Chapter 1: Riders on the Storm

"You're sure about this?" Neo asked her superior as the four women strode down the hallways of Beacon. "What if something happens and you get lost in this...this..."

"Labyrithus," Penny reminded her.

"That. If you get lost in the Labyrithus, you won't be able to come back, will you?"

"That's a risk we have to take," Rose chimed. "Penny's determined to save Weiss from the Causality spell."

The fourth person shook her head. "To think such an ability exists..."

Penny smiled. "There's alot outside of Remnant that you don't understand, Garnet," she said calmly. "That's why Salvation exists. To make sure that the average person never has to deal with such cosmic problems.

The fourth woman was barely taller than Neo, and looked almost like a clone of Ruby, but with streaks of silver in her raven black hair, and eyes of a piercing azure. Unlike her great grandmother, she didn't wear a cloak. In her youth she had, and even though she was just as excitable as her ancestor, she'd developed a strong sort of professionalism over the years. She was dressed in a black suit, with a maroon dress shirt and a black tie. As likable as she was, she looked every bit as serious as she was right now. "Keep in mind, Penny; you may be a part of our families, but I'm the headmaster of this school. I have to take into account all the possibilities. What if your portal works both ways and things from the failed Remnants start to leak through."

Penny sighed. "You know about The Longest Night?"

"Great grandma told me about it. About how she had thought it was a dream, but it was a memory of a failed life. What if one of those timelines enters our Remnant; the only Remnant where we never saw the comet?"

Rose cleared her throat. "Penny's calculations are nearly flawless. Only she can activate the portal. Nothing can come or go without being white listed by her."

Garnet sighed and shook her head. "I sincerely hope you're right."

"Worst case, you can call the rest of team KING, right?"

"I'd like to avoid asking for Kuroi, Ignis, and Nox to take time out of their busy lives just because this plan went wrong." She frowned. "I wonder what great grandma would've thought about me not becoming a team leader?"

"You became the headmaster of Beacon," Neo said with a smile. "She'd be proud of you no matter what, Garnet."

During the conversation, the four of them had entered an elevator and started going down. Garnet crossed her arms. "Look, I get it: you two are gods compared to the rest of us. Even Neo can't match either of you. I know you mean well, Penny, but it's my job to protect the people when you aren't here. I'm one of the Black Wings, after all. Qrow and Raven may have founded it over a hundred years ago, but now I'm here to do the job, and its not a job I thoroughly enjoy doing. Just...please don't make it any harder."

The elevator stopped. A female mechanical voice came over the speakers. "Restricted area. Unauthorized individuals detected. Please provide credentials."

"Garnet: Authorization Gamma-3 Murakumo. Zero-Five-Five."

"ACCESS GRANTED"

Penny felt her gut form a pit; a sensation she completely forgot existed. "How do you know Murakumo?" she asked.

Garnet smiled. "Welcome to Gamma Site, Penny." The doors opened, and Penny came face to face with a laboratory that looked eerily familiar. "I imagine it looks alot like Lambda Site. Isn't that where you were born?"

Penny loved Garnet. She'd seen her grow up from a small child into the head master of Beacon. But now...she was suspicious. "Answer me, Garnet. How do you know Murakumo?"

"I did my research, Penny. Most of it was erased apparently, but I found some lingering data amongst the ruins here. It was abandoned in a hurry and locked away. It's even deeper than the Vault. There's a holding area that has a shaft that leads straight to Remnant's mantle. The magma there is what powers this site, and even some of Beacon above." She turned to face Penny. "Apparently, they only succeeded in building three Murakumos. Of those three, the only known survivor is you, Penny. Unit Eleven; Lambda."

Penny looked around the room cautiously. "That's supposed to be classified."

"I only found it by accident, of course," Garnet continued. "And now that you're basically a god, you have nothing to fear. I couldn't use this information against you even if I wanted to. And trust me, I don't. I do love you. You're like my aunt, or god mother." She smiled. "But, the reason I brought you here is because you said you needed somewhere to access the Cauldron from Remnant, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, seeing as how I'm no magic user, I couldn't begin to tell you where to find a good access point for the Cauldron. But then I remembered something you told me once as a child. Each world is a living, breathing being. Each makes its own choices for self preservation, and each has a connection to the Cauldron. By that thinking, a planet's 'soul' would be its core. So, here, in Gamma, we have access to the mantle; the closest to the core that you'll ever get." Garnet crossed her arms and smiled a proud smile; her childish tendencies were showing. "So, what do you think? As good a place as any for you two to do your magic!"

"As creepy as this place is," Rose said. "I can't help but agree. This is a good place to try and link with the Cauldron, and connect with the Labyrinthus." Penny nodded. She started to walk. "Where are you going?"

"Where Unit Gamma was going to be born. Her sarcophagus would be above the mantle. That chamber will be where we link." She paused and turned to Garnet. "Please...don't ever call me Lambda again."

