Here we go – also, yes I made a mistake with the apple and Amber scene in a prior chapter. My bad. It's been ages since I watched the scene and I forgot that Amber gave Emerald the apple. It doesn't really change the point Ashari was making thankfully, as it was still a dumb ambush. If Amber was dismounted, hands in her saddlebags, back to the world, they could have just shot her dead right there. Cinder had her bow and arrow. The main point Ashari was making was how impractical Cinder's plan was.

Thanks to those who messaged me to point out the error however.

Cover Art: Curbizzle

Chapter 12

It was a small miracle that no one died in the explosion, no one other than Barista. There were burns aplenty, some that would surely scar. Coco and Velvet had it the worst and Ironwood had them dispatched to the infirmary as quickly as could be done. With windows open, many smashed, all down the corridor, the smoke was beginning to pool out and clear up the corridor. Enough so that Ironwood could aim in and shoot out the dorm's window itself, creating another avenue for it to vent.

The room was a wreck anyway and none the worse for it. Beds were blackened, the walls charred, and it was possible to see the spot the IED had been placed at because of an outward-shaped sear of black carpet in the centre of the room. Very little had survived, including, he imagined, any meaningful evidence as to whom was responsible.

"James." Ozpin spoke up, an arm held over his mouth and his glasses removed, dangling from his fingers and fogged up by the smoke. "What do you see?"

"An explosive device was placed in the centre of the room and no doubt rigged to explode when the door was fully opened." That much he had to assume by the time of the explosion, for there was little left to prove it. "Judging from the intensity, it was a dust-based explosive. Nothing else would burn this hot so quickly. You would need a lot of dust for this."

"A lot of dust has been stolen in recent weeks. Roman Torchwick has been the cause of much of that, who we know from our various iterations to often work alongside Cinder."

"How could he have infiltrated Beacon?"

"Neo." Fate hovered in the doorway, leaning on the charred frame with a distasteful frown. Team JNPR and Hunter were just outside, covered in soot from where they had been helping the wounded. Funnily enough, Fate was the least dirty, though he had been quick to break open the windows.

"Who is Neo?" Ironwood snapped.

"A girl who works with Roman and a master of disguise – she has an illusion-based Semblance that would make her perfect for this. I'm sure a couple of the others could confirm it."

Hunter shrugged, but Knight strode up and said, "In my world Neo was an Illusionist and used her powers to work with Torchwick as well. I think that is too close to make it a coincidence."

"We will ask the others when we can." Ironwood said, growling under his breath. He hoped Warchief had never met the girl, because if he had and had failed to warn them then they would be having words. "Why was this not mentioned? Why did you not bring her up, Fate?"

"General. I've lived thousands of lifetimes. Thousands." He crossed his arms and shook his head. "It's hard to keep track of details from one life to another. If I tried to tell you everything I knew, it would take more than twenty years uninterrupted talking. That'd be the summarised version."

That kind of information was just why Ozpin had been foolish not to press Fate into service in the first place. Assuming it was true, and while they had no way to confirm it the sheer insanity of this whole situation forced him to give the boy the benefit of the doubt, this time-locked version of Jaune Arc was a treasure trove of knowledge that could be employed in a tactical sense. All waiting to be plumbed. The problem was there was too much, and much like using a computer database he would have to be more specific on what he wanted.

"I want you to write me up a report on this Neo character and hand it to me before tomorrow – and yes, before you whore yourself around as I'm told you're wont to. In fact, Winter will be keeping watch over you to make sure you do."

Fate scowled. "Such lack of faith."

"You've given me no reason for any. Change that," he offered. "What do you think of this… this assassination?"

Fate hummed, and his team behind seemed surprised that he was the one being asked. Mayhaps they only saw him as a philandering rogue, but Ironwood had been around veterans his whole life, including those who had grown old on war and suffered for it. Fate reminded him of far too many that had taken their own lives over the years.

His sleeping around is a coping mechanism much like his smoking. I can only assume he drinks and does drugs as well – it would be a convenient escape if his body never remembers the addiction. He would have to be watched. Veterans were often dangerous even outside military life, often not intentionally. There had been a young girl in Atlas shot last year because she startled a former officer suffering from PTSD by jumping out at him in a costume on Halloween. The media had dragged the story until it was a bloody mess, and until a man Ironwood once called friend had taken his own life in guilt. Fate can't kill himself though. It wouldn't save him. I wonder how many times he's tried anyway.

