothing more than a pair of black shorts and a tank top. On her shoulder, they could see a rose surrounded by a pair of wings tattooed on it.

"It wasn't my hardest extraction, no." Ren mused.

"You guys are taking this rather well." The Empress noted, normally her overprotective knights would have made their displeasure known, ranks be damned, if she had done something even she considered reckless.

"Of course, you're alive and you saved countless lives," Jaune said before his smile went cold as did Nora's and Ren's which caused a chill to go down the Empress' spine.

"Where is that bitch!?" A voice hissed quietly as a door slammed. Taking that as their cue to leave, Ren and Nora left as Glynda walked in with a livid pair of twins behind her.

The Empress did NOT whimper, thank you very much.

"I said don't break a nail and you break yourself in half!?" Melanie snapped. At least Militia had the decency to say a quick "Hello Your Majesty" before joining her sister in verbally ripping the Empress a new one. "Fuck," Melanie complained. "Look at you, you look like you've been beaten black and blue. No one saw her like this right, Captain Arc?"

"No, we made sure of that."

"Then we can salvage this," Melanie said as she took a deep breath and rubbed her temples. "We asked around, people only saw rose petals and themselves being rescued. As far they know it's another one of your 'miracles'."

"I don't get it. Wouldn't it be better for people to know what she did?" Weiss questioned. "That was nothing short of incredible."

"For the soldiers absolutely," Jaune answered. "But not for the civilians, the idea that their defense against Salem can die would not have been good. By this point, The Empress had been seen as the good version of Salem. This idea that the Empress was 'all powerful' was excellent not just for morale but for keeping the Grimm at bay with positive feelings."

"But at what cost?" Qrow questioned. "Look at her, there's no way upholding this image was good for her."

"It wasn't and in the long run, it led to us being here," Jaune admitted. "Look, I'm not saying it was right, Qrow. In hindsight, it was a desperate short-sighted solution to a much bigger problem. Hiding her mortality broke her, but it was her choice. The people needed a symbol and she was it."

"Just one of the many things to fix this time," Glynda said getting Qrow's attention. She held his heated gaze impassively and after a moment he grunted and gave a stiff nod.

"How long have I been out?" The Empress questioned.

"A day," Jaune answered. "They think we've been having a meeting. We had to explain what happened, said that you strolled by and decided to spare the Faunus."

"You've been known to do such things on your 'walks'," Glynda spoke up.

"My enthusiastic walks." The Empress corrected which made Glynda rub the bridge of her nose.

"Look here's the plan," Melanie spoke up. "We clean you up, walk you through town to the Spymaster's stealth jet and we go the fuck home. You'll stay in your room and recover and after that, we're taking you on the shopping trip from hell."

"Can you do it?" Militia questioned gently as The Empress tried to force herself up,

"I'll be–" The Empress was cut off as blood spilled from her mouth and an unbearable pain shot through her back.

"Ruby!" Jaune exclaimed in alarm The Empress clutched him desperately.

"Oh God, it hurts…everything hurts…" The Empress whimpered, tears of pain falling freely from her eyes.

"You took a God Blast to the back," Jaune said gently. "I can't even imagine the agony you're..."

"Oh my God," Yang said as she saw how broken the Empress looked. Ruby would cry over cookies and Crescent Rose but not pain. Yang had seen Ruby shrug off things as a little girl that would have left people twice her age in tears. To see the Empress break down from pain shook Yang.

"This isn't going to work," Militia murmured. "She can't even sit, let alone walk through the whole village like nothing's wrong."

"No!" The Empress spoke up through her dry heaving. "I…I can do this."

"Don't force yourself." Jaune pleaded. "Rest."

"Please listen to him," Qrow muttered though he didn't what he thought of the man, Qrow at least could admit that Jaune had Ruby's best interests at heart even if he didn't always agree with the Captain.

"We need to come up with an excuse before people start questioning why they haven't seen her yet," Melanie said as she began to pace. "It's not like the Captain can carry you through town."

"Or can he?" Militia muttered.

"Mil?"

"Bear with me, I have an idea." Militia said before turning to Glynda. "We'll need your help. Mel, get the make-up, we need to hide these injuries and get her dressed."

