RWBY Fanfiction

Alternate Remnant: An Inverted World

Chapter One

Weiss Schnee knew Ruby Rose had never gone faster than she ever did at the moment all her life. Her partner's silver eyes focused solely on the top of the tower, the fall of Beacon seemingly blurred around them as her semblance pushed itself to the limit. With her last aura reserves, her glyphs made Ruby's speed a spectacle to watch, with rose petals dwindling like droplets of rain above her.

And she would reach. Weiss was so sure she could reach it. Ignoring the open cuts on her body, ignoring the sores that stabbed her muscles, ignoring the heaviness her eyelids have begged to close—she had pushed her partner on top, letting out a sigh of relief as her knees weakened down the ground. Destruction echoed all around, her sight refusing to cooperate that before she had even realized it—she had already fallen. For a moment, she wished everything was but a dream, where all those grimms tearing all lives they see were nothing but a product of her nightmares.

Ruby, the young scythe wielder had managed to land with Crescent Rose tightly held beside her. She scanned the surrounding of what remained of Ozpin's office. Her eyes grew wide, taking in the sight of her friend Pyrrha succumbing to her knees, her eyes close in acceptance of her fate. She had been roughly beaten, a black arrow pinned through her heel then there was Cinder Fall, the woman she had never even thought capable of such monstrosity.

Another black was already hoistered in the air before Ruby could have any time to react, knowing how it would be impossible for the woman to hit her friend at that distance. It hit. Horror painted on the young girl's face as she watched Cinder caressed Pyrrah's cheek, lifting the Champion's chin to meet her smug expression. It took no more than few seconds for the evil woman to completely set her friend in flame, the burst of cinders disappearing into nothingness.

Ruby was silent for a while, muttering words in denial, her grip tightening even more around her weapon as her thoughts cast back to her team, she had let them down and she couldn't accept it. Cinder had finally managed to notice the red-cloaked girl's existence, a smirk releasing from her lips as she said words that merely fell into deaf ears for Ruby. She didn't even see how Cinder had prepared another arrow, the bow down at her position. But she didn't care, the anger, the grief boiling inside her and she could no longer held it in.

An anguish scream penetrated through Cinder's ears together with the bright silvery light that blinded her vision. But it did not let it distract her, immediately dropping her bow to let her fire run loose towards the scythe-wielder, too occupied to drink in the fact that it broken through the dragon by the side, her maiden power colliding with the younger girl's strange attack.

Weiss, on the brink of fading into unconsciousness, stared oddly at the tower, her confusion replaced by both amazement and concern for her partner. But the light came too brightly at her already blurry vision, finally letting herself sink into the quietude of darkness.

It took Yang a while to adjust to the strange uneasiness that was racking her body now. She was laying on a bed, white-painted walls and ceilings meeting her purple, exhausted eyes. She sat up, touching the edge of her bed for support—and there it was, the previous memories of her last battle against Adam assaulted her mind. Her attacking head on, the White Fang leader lifting his blade and in a blink—trembling, she lifted her right. Bandage wrapped around what remained of her upper arm.

The memory played almost endlessly, repeating again and again on how easily her opponent had cut an important part of her body as though a mere block of wood. She was furious, her eyes blending the colour of purple or red in pure rage. She slammed her left on the wall, creating cracks and slight shake on the entire room. Huntress. The word left a bitter afterthought, like a poison engulfing her rationality of the reality she could never be one anymore. All because of Adam Taurus. Being a huntress was all that she had thrived as a goal together with her sister and now that goal became impossible to reach.

That's right. Her sister. Ruby. Blake. Weiss. Were they alright? Were they safe? She couldn't even protect herself from someone that powerful, how could she face her team now with the usual 'Yang' she would always show them? Especially Blake. She had let her down the most. Where was her partner anyway? Had that bastard gotten her? If he had done anything more to that cat faunus than he already managed to do so, she swore she would haunt him down throughout all of Remnant, with or without her limb.