Garnet was taken by surprise. "Oh...I'm...I'm sorry. I was just sort of showing you how much I learned about this place. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"I chose this name to try and be more human," Penny went on. "Lambda died the same day she was born." She turned to Neo. She doesn't remember, either, she thought. "We'll be departing soon. Please, don't follow us. The portal may try to suck the two of you in as well."

Neo nodded. "Good luck."

Penny and Rose gave their farewells and entered the chamber with the marker γ; Gamma. The chamber was dark, say for a faint orange glow coming from a circular hole in the center of the floor. Standing over it, Penny saw the molten rock below. She looked around, feeling a creepy sense of nostalgia. "Gamma was going to be born here," she said aloud. "My sister was almost born here."

"You okay?" Rose asked.

"Yeah," Penny answered quickly. "I'm fine. Let's do this." The two girls stood opposite from each other across the hole. "Connecting to the Cauldron..."

"Soul output rising," Rose said, and a silvery purple magical aura began to glow around the two of them. "Whoa," Rose said allowed. "You feel that?"

"Yeah," Penny said. "I can feel all the dead souls that are fueling the magic of Remnant...but there's far too many to be from a single planet."

"It's the Causality spell," Rose added. "All those who died on the failed Remnants are being dumped into the same place."

"If someone were to discover how to cast magic on Remnant, they'd become the most powerful mage in the Universe," Penny grew worried. "We need to hurry and save Weiss before she dies and creates another failed Remnant."

"Connecting to the Labyrithus," the two said simultaneously."

Rose closed her eyes and gasped. "It's...so beautiful." In her mind's eye, she could see millions upon millions of bright, shining lights; each one representing a different version of Remnant. "But, they all look alike. How will we find ours again?"

"I've got that covered," Penny said. "I've enchanted the Neo from this world to emit a magical signature identical to my own. Assuming I'm the only Penny in the multiverse that's a Shifter, that's a good way to find home."

"And you awakened in other worlds?"

"Trial and error. We've got all the time in the world." She smiled. "Where should we start?"

"How about...here?" Rose asked. The two were mentally linked during the incantation, so Penny could see where she was pointing.

"Alright. There it is. Initiating transfer."

"Will it be like Shifting? Rainbow flames, euphoria, all that?"

"I honestly don't know," Penny said. "Let's go." A ball of bright rainbow light formed between them and engulfed them both. Penny hoped that it would feel like a normal Shift.

Now she realized that if she'd had a stomach, she would have puked.

Garnet and Neo both heard the teleportation spell fire off, and they both knew that the two women were gone from this Universe. "I suppose we should return to our duties," Neo said. She gave Garnet a brief hug. "I'll see you soon." With that, she turned to leave via the elevator.

Garnet wasn't ready to leave yet. When the doors closed and the elevator began its ascension, she sighed. She went into the chamber where Penny and Rose had just been a few moments before, caught off guard by the sight.

In the center of the room was a sphere that emitted every color of the rainbow. Damn it! she thought. The portal is still open! It was supposed to close! What if something comes through...something like Cerberus! She remembered Ruby tell the story of her dream, and how frightening Cerberus was. Garnet couldn't risk it.

"Come!" she shouted.

The door behind her opened, and a nude girl, shorter than Garnet, entered the room. Her hair was solid silver, and her eyes were bright orange. "You requested my presence, Madam?"

"Yes," Garnet said. "I need you to get dressed and prepare your combat protocols, Gamma." She turned to face the nude girl, who had a tattoo of γ just above her genitals. "Guard this room. If anything that isn't Penny, Rose, or Weiss comes through, destroy it."

Weiss stood atop the roof of her dorm building. Ouroboros rested on the ground beside here. Now he was the size of a normal snake, though he was still several times smaller than normal. "I see," he said in a deep, hissing voice. "You've been stuck repeating your life over and over, doomed to die and start again on the same day."

"The beginning is always the same," she added. "The rest of the story changes ever so slightly. Only a few times can I remember surviving this war against the Grimm. And only once did it not happen at all. That one time, I died of cancer in my seventies. I raised a family and everything." She laughed a cold laugh. "That time, I honestly thought that it was over. Then I woke up in my bed again, just like I always do."

"Have you tried to fix it? To break this loop?"

"I can't. The first few thousand times, I told everyone I could what was going to happen. Many iterations people thought I was crazy. In one iteration, I got so frantic that I slit my own throat with Myrtenaster, hoping it was all a nightmare. Then I woke up in my bed again." She smiled. "I've gotten used to it by now."

"How old are you?"

"I'm supposed to be seventeen...but, if I've done the math correctly, I'm about one million, four hundred twenty-seven thousand, six hundred fifty-five years old. Or is it six hundred fifty-six? I don't know. I lost count somewhere along the way. I actually held up hope a lot longer than most, I think. It wasn't until about two hundred thousand that I stopped trying to do anything."