Melanie nodded and handed her sister her make-up kit before looking over The Empress form.

"Her nails are busted."

"It's fine, I brought gloves."

"Perfect," Melanie said before wincing when she saw The Empress' back. "Please tell me you patched up her cape sis."

"I did."

"Good," Melanie said before meeting the Empress' eyes and giving her a tired smile. "Sorry, Your Majesty, but no more backless dresses for you for a while, if ever. Fortunately, your cape can hide this for now."

"That bad?" The Empress questioned making them wince. "Okay, yeah, that bad."

The onlookers had to agree, the Empress' back was not a pretty sight.

"Alright let's do this."

BGM: Carry Me [Emotional Vocal Orchestra]-Eurielle

The onlookers watched as the scene shifted and soon found themselves standing in a village. Those who hadn't been present in the memory could only watch in surprise when they saw the Empress walking next to Jaune looking even more radiant than ever.

As they walked, Jaune raised his cape high as if protect the Empress from the sun when in reality he was hiding the fact that her arm was desperately grabbing at his waist to support herself. Likewise, by walking close to him, her cape hid his arm which helped keep her upright.

Behind them, the twins followed like a pair of dutiful servants when they were in actuality trying to block as much of the view of the Empress as they could while they each carried a side of Crescent Rose. To the Empress' right, Glynda subtly used her semblance to ensure The Empress stayed upright.

With her hood up and face down, The Empress appeared like a powerful yet bashful maiden who simply existed on a different plane than they did. And though that was an accurate description of The Empress, her head was bowed to hide her face and the tears that threatened to fall with each step she took it.

As they walked, rose petals fell upon the village like rain.

Truly it was a beautiful sight.

Qrow bowed his head as WBY looked at their radiant leader in awe. "Summer, if only you could see your girl." Qrow blinked his eyes rapidly when he began to feel them burn.

"What happened to the refugees?" The Empress questioned both out of curiosity and to distract herself from the pain.

"We flew in a fleet of ships to help spread them out a bit and find them new homes in the Empire," Jaune answered.

"I'll set aside funds for them, raise taxes temporarily, six months to a year max to support them." The Empress decided.

"The people might not like that." Glynda pointed out.

"They will deal with it." The Empress muttered. "Besides, the number of people under our banner? It won't be much. They can spare a couple of lien."

"Sounds fair to me. We need to help each other now more than ever." Jaune said before stopping when he heard applause. Jaune blinked and The Empress raised her head just enough to see dozens upon dozens of faunus cheering her name, openly weeping that she saved them.

Suddenly, they heard a cry and before The Empress knew it, a little wolf faunus ran in front of her and raised a stuffed bear to her.

"Thank you." The little girl said with a bright smile. At that moment, Jaune felt The Empress release him and with wide eyes, he and the others watched her step forward and kneel before the little girl.

"For me?" The Empress questioned with a gentle smile which made the little girl nod. Grinning, The Empress pulled the girl in for a warm embrace. "I'll cherish it forever, little one." The Empress said before standing up when child's mother quickly grabbed her.

"I'm so sorry, Your Majesty."

"Don't be." The Empress reassured her. "Cherish that one, she's special." The Empress aid before she stood next to Jaune. The woman thanked the Empress before dragging her grinning daughter with her.

"Rugrat almost blew it for us."

"Quiet, Mel, it was cute." Militia chastised her sister as they continued their trek.

"Didn't that hurt?" Weiss couldn't help but ask as Blake smiled warmly at the scene.

"Oh yeah, she complained about the pain the whole flight home." Jaune chuckled.

Before long they met up with Nora and Ren and got into the jet. When they took off to the sky, they looked down at Menagerie.

Or what was left of it.

They all paled when they saw the wasteland that had become of the continent. All that was left was a broken scorched landmass that could be home to no one, not even the Grimm.

"There's no fucking way she survived that right?" Yang questioned as a couple of terrified glances were shot toward a grinning Nora.

"She did," Jaune said with a sigh. "Her surviving is why we are here. Before the Empress fell, she found a way to kill Salem."