Dark thoughts. Ironwood couldn't escape them.

"I think this was done by an idiot." Fate said dismissively.

Ironwood hummed. "Why?"

"The target. Barista was so far from a threat that he was meaningless in this war. A trap like this only works once. I daresay our team will be opening their doors from a distance – if you aren't already planning to move us to undisclosed locations."

Good instincts. Ironwood was planning exactly that.

"If you had one chance, one opportunity, why choose him? Knight is the obvious target, but maybe they figured he was too much a bastard to die from even this, in which case you'd go for the big prize of our dorm and take out two at once. Or you plant a bomb for Ruby to find in her locker and take Knight out that way. Or better yet," he said, "Bomb Ozpin's office. They know he's leading the show as far as our side goes. Barista makes no sense."

Team JNPR appeared bothered by that speech, perhaps by the implication Fate had himself considered all those variables. They were still civilians for all their hard work and courage. They wouldn't be true huntsmen for a few years, and if he'd had his way they wouldn't have had to face something like this so soon into their careers. Hopefully, Ozpin would take measures to get them all some therapy after this was over. They might it if things continued to be this bloodthirsty.

Jaunes were dropping like flies already. Those killed out in the city and now two of their own fallen, to say nothing of those they might never have realised existed. "Could they have simply not known which rooms to target?"

"If so, they struck the lottery." Ozpin answered. "How would they find Team CFVY's among hundreds of others? No, this was a targeted attack, but much like Fate I cannot see why Barista was that target."

"Opportunity would be my guess." Fate said. "Maybe something about our teams was too hard to get at. Maybe they happened to find a way into CFVY's room that wouldn't work for us. Maybe they just wanted a low-risk target and were worried the more combat-focused versions of us would recognise them."

An attack of opportunity. It fit. And the message was clear as day, especially after their prior loss of Leviathan. Ironwood thumbed at his eyes and longed for the days of the White Fang. They, at least, knew better than to strike at children – though given the reports from Ozpin, filled in by knowledge from the various versions of Jaune Arc, that would have changed during the festival.

"We have to consider the White Fang as well," he said. "Sympathisers could have been won over by an offer from Salem." He turned to regard the iterations. "Do any of you recognise any notable White Fang sympathisers among the student body?"

"I never came here." Hunter said.

"The organisation did not exist in my world. Faunus and humans are equal." Knight said.

"Aside from Blake, no." Fate finished. "And I'd sooner go teetotal than accuse her."

"Are you sure? Once White Fang-"

"I am sure." Fate said firmly, even, to Ironwood's ears, a little aggressively. Back off the message appeared to be. "I know the people here better than you do, Ironwood. Your paranoia is legendary but misplaced here."

"I dare say our casualty today deserves paranoia, but I shall defer for now." By which he meant he would have the girl monitored. The fate of the world was on the line and there was little time for feelings. "Go and compile for me that report – and add anything you can on Torchwick, the White Fang and his relationship with them to it. I want it by morning."

"Are you kidding? That'll take all night!"

"Winter. See him handle it."

"Yes sir." Winter stepped up and gripped Fate's elbow. He yanked it away, sore under his breath and followed her away.

"The rest of you, try to get some rest. Train if you will but do not wear yourselves out. There is little training can accomplish if things are escalating this quickly."

"And be cautious!" Ozpin added. "We will have new rooms for you soon and we'll change them out every other day. I apologise for the disruption, but your safety is paramount."

"We understand, sir." Pyrrha said for her team. She looked at the ruined Team CFVY dorm, the blast marks on the floor and added, "And I don't think we'll have any complaints about the added security."

"Not anymore…" Nora muttered.

/-/

They'd been shipped off to new rooms before that evening. Pyrrha watched Jaune and Nora play a boardgame while Ren finished off after his evening shower. The room was exactly the same as their last, save for the fact they hadn't unpacked or decorated. It was just in a different part of the school, and that location would change constantly. They hadn't even been told where Team RWBY would be staying and had been advised not to ask and certainly not to send any electronic messages detailing the information.