But that was for another time. She must find her team, make sure they were fine and discuss what the next step of action—her thoughts were interrupted with the sudden opening of the door. It revealed an unfamiliar woman, holding a tablet of holographic scroll which was giving her a cautious look. The woman stood a meter away from her, observing her from that distance while writing something on her scroll.

"What happened?" Yang questioned, ignoring the hostile look the woman was sending her. "Where is everyone?"

But the woman was silent, she was not answering even if Yang had asked once again. But the blonde girl wasn't having any of it. She was never one with a long temper to begin with, especially so with her mood fluctuating between anger for what happened and concern for her team. She grabbed the woman by the collar, noticing she was a head taller. The woman shrieked, and Yang knew she had scared her.

"Answer the questions for oum's sake!"

"I-I don't k-know?"

"How the hell do you not know?!"

"Because that's what we're supposed to ask you, Yang Xiao Long." Another voice came from the door, it was a man with beard just under his nose, wearing a full clothed tuxedo.

"Who are you?" Yang was being cautious now, with Ember Celica gone—no, she wouldn't be able to use it either way.

"I am Arthur Watts, a Professor of this prestigious Academy."

At the mention of Academy, Yang had become alert. "Beacon! The White Fang—where is Blake?!"

"We don't seem to be in a similar page here, Miss Xiao Long. But it appears Blake Belladonna is here as well. It would only be a matter of time before she is captured. Now, what are you planning to do?"

Captured? Yang needed no more explanation, it was already clear they were enemies. Her right was still hurting, but Yang was a fighter. Not even a missing arm could prevent her from beating them up if it would mean seeing the team again.

Somewhere, Weiss had been awake for some time now, carefully assessing herself that was in sore from the events that had occured. As a Schnee, she was taught to value every moment, that a Schnee must always know the time for her to use it in the best way possible. At the moment though, she couldn't figure out what went after she passed out or how many hours had it been. She was in distraught, worried about her team but considering she was perfectly seated on a hospital bed—she figured the rest of her friends must have had been already taken into account.

Weiss had finally decided. She would go find everyone else to make sure they are all well and alive. She had earlier noticed the white hospital gown and she may have been uncomfortable of knowing somebody had changed her clothes while unconscious, that matter was left for some time. Her usually tied up white hair was down, fluttering slowly as she moved to the door.

The outside hall was empty, silent even. But she felt extremely odd, as though she was walking through the corridor of Beacon. It was impossible, of course. She had seen Beacon Academy fell, hoards of grimms attacking everywhere—the soreness of her body had already hinted those as reality. It must be a different school then. Atlas? Most likely. Perhaps students were evacuated to a different place altogether

"Weiss?" At the mention of her name, she instantly turned behind, locking her blue gaze to her partner's silver ones. "Weiss! I-I've been worried. What happened? Where...?"

Weiss had shortened the distance between the two almost as immediately, both her hands touching her partner's shoulders in an attempt to check whether she had been injured or—and with a cough from the black haired girl, she had just realized Blake was behind their team leader. Weiss also noticed the same clothes Ruby was wearing, except for Blake which wore her usual clothes diluted with small hints of blood. Had she been injured? But with her poise seemingly normal, it would mean her aura had already done it's job.

"Take this." Blake had handed her Myrtenaster, her own signature weapon.

"I was getting worried I might have lost this somewhere." Weiss muttered. "But what do we do now? With Beacon gone..."

"That's what is strange, actually." The black-haired girl replied, looking so puzzled. "We're standing, right now, in Beacon Academy's hall."

"What?!" Both her and Ruby exclaimed at the same time.

"But I..." Ruby held her folded scythe close to her chest, her hands shaking. "I was there...Pyrrah..."

Both girls barely have seen their leader cry, and they would both agree they do not like the sight of it—mostly because they weren't used to seeing Ruby so dejected and sad. They have been through many challenging times, the four of them, and they made through all of them because Ruby would always see the brightest side of everything—dragging them along that radiating positivity. That was why they had followed her and still would.

Blake had a bad feeling, she gulped. "Ruby...what ha—"

"Blake?" It was a familiar tone, one that the Faunus had known so well.