"Found?" Winter questioned. "Surely Ozpin would have at least told you all unless he perished seeing how central to this mess you all had become."

"That's just it, snowflake, he doesn't know," Nora revealed. "As far as Ozpin knows, Salem is immortal and he has no plan to defeat her. The Empress knows how to make Salem mortal again. Ozpin doesn't, all he does is attempt to stop her schemes for all eternity to keep her at bay and when he finally slipped up, we all got screwed. Thanks for helping Salem in her original attack on Vale, by the way, great stuff."

"Nora…" Ren groaned.

"We would never help that monster!" Winter proclaimed disgusted by the very thought.

"So, you aren't bringing a large hackable fleet to Vale for the festival?" Nora questioned innocently which made Winter pale.

"Winter?" Weiss asked quietly.

"No…"

"Afraid so." Jaune sighed. "The Grimm were one thing but your soldiers and mechs did not help."

"On the bright side, Weiss managed to learn how to summon then when she had to face down the mechs." Nora continued. "And when she finished, she managed to help Ruby reach Pyrrha just in time to get a front-row seat to her being executed. Sometimes I can't help but wonder what would have happened had she not been held back by your forces."

"Stand down, Valkyrie," Jaune ordered making Nora grimace before shaking her head.

"The memory's over anyway," Nora said and it was then that Jaune realized another reason that Ruby would be so adamant about not doing this memory viewing again.

All it did was open old wounds.

"Nora," Yang spoke up softly, caught off guard by the hostility she saw from her friend. "Remember, control," Yang said as she used the lessons Nora taught her back on her mentor. Nora blinked before she sighed and forced herself to calm down.

She was not setting a good example.

"Whether you like it or not Specialist Schnee, you have been knighted," Nora spoke up as she crossed her arms. "You're as much a part of the Empire as you are Atlas and it is time to pick a side."

At that moment, the realm exploded with a silver light.

BGM: END

-Beacon-

Finding themselves back in Glynda's classroom, still standing in the circle they broke apart and realized that barely any time had passed since their trip down memory lane.

"Nora's right," Ruby agreed. "You need to choose. Are you with me or Ironwood? We won't do anything if you refuse but I will have to take your memories if you choose him."

"My memories, you can do that?"

"I can, though I hate it," Ruby answered. "To be a Knight is to put all your faith in me, you will give me control over you that is unprecedented. It's a sign of trust and a fail-safe in case you are ever compromised. I do my best to not abuse that trust, but full disclosure, I am not perfect."

Winter found herself at a crossroads. On one hand, she had far more reason to stay loyal to Ironwood, especially when the Empire could use her as a spy when they decided to expand outside of Vale's borders…

…but on the other hand, Atlas simply had no way of stopping Salem and the Empire did. Not only that but the situation with her mother showed they were dealing with forces Ironwood simply couldn't even comprehend.

"Weiss," Winter turned to her sister. "Which side have you chosen. Your home or these knights?"

"Winter I…" Weiss pursed her lips. "…Winter, my home is with these knights."

Ah.

So, Weiss had made her choice a long time ago.

"Then I suppose my decision is made then," Winter answered. "As loyal as I am to my country, I won't choose it over my sister, especially not with that monster Salem still out there," Winter answered. "I have a feeling that I chose my country over my sister once before in your time."

"You did," Jaune answered making Weiss flinch. "How did you know?"

"I know me," Winter said with a laugh that sounded pained. "And if Weiss was dead in your time then clearly, I wasn't in the picture that much," Winter explained. "I'll continue to defend my men and my country for the time being but when you need me, I will be there but only if you keep Weiss safe. You're going to be a force to be reckoned with so that shouldn't be too hard. Agreed?"

Ruby smiled.

"Agreed," Ruby answered and she shook the hand of her latest knight.

-Vale: Warehouse-

As the White Fang planned their next move, hidden amongst their members was a figure cloaked in black. The figure trembled in fury as it heard the so-called "leader" that took over during Adam's absence talk of their next attack.

Pathetic.

To think they were once apart of these clowns.

Sheep who had no idea what sacrifice was.

What revolution truly meant.