Given the wide array of skills the numerous versions of her partner had shown, how hard was it to imagine there was a hacker Jaune out there? Or one who was some technological mastermind. There could be a Frankenstein version of Jaune, a mad scientist, a soldier, a superhero – nothing was off the cards after seeing that one of their own had been a literal cosmic horror and they hadn't realised. Compared to that, a Jaune stuck in a time loop or one that was an everyday hunter of animals was small fry.

Though not small fry enough for General Ironwood to let them have any free will. Pyrrha, for once, lamented Fate's absence and felt bad for it. Normally, that would mean he was off flirting or bedding people. It was hard to reconcile that kind of behaviour with her admittedly idealistic view of her partner.

Excepting the lifetimes where he had, in his own words, loved each and every one of them. Worlds where he'd returned her feelings, where he'd acknowledged and fallen in love with her. Pyrrha stared longingly at her crush, shaking two dice in a cup and as oblivious to her feelings as always. Of course, she also had to dodge Nora's expression that said `ask him out` while she was at it. Yes, her partner might not be so oblivious if she had the courage to tell her feelings, but then shouldn't Nora practice her own advice there? As Ren dried off fully, Hunter took his turn in the shower, and Pyrrha quickly snagged Ren's attention.

"Do you have a moment?"

Ren eyed Nora, Jaune and the closed door that hid Hunter. He immediately pieced together her thoughts. "Is this about General Ironwood forcing Fate and Hunter to fight?"

Pyrrha nodded. "Do you think we should have stood up for them?"

"Do you?" Ren fired back.

"I… well, yes."

The `why` of her asking was more to avoid having to say it, to admit her silence at a time when she knew she ought to have stood up for him. Fate may have been a royal pain in their behinds, but he was her Jaune. More than that, he'd once been Jaune. Her partner, her crush, her best friend – and to hear him say it, he'd suffered innumerable instances of failure trying to save her life.

And then, in his moment of need, she couldn't muster the courage to even try and protect his. Pyrrha bit her lip so hard it began to sting, glared down at the floor and clenched her eyes shut. Ren really was one of the only people she could speak to on this. Team RWBY had been blessed with very willing Jaunes who weren't afraid to risk their lives, noticeably because they were each difficult to kill. They wouldn't, or couldn't, understand what it was like for the two of them. Weaker Jaunes, unwilling Jaunes, some that by the look of them both came across a little… jaded.

"There's nothing we could have said," Ren said. "The choice wasn't in our hands anymore than it was theirs, and I can see Ironwood's logic even if I don't like it. This is a battle for the fate of our world."

"I know. It's just… we don't conscript normal people to fight Grimm. Hunter is going to get killed out there. He won't stand a chance against some of those people. Ashari took on Knight. Grimm can summon and control his namesake."

"We're no better suited to fighting them, Pyrrha. Ashari manhandled all of us. At once." Ren looked over to their erstwhile leader and Nora and said, "And to think they all started as Jaune. Winter was right to say he has potential."

"Yes." Pyrrha said proudly. "I knew that the first time I saw him." Ren eyed her shrewdly and she blushed, adding, "Well, after a few times of sparring with him at least. He picked up things too quickly."

"I suppose this goes to show how many different directions he can go in life. But to answer your question, yes, I do wish I'd said something or done more, even if I don't know what exactly I could have done." Ren wasn't one to normally air his regrets, or to air much of anything, but he crossed his arms tightly and frowned harder than she'd ever seen him before. "It would be one thing to try and guilt or bribe them but…" He looked up. "Was it just me reading too much into it, or were they willing to kill Fate and Hunter there?"

"I felt the same way," she said. "It's why I was too stunned to say anything. But Ozpin wouldn't-"

"Wouldn't what? He's not just our headmaster anymore, Pyrrha. Apparently, he never was. Instead, he's some immortally cursed wizard locked into an endless war with a woman capable and willing to kill everyone on the planet. I'm not sure what to think about him."

"I think he wants what's best for Remnant."

"I do as well, for what little that's worth. What is best for Remnant might not necessarily be what is best for us, and it's certainly not what's best for Hunter or Fate. They've become tools. Weapons."

