I cannot continue writing this fanfic anymore for reasons detailed in the Author's Notes. So, here's a general outline of what I had planned in my head but never got around to.
General Academics at Beacon
I had planned to expand upon the world of Remnant as an AU through the classes and general research Tenno would do. There would also be some student shenanigans typical with this setting. Characterization and such.
Tenno's muscle atrophy gets more treatment, and she gradually becomes stronger over the next 5 months.
Tenno's Weapon
I had planned for Tenno to forge her own weapon in a similar fashion to Soulforged by xT-Zealot (very good fanfic about manually forging a Hunter's weapon after Myrtenaster breaks). It's one of the many inspirations for this fic.
The weapon she ends up creating is essentially an Amp made with a Dust revolver similar to Myrtenaster (funnily enough, I had the Amp idea before the Plains of Eidolon came out). It's made from a fictional metal called 'Decentanium'. It's a hyper-ultra-mega obscure reference. Anyone who gets it wins a cookie.
The weapon was going to be named Monyreak. It's Monty Oum's assigned-at-birth first name.
Team RWBY
Tenno tells the team what she is and the existence of the Origin System. Just imagine what their reactions would be, as I certainly can't.
Blake's early outing as a Faunus changes her dynamic with Weiss, and they never meet Sun. Blake keeps her bow for about a week before her team convinces her to let it go.
Ruby starts to act differently after the Transference mishap with Tenno, and vice versa. Some of their mannerisms start to mimic each other.
Yang holds a slight grudge against Tenno that never really goes away. She wants to keep Tenno away from her sister as often as she can.
The Villains
There is no Salem or her lackeys. Cinder is the prominent mastermind, as her motivations have changed.
Cinder didn't die at the docks, but she keeps a lower profile after that. Emerald and Mercury run reconnaissance for her in Beacon.
Roman ends up being a more frequent villain as Cinder runs him ragged stealing Dust. She intentionally puts him on intercept courses with Tenno. Neo is there as an escape route for Roman and Cinder.
Neo remains this mystery character, who isn't the psychopath many make her out to be. She frequently sneaks the White Fang extra rations and water when Roman isn't looking. Cinder knows, but doesn't care.
Adam is not the abusive psychopath Volume 3 turns him into. He's passionate about the White Fang's cause, and low-key expected Blake to cut ties with him eventually. Cinder confronts him with Emerald and Mercury. He fights Cinder and loses, his weapon breaking from a deflection from Cinder's palm. He doesn't play much of a role in the story as a whole.
Volume 2
The food fight goes about the same as in canon, just an extra participant who has Void powers.
Tenno becomes extremely enthralled by the Remnant Boardgame. She takes Blake's spot when Blake becomes obsessed with stopping Roman and the White Fang. It's where she first notices that the four kingdoms are almost equidistant from each other.
The Paladin
Blake finds a lead (planted by Cinder) to Roman's whereabouts. Team RWBY and Tenno set out to the lead's location, being the White Fang rally. It was a trap (obviously) to lead the team into a fight with the Paladin. The fight goes similar to canon, minus the highway where dozens of civilians potentially died. The Paladin goes down from a charged blast from Tenno's newly forged weapon, Monyreak. Neo makes her appearance, and rescues an unconscious Roman.
The Dance
Blake's obsessive search for Roman yields better results as Cinder plants evidence for where his next Dust heist is located. It becomes harder to persuade Blake to slow down and rest. Tenno convinces Blake to hand over searches to her, as she doesn't need to sleep.
The dance is where RWBY first meet Sun and Neptune. Tenno doesn't like either of them, and doesn't like the dance to begin with. It's a waste of time to her, but she gets a dress and attends anyway. No makeup, though. Tenno hangs around Ruby at the punch bowl with Jaune.
Both Tenno and Ruby notice Cinder attempting to infiltrate the CCT. Cinder successfully plants the virus before Tenno and Ruby catch up. Cinder's fight with both of them goes less than well, and she makes a hasty retreat. Tenno tries to follow, but Neo's illusions break Cinder's trail.
Cinder becomes certain on what Tenno is, and her plans are set into motion.
Mountain Glenn
Cinder plants more leads to get Tenno and her team to Mountain Glenn. The trip there was uneventful, and follows canon for the most part, just with an extra Void Demon.
During Oobleck's questioning of Team RWBY, Tenno observes the terrain, and comes up with a few theories, but nothing solid. When Oobleck asks Tenno why she wants to be a Huntress, she gives a non-answer.
When Ruby discovers the underground, and Roman's plans, Tenno instantly recognized the cavern as being an ancient magma chamber, long ago drained.
Mountain Glenn was an inactive volcano on the verge of eruption centuries ago.
The train segment and the Breach go mostly to canon, with just an additional Void wielder.