They were just a bunch of betas in dire need of a true alpha, someone to truly lead the claw.

A hand gripped Wilt and Blush tightly and slowly drew the blade.

It was time for revolution.

To be continued…

Next Chapter: The Empress' New Groove (Dance chapter and time for some light-hearted content. Give you all some time to recover before the Beast arc.)

Romance guide because it's been 2 years and people are probably lost and confused (Note just because they are listed doesn't mean it's the end-game pairing its just how the relationships are looking in the current state. Example I can introduce a new love interest for someone next chapter and it would not show up on the below list.)

(Another reason I'm doing this is because the next chapter will be the dance.)

Ren x Nora (enough said)

Weiss x Yang (The result of the butterfly effect. In the old timeline Weiss had been with both Jaune and Ruby before her death. In the current timeline, Yang gained her attention and both Jaune and Ruby felt it was best let her move on. Earlier Yang had a one-sided crush on Nora that stemmed from her mommy issues and having a genuine female friend/role-model/mentor in Nora. Yang has reconciled her feelings and sees them as platonic. This doesn't mean she won't get teased for it though.)

Jaune x Ruby X Pyrrha (Jaune loves them both, Ruby is attracted to both, Pyrrha loves Jaune and is attracted to Ruby. Question now is if these dorks figure this out.)

Glynda x Qrow (Taking work husband and work wife to a new level)

Blake x herself

Reviews:

Justaquestion12: Exactly, the maneuver that knows no equal.

Valiantgloom: Thanks glad to be back!

HoshmachiOkayu: Thanks for the review, glad you liked it!

BoredZero: Thanks for the compliment!

Freerunner4427" Welcome to the story, glad you like it and hope you stay for the ride!

: Thanks! Appreciate the review!

C3l3st14: She'll get something to assist her when needed but exactly what will have to remain to be seen.

Found at Last: Fingers crossed it last, as it is I know for a fact I'm going to try to power through this volume God willing. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sticking around!

Zacatac: Thanks for the review! I am aware, volume 8 isn't bad, there is plenty of things I'm not exactly on board with when looking at the narrative as a whole, but as a standalone volume it's solid. Not quite up there with the first 3 seasons but still much better than volumes 4-6 easily.

Speedy24: I gotchu fam, outlined it at the end of the chapter. Glad you liked the chapter!

AJ Lexie: LEXXXX YOU'RE ALIVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Glad you liked the chapter!

FatherMordteiva: Yeah, it was rough, truth be told I don't know how I got the spark back but I'm glad it's here for however long it's going to stick with me this time! Yeah, at the end of the day RWBY chose the direction it's going to take and there is no stopping it.

Lowrex: Glad you like it, thanks for the review!

MoonShadowPup: Thank you for the review T_T

Herpaderp1028: *toast* cheers, here's to me actually finishing this volume! Thanks for the review and though I can't speak for the next chapter, hopefully, this wasn't too long of a wait!

OphisNightshade: Thanks! Glad you are enjoying the story!

RayD2Kill: Same, fingers crossed I can keep this energy for a little bit longer!

0akarigan0: Gracias!

Arandomuser2: Yeah I'll try not to this time, honestly it wasn't supposed to take this long but work and the world blowing up had other plans for me. Thanks for the review and fingers crossed we can keep the momentum going!

Robbie2413: Forreal, did not mean to have 2-year cliffhanger, totally a dick move lol thanks for the review!

Red Renegade 777: Glad you liked the update and thanks for the review and sticking with the story!

Hnh058513: lmao!

Chris1606: It is, hopefully, I can squeeze out enough time later this year to thoroughly enjoy endwalker.

Bankerrtx01: Thanks for the review and ask and you shall receive!

Beard boy: WOOHOO!

Zifryt: Glad you liked it, thanks for the review!

Axius W. Xanxus: lol I couldn't believe myself when I uploaded and I wrote it rofl. Lol appreciate the kind words and glad you liked the chapter!

Foztrot: I HAVE RETURNNNEEDDDD Thank you for the review and glad you liked the update!

Thanks for the reviews, everyone!

Read and review!

And as always…

…stay classy!

~RebukeX7