It bothered him just as much as it did her. That ought to have made her feel better, but the reality of it was that she didn't. A part of her had been hoping Ren would have a clever way of convincing her she didn't need to fret and that she'd overreacted. So much for that. The only question left was the one she posed. "What can we do to help them?"

"For Fate, I have no idea. Talk to him? He used to be our Jaune, and he must still be deep inside, or he wouldn't still be fighting to save our lives in his world. I think I have it easier with Hunter – I'm going to offer to protect him. He's a long-ranged fighter with little to no combat training. If I can't train him up in time then Nora and I can at least act as his shields."

"Have you discussed it with him yet?"

"No. And I still need to apologise for not sticking up for him against Ironwood. I can't imagine that's done much to improve his thoughts on huntsmen. I'd be more worried about Fate accepting your help. He seems…"

"Stubborn?"

"I was going to say damaged myself."

"Damaged? He seems more than fine when he's hanging off other women. One every night from what I've heard."

"A man who needs a different woman every night and who smokes like a chimney is not what I would call a `happy person`." Ren said sagely. "Jaune – our Jaune – is a romantic at heart. You know that. Fate must have been the same once, and perhaps still is, so that begs the question why he does this."

"Maybe he changed. It's been a long time for him."

Ren looked unconvinced, and Pyrrha felt a small stab of shame that her teammate would be the one to place some small faith in Fate and not her.

"We do the best we can," he said. "It's all we can do."

/-/

Pyrrha elected to stay up late and speak with Fate once he returned, which proved to be a far more punishing prospect than she'd initially imagined. Midnight came with neither sight nor word. Slumber took her against her wishes, propped up and fully clothed on her bed. It was only when a soft beep at the door startled her awake that she checked her scroll.

Two in the morning! The door creaked open under the care of someone trying carefully not to wake those inside – a surprising gesture from someone who claimed to hate them so. Fate slid into the room with a beleaguered expression, then froze, sensing eyes, before finding her sat on her bed.

He didn't speak. Nora was snoring and the others were equally fast asleep, so he cocked his head inquisitively.

"I was waiting for you," she said just as softly. Pyrrha stood and walked up to him. In the low light, she could see the tightness to his expression. He looked… angry. Angry, worn and, dare she say it, a little twitchy. It was the way his fingers kept fidgeting, stretching out and curling back into a fist before straightening again, like they were working off a cramp. "Did you only just finish the report for General Ironwood?"

"Yes," he snapped quietly. Pyrrha told herself the anger wasn't aimed her way. "Thirty pages of detailed explanation – written twice because that witch wasn't happy with the first version."

Winter. Well, it seemed for all they'd shared a bed in one lifetime there wasn't much love lost between them. "I wasn't sure you'd come back tonight," she said. "Not here."

"I didn't have a choice. Winter escorted me." His hand twitched to his side and back to his chest as he crossed his arms. Pyrrha realised he was reaching for a cigarette but either didn't have any or didn't want to fill their room with smoke. "Apparently, there's too much danger for me to be out wasting my time with other women." Under his breath he added, "As if I could this late anyway."

"I thought you were a regular Casanova."

He laughed and, to her, it seemed oddly genuine. "Me? You must be joking."

"You keep going on about how you've bedded all of us." She eyed Ren's bed. "Literally all of us. What are we to think? You obviously have a way with women and men."

"Not in the way you think." Fate scoffed and walked past her, sat on the sixth cot that had been set up in the corner of the room opposite Hunter's. To her surprise, he motioned her over. He'd never bothered to converse with her before, and hadn't he just said how tired he was-?

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she followed. He'd best not be trying anything on me. Even if he IS Jaune and even if he has a lot of confidence… no. It's physical only. Mentally, he's as far removed from Jaune as anyone living so long would be. Pyrrha took a seat beside him but kept her guard up.