After cleaning up the Breach, Tenno asks Doctor Oobleck what he knows about Geological History. Oobleck becomes confused as to what she's asking, stating that there is no relevant history to go back that far. Tenno asks about Geological activity, like earthquakes and volcanoes.
"My young pupil, please enlighten me. What is a 'Volcano'?"
5 Months
Shortly after the Breach and two days before the Vytal Festival begins, large, dark ships are seen in the sky over Vale, much larger than the mightiest Atlas airships.
The Grineer have arrived.
Tenno instantly recognizes the ships and knows how much danger Remnant is in. The Queens hone in on her Transference signal and surround Beacon with dropships and platoons of troops.
A specific landing party, consisting of Captain Vor and Lech Kril (sue me), approached the statue outside Beacon, a legion of Grineer Lancers and Troops behind them. Tenno confronts them with most of Beacon's staff and students behind her.
Captain Vor offers enslavement of Remnant's populace if Tenno gives up willingly. Genocide if she refuses.
A thousand miles in the sky, in Remnant's low orbit occupied by hundreds of Grineer galleons, the Tenno's Liset breaks through the Void and rapidly descends to the surface.
Tenno begins charging Monyreak, switching it to Repulsion Dust. She turns around to her team, the students and faculty of Beacon, smiles, winks, and unleashes a titanic wave of Dust-enhanced Void energy into the Grineer ranks. Vor and Kril are flown back into their following legion, sweeping all of them off the platform and onto Beacon's jagged cliffs.
The Liset becomes visible in the sky, flying low over the landing pad. Tenno can't believe it, and she boards the Liset without a second thought.
Return
On the Tenno's Orbiter, safely away from Grineer notice, the Lotus waits patiently for her Tenno child.
The lights flicker, and shut off.
The Liset makes it back to the Orbiter in one piece. Tenno runs down to the formerly rear door and it's firmly shut. She uses a void pulse to burst through it, only to find the Lotus in combat with the Shadow Stalker. Tenno's sudden appearance distracts Lotus for a split second-
Planetside, the students and faculty of Beacon are fighting for their lives against the Grineer, killing them one after the other. Ruby fights to incapacitate rather than kill, and it's getting her injured. The first Grineer she kills by accident sends her into shock and she collapses. Her team is instantly there to cover her. A large dropship looms over the four ready to open fire, but a big green laser shoots it out of the sky. This is where the team meets Penny for the first time.
A red streak falls from the sky, aimed directly at the apex of Beacon's center tower. It crashes through the roof, breaking the myriad of gears and landing on the enormous green Dust crystal suspended inside.
Power from the city flickers and dies as all of it is rerouted into a Warframe.
Chroma.
Spectral Scream unleashes a titanic column of intense Dust-enhanced flame from Beacon's highest tower. The column splits like a branching tree and waves and waves of Void-Heat wash over Vale, vaporizing anything Grineer with the force of a star. The split columns of flame snake toward the nearest galleons, vaporizing holes through them in seconds.
The out pour of raw energy is visible from space, and it continues to grow. Tendrils of fire and flame seek out any and all Grineer ships, melting holes through them. When every galleon is destroyed, the flame tendrils converge on the Queens' Asteroid base orbiting above Remnant, obliterating it from existence.
Ending A
This is where the first ending takes place. Everything is happy-go-lucky (kinda). You can assume that Tenno and Lotus become sort of Ambassadors for the Remnan people, fighting off the Grimm.
Of course, the story doesn't actually end here. There are many loose ends left untied.
Yes, I absolutely was inspired by Yoko Taro's games (such as Nier: Automata) utilizing alternate endings. Sue me again.
Route B
This is where certain events will play out differently/be expanded upon.
The first is when Tenno receives her uniform from Ozpin. He gives her a brief history lesson on the gigantic green Dust crystal hanging above his office. It's Vale's power source, and by his estimations, it has only a few decades left before running out.
The second is the docks when Cinder escapes from being killed by Tenno/Ruby. She and Neo re-materialize away from the fight. Cinder remarks that Tenno is someone she knew long ago.
The third is where the story really diverges from Route A. On board the Orbiter, when the Shadow Stalker and the Lotus are fighting, Tenno appears and distracts Lotus for a brief moment.
Lotus is run through by War.
Hunhow says some mean things and the Stalker changes his attention to Tenno. Even though Dust becomes inert far from the surface of Remnant, it will still react as intended to Void energy. Stalker and Tenno get into a fight with Hunhow offering more mean words.
After a nasty parry from Tenno, the Stalker is left wide open and Tenno point-blank blasts a hole into the Stalker's side, cauterized from flame Dust.
The Stalker stumbles back and collapses against the wall. With her enemy incapacitated, Tenno runs to the Lotus' side. Lotus hands Tenno a data chip before passing away. Lotus' body dissolves into motes of light, and only her helmet remains.
