AN: This is a series that I had thought about for a while now. It was actually the first fic idea that I ever had—well, not the case, but I posted this first on that accursed site Wattpad—and I never really explored it properly. Now though…now I finally shall post this.

A Remnant Remains: A RWBY/Multicross Self Insert

Prologue: At Vale's End

"Mayday! Mayday! Can anyone read me!? This is Evacuation Transport 3105-D! We are taking heavy fire from enemy forces! We have no weapons and require immediate-!"

The transmission from the evacuation craft was cut short as the airship exploded, the fire burning bright against the dark skies of Remnant for only a moment. Then, the fires died, and the debris rained upon Vale—a city that was quickly being consumed by the chaos of war.

I watched on, perhaps the sole witness to a thousand deaths, and I let out a quiet curse. Cinder Fall was not behind this. Nor was Salem. Neither of those two could bring about the hellish creatures that now roamed the streets, nor could they create the soldiers of iron that now marched through the halls of Beacon. Every prediction I had made, every warning I made to Ozpin, every outcome that I had seen…all of it had been rendered moot by whoever the interloper was.

And now it had all come to a head here…in Vale. The first battle in a war that none of us could have foreseen or stopped. It was a battle that we were quickly losing.

I looked down from my perch on the rooftop of one of the many dorm buildings of Beacon's campus. Somewhere, down there, I knew that my teammates and friends were fighting—and possibly dying—against a nigh unstoppable force.

I activated my scroll, the familiar blue hue shining on my face, and activated the radio function. A thousand different voices played through as I switched from channel to channel. All fighting. All frightened. All alone in this whirlwind of madness.

"Oh god, they're trying to get in! Somebody hel—!"

"We've got more Grimm and more of those damn…demons headed down to sector three!"

"There's too many. Too damn many!"

"We've got wounded all over sector six!"

"WHERE ARE THE GOD DAMN PALADENS!"

A dark chuckle sounded from somewhere behind me, deep, guttural, and gurgling. I turned; my eyes fixated on the beast that was crouched on all fours. I would have called it a Beowulf—it certainly had the wolf-like appearance and the bone-like spines coming out of the back—but its eyes gleamed a deep blue, and it was bleeding from a wound on its fur covered shoulder.

No, Grimm did not bleed. This creature was something else entirely.

It leapt forward with its razor-sharp claws extended and mouth open, displaying rows upon rows of jagged teeth. But I was faster. Months of training with Artoria had made it so. I pulled Railbird off of my back and executed a diagonal slice aimed at the creature's wounded shoulder, the steel blade cutting through flesh and bone as the arm was disconnected from the rest of the foul thing's body.

It fell to the ground with a loud thud, cursing and gripping the stump of the now-missing limb as it did so. I strode over to the monster and shifted Railbird into its secondary function, aiming the barrel of the revolver at the back of the thing's head.

It began to laugh. "You think you can beat us, boy!? THERE'S AN ARMY OF US! AN ARMY! FROM HELL—!"

PUFWUM!

I pulled the trigger, and a short spurt of blood escaped the newly created hole in the creature's skull. While I had wanted to know where these things came from and who their masters were…there was a time and a place for interrogations. And here was not it.

My scroll began to buzz again, and another voice began to play across the channels. "This is Snow of team SEEL! Unknown contact has breached the perimeter set around sectors eight through twelve!"

I put my scroll back up to my ear. "Of which attack zone?" I ask, hoping my voice can be heard through the chaos of the channels.

"Beacon!" Snow's feminine voice replies. "The headmaster's office! My team has engaged alongside SCRW, KAIN, and SCLP!"

I heard the loud roar of what I assumed to be a minigun over the scroll, and the sound of something being bounced off of a blade.

"Ballistic rounds have no effect on target! Switching to point energy weapons!" Another voice shouted, sounding a bit farther away. My eyes widened a bit as I began to hear a light whir from the scroll.

"Point energy?" I murmured as I looked towards the tower. Blue light began to shine from the windows of the first floor. Then, the tremor came as a brilliant beam created a massive hole where the entrance used to be.

There was silence from SEEL as the chaos continued outside. And why would the world freeze? Why would the chaos stop? This was only one battle in the middle of a warzone, after all.

A few moments later, my attention turned back to the tower as the scroll buzzed with activity from Snow and SEEL again.

"Oh gods…oh my gods…"

'Well, that certainly can't be good.'

"Target…target has deflected point energy beam!"

The sound of steel tearing through flesh sounded in my ear.

"Oh gods! Target just bisected team KAIN!"

I let out a huff of air as I drew Railbird from my back once again. "Snow, if you are hearing this, backup is on the way! I repeat, backup is on the way!"

'You wanted to play the part of the hero…'

I leapt off of the building, grunting as I executed a roll and ran towards the entrance of the tower.

'Then go! Let the legend come back to life!"

I was far too late. The bodies of the three huntsman teams that had remained to fight…whoever this was had all perished, their bodies on the floor and their blood painting the walls. I took a glance at the elevator and found that the doors were open. Whoever had done this had most likely traveled to the top of the tower and into Ozpin's office. I couldn't tell if canon events had already occurred…but then again, canon had stopped mattering once I had forfeited my information to Ozpin.

Either way, the elevator had just been rendered unusable by the Target…who was most definitely at the top of the tower.

Guess I would just have to use the stairs…

What I found at the top…was not what I was expecting.

In truth, I had expected to find Cinder at the top of the tower, having just recently taken the Maiden Powers. What I had found instead…

Cinder was still up there, but she was at the mercy of someone else entirely. A steel blade was impaled in her stomach and sticking out of her back. The man holding it was…

Come now. Did you really think that you were the hero here, kid? This is where your story comes to an end.

"…Well." The man spoke as he turned to face me, lowering his blade so that Fall's most definite corpse would slide off of it. "I suppose I should have anticipated this, boy."

My grip on Railbird tightened as the man's green eyes bore into mine.

"Instead of Ozpin's last hope coming to face me, it is you, the pretender, coming to attain a death that you view as 'heroic.'" The World's Enemy continued.

"Facing you is tantamount to suicide for most people." I bit back, a drop of sweat trailing down my face.

"And yet here you are, pretender, prepared to fight me yourself." One of the corners of his lips twitched upwards.

"I'm not most people." I replied.

"How very arrogant of you." The World's Enemy fell into a stance. "Very well…you were given your chance to run."

He charged. Our blades clashed…

And I lost my footing, and felt the blade slash across my chest.

AN: And thus ends the no-context prologue. The next chapter—the beginning of the first arc—will add said much-needed context.