"You were the first," he said suddenly. "I'll be honest, I don't remember it. Been so long that the first couple of hundred runs have blurred together. I know I was most hopeful then. Tried the obvious things like telling you all the truth, telling Ozpin, going off alone to try and fight Cinder early. Dumb stuff. Even died a couple of times because I forgot to harass Weiss in initiation, we didn't meet, and you weren't there to spear me out the air when I was flying down to the Emerald Forest without aura." He quietly whistled and clapped two hands together. "Splat. As painful as it was embarrassing a way to go. The funniest one was when I splashed Weiss with gore one time. You should have seen her face!"

Pyrrha's mouth was hanging open.

He noticed and coughed. "A normal sense of humour is one of the first things to go. Death becomes a little meaningless when it doesn't stick. Mine, anyway. I guess I'm lucky there. If it was still traumatic, I'd have gone insane after the first few thousand deaths. I went through a whole period of dying fast once – it was when I tried to hunt Cinder down before Beacon. Just stole a Beacon Bullhead, flew over to Haven and tried to kill her. Again and again and again. Must have been… what… fifty deaths in the span of a week or two real-time? Crazy."

The topic was making her uncomfortable – who talked about death in such a cavalier way? "How does this relate to you seducing us?" she asked.

"That's the thing," he said. "I didn't. You came onto me."

"W-What!?" Pyrrha squawked and then winced, checking she hadn't woken the others up. Luckily, Nora's snorting had left them resistant to all but the alarm bell. She looked back to a smirking Fate and asked, "I… I did it? H… How?"

"You lost your patience I guess. I sure as hell didn't seduce you, not the first time. Honestly, I barely seduced anyone. Oh, I tried – trust me, I spent way too long trying to get Weiss to return my feelings. Most of my encounters, though, they just came from spending time around people and doing it the old-fashioned way. Falling in love. Nora was when she and I were partners instead of Ren. We were thick as thieves, partly because I already knew her as one of my best friends anyway. I'm not sure how it happened, only that after almost eight months together she got tipsy and kissed me. Then a few days later she confronted me about it, we kissed again and… well… things progressed."

"You slept with her."

"We dated." Fate countered. "For near on two months before we took that step. My casual encounters are just that, but do you really think you, Nora or even Blake and Ruby would be into one-night stands?"

No. Not at all. "You… loved them…?"

"With all my heart," Fate said wistfully. "No offence – I loved you too, but you can only love someone for so many lives and repeats before it starts to get old. I think having you die in my arms a couple thousand times left me emotionally burned out. You became this constant reminder of trauma. Looking at you hurt. I needed a break from all the Team JNPR lifetimes, and they weren't working anyway so why not mix the teams up? Getting to be Ruby's partner was easiest. Falling for her was even easier. She's just so fucking earnest, you know?"

Pyrrha did know. Ruby was innocent, driven and didn't have a cruel bone in her body. There was a selfish little part of her that genuinely feared for Ruby and Jaune's friendship, because while Ruby wasn't interested in romance now, who could say if that wouldn't change in a year or two. More than Weiss, more than even Yang, Pyrrha had been most worried about Ruby stealing her partner out from under her.

"How did that end?" she asked. It was a poor question, she knew, but curiosity killed the cat.

"With me dragging her through the snow toward Patch while she was mortally wounded. Ruby died in the snow, huddled up to me for warmth as I tried to distract her with happier stories." He sighed harshly. "I never got with her again. Not once. I couldn't. Not after that."

"Blake?"

"Partners again, and I helped her with the White Fang which obviously won a lot of favour with her. We were this crime-fighting duo practically, and I guess I came across knowledgeable to her. All those dirty secrets she had, I already knew, and I didn't hold them against her. I guess that slowly won her over. It was her who asked me to the dance, and her who made the first move." He smiled ruefully. "You wouldn't believe how kinky she can be."

"I think I can. And it ended…?"

"Adam, that's her abusive ex and leader of the White Fang, captured us both and demanded Blake renounce her love for me and kill me to save her own life. Blake refused obviously, despite me pleading with her to do it, and Adam executed her in front of me. Just got to watch her toppling head, still smiling, roll in front of my feet. You know, the head can continue showing emotions for a few seconds. Blake's lips whispered an apology and, I think, she mouthed that she loved me." He clenched his eyes shut and hissed sharply between his teeth. "Never quite forgave Adam that one. Hunted him down a few times. Tortured him slowly to death as well." He cringed. "Not something I'm strictly proud of, especially in the lifetimes where he hadn't technically done enough to deserve it."