This is when Ordis reestablishes control over the Orbiter from the Stalker's suppression, and sees a mortally wounded Stalker, Lotus' helmet, and a crying Operator.
Hunhow opens his metaphorical mouth, and Tenno instantly turns on him. She grabs War and asks Ordis to put it in quarantine, stating she isn't done with it yet.
Tenno leans over the Stalker's dying body and says she doesn't blame him, and that he was a formidable foe for years, a worthy opponent to face. Stalker dies moments later
Tenno enters the transference pod after stating to Ordis she wants revenge.
Her loadout: Chroma, Snipetron Vandal, Vaykor Marelok, and Jat Kittag.
Commanding the Warframes again feels natural to her. She exits the Orbiter through the Liset's front window, and Ordis launches the Elytron Arcwing on her orders. The rest, you know.
Aftermath
The city of Vale was untouched by Chroma's cataclysmic release. It only destroyed the Grineer and the Grimm in Vale's part of the continent.
Penny introduces herself to RWBY, but has little time before evacuation sirens begin to sound.
At the top of Beacon's tower, which has been reduced to Ozpin's office exposed to the open air, Chroma stood watching over Vale as evacuations took place.
Ozpin materialized behind her, but he wasn't fully solid; his figure projected from an unconsumed shard of the large Dust crystal.
"I never should have trusted you, Tenno. You were the worst mistake I have ever made." Ozpin fades, and the crystal turns to ash.
Slow clapping. Cinder's form appeared in a cascade of falling glass. Tenno draws her Snipetron Vandal and aims it square at Cinder's forehead. She fires.
Nothing happens.
"Tenno? Is that the name you chose for yourself? Wordplay of the Ten-Zero?"
Tenno fires again, certain it wouldn't miss. Still nothing.
Yep. Cinder is a Tenno.
And Tenno can't harm other Tenno.
"You don't remember anything, do you? The accident, our escape? We were best friends, you and I."
Tenno cared not for Cinder's monologue, but she couldn't take advantage of it.
"This is a wonderful world for our Masters, wouldn't you agree? In fact, they've already laid claim to it."
The ground begins to shake, and Cinder laughs. Evacuation is under way, but it might not be fast enough for what is soon to be unleashed.
Vale was never meant to withstand earthquakes, so the buildings crumble with ease. Beacon is no different, and the floor falls under Chroma's feet. Tenno summons her Arcwing and bolts for the nearest evacuating airship.
A giant sinkhole forms below the crumbling towers of Beacon, sending fissures throughout all of Vale. The falling debris kicks up loads of dust into the air, obscuring the bottom of the sinkhole.
An enormous pitch black tendril emerges from the dust, followed by another, two more, and finally a gigantic Grimm monstrosity wider than Beacon's campus towers over the crumbling kingdom of Vale (think Perfect Chaos but bigger and Grimmified).
Hoards upon hoards of lesser Grimm crawl/fly out of the crater, heading toward the escaping airships. Chroma lands on one of the faster airships which just so happens to have Beacon's students, remaining faculty, and Vytal Festival attendees onboard. Imagine a really badass fight scene here with Chroma flying all around the airship with Elytron keeping the Grimm off. It doesn't work and a Grimm manages to take a chunk out of the airship's engine. Tenno urges Ordis to send the Liset down and overcharge its Punch drive as the airship crashes into Forever Fall.
The Grimm that had emerged from the crater begins charging up energy in its mouth. Tenno orders the engine crew to get the airship airborne through the docking protocols. The airship rises and clears the treetops just before the Liset arrives and lands on the deck. The Grimm unleashes a torrent of dark purple energy toward the airship. Tenno orders Ordis to initiate the Punch, and in a burst of light, the entire airship vanishes as the energy blast tears through the forest.
Author's Notes: So. This is it. I can't continue writing this fanfic anymore. There will be one more part to these notes that will come out when it's ready.
The biggest reason why is because I made the mistake of keeping up with RWBY vicariously. I stopped directly watching it mid-way through Volume 3, but kept up with its development through Tumblr.
Even after Volume 3's release, I had a positive view of RWBY and RoosterTeeth, and I genuinely believed they were doing good by Monty.
And then Shane's Open Letter happened, and that belief came crumbling down.
After that, RWBY started to taste foul; only slightly, but the taste was there.
Then there was a post on Tumblr about RWBY having stolen assets. Since I can't post pictures or make links, you'll have to go digging for it yourself.
A year later, Glassdoor reviews began to surface, which detailed an abusive work environment within RoosterTeeth. Basically, if they weren't an Internet Personality, they were treated as disposable assets to be exhausted of their usefulness, which came at the cost of their mental and physical health.
In short, I'm ending this fanfic for moral reasons. I cannot in good conscience associate myself with something that has caused this much suffering.
There will be one more chapter after this one that will come out when it's ready.
Thank you for reading.