The three looked ahead, their shocked gazes matching the two people's eyes on their own. Weiss was too confused to act that she had missed almost a second when Ruby launched towards Cinder Fall with her speed, a burst of red petals scattering everywhere along with Blake's shadow clones meeting up with Adam Taurus.

Cinder was too surprised to avoid the cloaked girl's sudden attack, she had never knew Red could go this fast that her back loudly hit the wall, probably even broke some of her ribs. Adam, concerned for his leader, was too distracted to dodge Blake's weapons known as Gambol Shroud. He was sent back a meter or two away when he lifted chokutō to block. He ignored Blake, setting himself by Cinder who was left sitting on the floor.

"We may have history, Blake, but I will not let you and Red hurt Cinder."

Blake was surprised now, gritting her teeth. "You? Protecting someone? Big word, Adam." She positioned herself, Gambol Shroud in front of her. It was as though he was mocking her with those words.

Protect? Adam Taurus could careless about his people as long as he reaches his goal, that was all what mattered. He would kill innocent people for the sake of a revolution soaked in blood. He had become a man capable of murder without second thought. How dare he speak of protection when he had watched dozens of White Fang die in his name? For a twisted cause?

"Sorry, Blake." Ruby said, her giant scythe unfolding. Tears were still visible on her eyes, showing a face of anguish and regret which surprised even their two opponents. "I know Adam is yours to deal with, but if he won't move... I'll just have to cut him along with that woman!"

The cloaked girl drove forward, slashing her scythe from left and right, all aimed for Cinder. The latter woman grabbed her dual blades from behind her hips, continuously parrying Red's relentless attacks. Ruby Rose's murderous silver eyes burned against her amber orbs. They had met once before, with Red and her lackeys' attempt on robbing From Dust Till Dawn's dusts shop. Cinder had stopped the criminal, of course. But that reason seemed too shallow for the girl to suddenly attack her just like that.

"W-why don't we clear things up?" She suggested, backing away to a faraway position.

But Ruby was already there, and there were stuck once again in barrages of blocks and attacks. "Clear things up?! You killed her!"

Killed her?! Killed who?! Cinder Fall had never been out in such a predicament before that she had no idea how to deal with a revenge-seeker girl. Had Ruby Rose finally became crazy? She had always did think the girl, from the moment they met, had a messed up mindset. But this accusation was weighing down on her. She was a huntress for Oum's sake!

They were never allowed to take a life unless it's a grimm. Whoever died must have been somebody important for Red to act like this. Red was never this aggressive, she was known as a passive one who disliked tedious battles that she would rather run away than engage in one. Something was definitely wrong and Cinder had no way of figuring out what.

Adam had noticed Blake who seemed to had stopped in her advancements, obviously hearing the other criminal's outburst. The male faunus stared, his chokutō readied cautiously between him and the cat woman. His past friend, Blake Belladonna, was never the woman to do the work for herself. She was best at leading, at executing plans, all faunus looked up to her figure. It was why everyone was excited when her parents stepped down from the leadership of White Fang knowing she was next.

However, several months after her rule, White Fang began to slowly change. His friend had changed. She was no longer the justice-driven Blake Belladonna who had the most passion in doing what was right. She was consumed by impatience, she was consumed by hatred for humanity that she had strayed from the right path. He had tried, several times, in knocking out senses to her but each time such conversation happened, Blake had only gotten more obsessive with punishing humanity for the racial discrimination their kind had been long under.

"What... what are you doing with such woman, Adam?" Blake asked, sincerely that surprised him.

Blake looked at him, there was that sadness that Adam hadn't seen for a while. Blake, ever since she became the leader, had started wearing a mask that covered her amber eyes down to her mouth. Some may had been against her rule, but the majority of White Fang faunus supported her. She used her people's anger and hatred for humanity that instead of liberation—she led them all down the path of corruption and violence.

Those who left were killed, those who refused had their loved ones murdered right in front of them. Blake had trapped the faunus in White Fang, with no other option but to follow. She became a despicable woman who abused her authority thinking it would be for a better world of faunus. A world without humanity in it. It was her goal, one that had cost too many innocent lives at the process.