Pyrrha dearly wished she could turn back time herself and undo the questions. How could one person live with such tragedy-? The answer: because he didn't have a choice. No person could actually go through so much without choosing to end it at one point or another. This time, she resisted asking the question on whether he'd ever tried to. That, she imagined, would lead into a long discussion of all the various ways he'd tried and what dying to them felt like.

"When was the last time you dated one of us?" she asked.

"No idea. Couple hundred years. It's not worth the hassle," he said with a shake of his head. "Too much emotional investment. Besides, one thing I realised quickly on was that being in a relationship doesn't help me any with trying to find a way out of it."

"And one-night stands do?"

"Less complicated – and less likely to place someone in harm's way."

"What if you did win?" she asked. "What then? If you win and find a way out, what will you do? Who will you choose?"

"Huh?" Fate looked flat-footed, completely thrown out the water. Had he ever even asked himself that question? Had he ever even considered it? "I don't know," he admitted. "I guess it doesn't matter."

"Why not? You do have a dream for after you escape the loops, don't you?"

"Rest. Grow old. Die."

"Those aren't dreams!"

"They are to me!" he snapped. "Dreams are what you want but can't achieve in life – that's what makes them dreams. Let other idiots dream about the girl they want, or the boy," he added with a sneering look toward his younger, more innocent, self. "The only thing I want is to get out with everyone alive. After? I don't know. I guess I'll sleep. Maybe for a day and maybe for a fucking week. I think I'll have earned it by then."

"That's-" Pyrrha cut herself off. This wasn't why she'd stayed up to talk to him – none of it was. Curse her mind for wandering. This is meant to be me apologising for what Ironwood did. "Fate, I… I need to talk. About General Ironwood and what he did."

"You're feeling guilty because you didn't try and stop him conscripting me into a death tournament where my life is all but certainly forfeit, right?" He said it so easily, so casually, while Pyrrha's mouth hung open. He'd read her. He'd read her like an open book. "Don't bother. There's nothing you could have done to stop him anyway. Trust me, I've tried arguing with the man a hundred times before. It doesn't work."

"H… How…? How did you-?"

"Know? Pyrrha, I've been doing this for a long time. Longer than twenty normal lifetimes. I think I know how you work after all this time." He sent her a sideways smirk and a roll of his eyes. "There isn't much mystery left to you, Ren or Nora anymore."

"But I've been agonising over this all day!"

"As you usually do. You think too much, that's your problem. Thinking too much about how to help a useless brat get stronger. Thinking too much about how to win his affection when the reality is he's a hormonal and romantic idiot and you could just ask him out and he'd jump over the fucking moon."

He rolled his eyes as she blushed a dark shade of red. For him to say that meant he'd once felt that way about her. Once. If he knew her so intimately that he could predict her thoughts… had that robbed him of affection? Could you love someone who you could predict inside and out? That sounded like it might grow boring.

"Don't agonise," he said. "In fact, don't hold yourself responsible for anything I do, or that happens to me. It's a one-way ticket to misery and I'd rather ride this train alone."

"That's not right."

"It is right. You're not my Pyrrha and I'm not your Jaune. None of you are. The same goes for Hunter, and I'm surprised he gave in to Ironwood so easily." Fate looked over at the bunk containing the civilian. "He's-" Fate paused. "Wait. Where is his bow?"

Pyrrha only just noticed its absence. Hunter didn't trust their lockers and always kept the simplistic bow on his person, usually set by his pack at the side of the bed. That, too, was missing. As were his boots. Fate swore quietly and stood, approaching the bed with Pyrrha at his side. He reached out, gripped the blanket and pulled it aside. Bunched-up pillows forming the vague shape of a person lay on the bed.

Hunter was gone.

A Team JNPR-focused chapter today, as RWBY has it rather easy with Knight being so willing to risk his life. Even Leviathan was, but Team JNPR has a rough time with their Jaunes and deserved a little focus. And Hunter has decided to put his stealth and wildlife skills to the fore and escape Ironwood's little trap before it has a chance to settle. This won't be the last we see of him obviously.

Next Chapter: 12th February

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur