Pyrrha remembered how all of this had started, for her at least. It was years ago back at Beacon. When she lost her Jaune.

…

Ozpin was working at the transfer machine and trying to ignore the sounds of Pyrrha Nikos screaming in pain. He knew that the process may hurt but due to the untested nature of the program he had no idea how much. It was too late to turn back no however, they had to push on.

His focus was taken from what he was doing when he heard Jaune Arc yell out in pain. Ozpin turned to see him standing with his shield up with and his sword on the ground. The boy's right hand was clutched over his chest.

It was clear that he was in an immense amount of pain but he refused to lower his shield. He was doing his best to protect Pyrrha and Amber, he would hold his ground even when he was unable to hold his own sword.

Ozpin looked back to the machine to see that his involvement was over. All that was left was the machine's work. He grabbed his cane and turned just in time to stop Cinder from attacking the defenseless Amber while Jaune laid on his back no longer able to stand due to whatever wounds he had suffered.

The headmaster and the queen traded thrusts and swipes for what seemed like two minutes when a blur of gold, orange, and red shot past both of them.

…

The first thing that Pyrrha was able to see after she was released from the pod was Jaune laying on his back. She lunged out of her pod with a speed she didn't know she had and found herself kneeling over him.

Jaune seemed to notice her and tried to lift his hand to touch her face. He was gasping for air and his eyes showed the pain he was in but Pyrrha had no idea why. When she slipped her hand under his head she felt something sticky and warm. It was blood and it seemed to be coming from under his armor.

Pyrrha used her semblance to rip the armor off so she could see what was wrong. It was bad. Somehow that woman's arrows had split into pieces and gone around Jaune's shield and chestplate only to reform on the other side. The problem was that Jaune was in the way of that reforming. This resulted in him having about seventy small shards of glass like arrows buried in his chest. Pyrrha knew that he was dying. He had only lasted this long because of his aura trying to stop the bleeding. But that had run out and the blood was pouring now. Using her clean left hand Pyrrha lifted Jaune's now limp left hand and brought it to her cheek. He couldn't move it but she hoped that he could feel the touch.

Jaune coughed up what seemed like a small river of blood. He looked at her and somehow cracked a smile. He probably knew that he didn't have much longer so he chose his words carefully. He only had one word for her. It was weak but she was able to hear it. " Live,"

…

Those had been his last words to her and she had lived by them. There was only one exception. Pyrrha had attacked the woman who took Jaune from her. She lashed out with so much anger that she lost all sense of self. When she was done the woman was dead and borderline mutilated. Pyrrha had butchered her in a fit of rage.

During the fighting Ozpin had been killed but that didn't matter. Beacon was saved. General Ironwood had made it to his ship just as Roman Torchwick had hacked them. In response, the General ran him and his accomplice off before reclaiming his army.

Then a dragon arrived. It was clear that whatever plan the attackers had put in place was far too reliant on every single thing going according to their time table.

The dragon was quickly dispatched by Atlas forces namely Ironwood's command carrier. The battle was short from there. The combined Beacon, Valetian, and Atlesian forces made easy work of the White Fang and the Grimm.

Adam Tauras had met his end at the combined weapons of team CFVY and CRDL, though it had cost the lives of Russel, Dove, and Fox. Yatsuhashi lost one of his legs and Velvet lost an ear.

In the years that followed an evil of Salem became known to Team RWBY and NPR. The war was inevitable. She would try and destroy the world in a desperate attempt to die. Pyrrha understood.

True love left an inconsolable sting when it was ripped away. And Salem had suffered moreover a betrayal as well as that same sting.

That led them to this moment, where the Fall, WInter, Spring, and Summer maiden's were gathered.

Pyrrha led them in their campaign. Yang was the maiden of summer and it was her ferocity that got them through the front lines of the enemy. Blake was the maiden of spring and it was her gentle peace that had kept them organized while they fought back counter attack after counter attack. Weiss was the maiden of winter and her cold tactics had found the weakness and thrust an entire battalion of Atlas marines into it and opened the final line of defense.

That left Pyrrha she was different. All the other's had gifts that enhanced their life. But she was the maiden of fall. All she had to offer was an unparalleled skill in dealing death. She had been a tornado of red, gold, and white as she carved through the halls of Salem's castle.

Behind her walked the trump card that Salem hopefully wasn't aware of. Ruby walked behind her with her scythe folded down and resting on her back. She would have no need of it if they were correct and if they weren't then it wouldn't matter if she used it.

The final obstacle was a large man with long sideburns. At his right was scorpion faunus and to his left was a man dressed in impeccable clothes with a rapier in his hand. Killing the scorpion was simple; he had metal gauntlets that Pyrrha's semblance quickly sent into his own neck.

The well dressed man wisely ran away and that only left the large man. When Pyrrha reached him Hazel Reinhardt slowly lowered himself to one knee and dipped his head in submission. Pyrrha knew what he had wanted and so she gave it to him.

When he had his hands around Oscar's throat he had the chance to kill Ozpin for himself. But now he saw that the man he hated was just as much of a victim of his ancient war as he was. That was the day that he had turned. And now Salem was defenseless.

Once inside the queen of the grimm looked confused she was sure that her armies and her minions would have been able to stop any threat and it wasn't until she saw Ruby that she realized what was about to happen.

The vile monster screamed as the silver eyed warrior bathed the room in light. When all had faded the only thing that was left was a beautiful woman crying on her knees. Free of the corruption of the grimm Salem was back where she started. Unable to live with herself and unable to die.

That was when something Pyrrha did not expect happened. Oscar walked past her in a silent stride. Stopping when he set his hands on Salem's shoulders. When she looked up she saw Ozma's love looking back at her. Oscar wasn't Ozma himself but the two had melded into one being over the years.

It was Oscar who had tempered Ozma's devotion to the gods. Reaching down Oscar gently pressed his lips to Salem's as they both broke down in each other's arms. Now after all of these years of planning and training Jaune was finally avenged. Her love was gone but now she had given another the second chance she would never get. It seemed like a small thing, soothing the pain of another because of the inability to soothe your own but it was all she could do. It was all she deserved.

Jaune's memory would live on in her heart and one day when she finally passed into the next life she would be reunited with her knight in shining armor. But until then there was still the grimm and the white fang to deal with.

Until then Remnant still needed a guardian. And she would carry that title with pride.