"Surrender, Blake." He spoke, urging his old friend gently. "White Fang will never progress in its goal of liberty with you ruling in violence."

Blake ignored his words, her shadow clones attacking him from different directions. It was as though the cat faunus did not hear him, her eyes basked in tears as she endlessly attacked him, not caring about her usual techniques now. He was bewildered. Blake had never shown any vulnerability. She hated showing it, reason as to why she had worn a mask. But seeing this Blake...it made him falter in his movements reason why a cut had managed to connect on his right shoulder.

"First Yang...and now Pyrrah? Just how much more of those important to me must you take away, Adam?"

He was taken aback, jumping faraway now to join Cinder who was panting. Their two enemies stood with anger in front of them oddly. But their opponents weren't done yet. The red cloaked girl spun her scythe, generating enough wind—until a white-haired girl stumbled between them, using her arms to flip backwards, her rapier weapon lifted forward.

A green-haired girl appearing by the corner of the hall. Emerald had come to find her team and somehow arrived at the scene of criminals engaging a fight with her friends. Then there was Weiss Schnee, a runaway family member of a famous dust company who had been rumoured as someone affiliated with Ruby Rose, a dust-crazed criminal. There were footages around different towns of them both to prove that rumor, but the Schnee Family had covered it up well.

Emerald continued to shoot the criminals by the revolver equipped in both of her hands. They backed away with Weiss Schnee using her family's semblance, forming a huge glyph in front of them to shield out the bullets. Emerald noticed the state her friends were in, and she almost couldn't believe how these kind of bad people chose to attack than simply run away like they had always done so every time they were caught.

"Ice Flower!" Red had said, Blake immediately backing away.

Adam stood as cover, his chokutō parrying the barrages of ice bullets that they kept on firing towards them. Emerald returned shots on her own, and they were stuck in an endless loop of attacks once again. Until the glyph disappeared, Adam worried for a moment it might hit the Schnee white-haired girl until Red stepped to deflect the bullet. Red glared angrily at them.

Everyone knew this dust-crazed girl was not this dangerous in a fight, just annoying for she would always slip through before she could even be caught with a successful heist pulled off. But seeing this Red moving that fast—even using the scythe she was known to unable to wield—they were surprised.

"Why would a Schnee team up with these kind of people?" Cinder had asked, raising her arm to stop her team from attacking.

"Why...you say?" She frowned, clutching to the cloaked girl for support. She must have had burned her aura. "Obviously they're my family, something murderers like you won't be able to understand."

"Murderers?" Emerald's eyes widened. "What's going on?" Her gaze shifted to Cinder in question.

"Red here is accusing me of killing someone." Cinder answered.

"Did you?" The green-haired girl tilted her head.

"Do you really believe I could do that?" She replied abruptly.

"I watched you kill Pyrrah!" Ruby Rose yelled, anger resurfacing once more on her face. "And I...and I wasn't able to do anything."

"P-Pyrrah?" The Schnee girl was too shocked to blink while Blake merely looked down.

"Look, there must be some kind of misunderstanding here—" Cinder was immediately interrupted by Red's bullet passing just beside her head. She knew the girl had missed deliberately.

"A life...for a life—Weiss!" Ruby seemed to had been brought by to her senses when Weiss smacked her right behind her head.

"You dolt! I know you're sad and angry...but," Weiss held her leader's hand, sighing. "Don't do something you'll regret all your life."

Ruby had let her anger subside, finally meeting her team's gazes with a bitter smile. "I'm sorry." Then her expression hardened. "We'll have to do something about them though. We can't let them run lose and hurt other people—"

"Woah, woah," Emerald cut off. "It's you people we can't let run lose and hurt others."

"This is quite the commotion now."

A woman with long grayish-white hair walked towards them, hands placed gently behind her back, pale blue eyes seemingly green whenever light hits them. Ruby and her team was more alert now, holding unto their weapons securely as the woman eyed them curiously.

"Who are you?" Blake took the initiative to ask.

"I am Salem." She said. "The Headmistress of Beacon Academy."