"So, you've given up?" Ouroboros asked. "You're going to just accept that you're going to live forever like this?"

"I don't live forever," she corrected. "I die every single time. I just get to start over every single time. It's a sick game of death and reincarnation, excepts its always with the same body." She looked up to the sky. "Tomorrow, the comet arrives. No one will know what will happen except for me."

"What comet would that be?" came a male voice that she didn't expect, but it didn't surprise her too much.

"Hello, you shiftless bastard," Weiss said casually.

Ozpin approached and stood beside her. "That was uncharacteristically rude of you, Miss Schnee."

"I lost my patience quite some time ago, Ozpin." She stared at him for a moment. "It's almost easy to forget how young you are."

"Me? Young?"

"I'd believe her if I were you," Ouroboros chimed.

Ozpin stared at it in wonder for a moment. "Is that an Ouroboros? There's only ever been one to exist, and that was..."

"Ten thousand years ago from your point of view; the last time the comet arrived."

"So," Ozpin said after a moment of silence. "You mean that comet. How do you know of its existence?"

"I'm tired of explaining it to everyone, Ozpin. Hell, the one hundred thousand times that Ruby was cursed and took up that mantle was actually pretty relaxing. Less pressure on me. I'm stuck, Ozpin. We're all going to die, and I'm the only one who will remember when I wake up. Ouroboros here died about six months from now by my hands...about two thousand years ago to me. Or was it three?"

"All I remember is that you decapitated me," Ouroboros said coldly.

Ozpin stared incredulously at Weiss. "I see...so, you know..."

"I know that you're near omnipotence, and that you can travel the known universe. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Since you seem to want to not do anything and let the world die, that's what I'll do too." Weiss said suddenly.

"You sound cold, Miss Schnee," Ozpin said in a low voice. "If you know all of this, why don't you save the world?"

"Been there. Done that. Died a few times in the process." She looked up to the sky. "I've taken a spectator seat. I've been observing the world for quite some time, trying to rest. I've only been fighting the Master Units. If I really wanted to, I could eradicate all of the Grimm in four months. But that's boring. Too boring. I've done everything. Literally, everything. Now...I think its time I do nothing."

"That almost sounds hypocritical."

"It is," Weiss agreed. "Except, unlike you, I don't sound self righteous when I do it." She turned and walked towards the door. "Let's go, Ouroboros. I'm tired of waiting."

"What are you going to do?" the snake asked as it slithered behind her.

"I'm bored. Haven't been laid in a few thousand years. Guess I'll do that." She left the roof, snake in tow, and left Ozpin stunned.

"Just yesterday, she was a normal girl, and now today she's...ancient. I could see it in her eyes. She's really looping through time, and today must be the first day in the loop." He pondered the thought for a moment. "What needs to be done?"

Everything that ever existed was spinning violently around the two women. They felt as though their very beings were being pulled and shoved in every direction, their sense of up and down completely thrown off by a changing sense of gravity. Traveling between universes was the single most unpleasant thing either of them have ever done.

When suddenly it stopped. The two of them were standing in Gamma just like they were moments ago. No portal before them, only the room and the hole leading to the core. Penny looked around. "Well...that wasn't so ba-"

Rose interrupted her by doubling over the hole in the floor and puked violently. The gagging and regurgitation was disgusting to Penny's ears, and she was thankful that she didn't have a stomach. "Don't...you dare...finish that statement," Rose said in between gags.

"Okay," Penny said with a sympathetic smile. "I was lying. That was awful."

Rose stood up, wiping her chin with her wrist. "So, are we in another world? Or is this still you're Remnant?"

Penny shrugged before closing her eyes. "I can't detect Neo here. It must be a different place." The two of them left the room and found the elevator. "Only one way to find out." The two of them entered the elevator and started to ascend, the whole while they could hear the steel strain to move them.

"Sounds like its in disrepair," Rose said.

"Maybe Beacon is in ruins above us," Penny chimed. "The Longest Night war happened in almost every universe, apparently."

Rose was about to comment when they heard the cable snap. "Oh shit!" she cried as the elevator began to drop. Penny grabbed Rose and deployed her blade. She cut a hole through the roof and leaped upwards, shooting a sword to the top of the shaft and embedding it into the wall. Slowly, she began to pull the two of them up and out. "You know...I actually forgot that you can do that."

"You also know a flying spell," Penny pointed out. Rose blushed, embarrassed that she'd forgotten such a detail.

They reached the top and found it blocked by rubble. Using their magic, the two girls cleared a path and exited into the outside world.

An ear splitting screech reached their ears. The two of them looked around. An airship was crashed into the school, and there still burned several fires. Penny spotted a broken sword hilt; it looked similar to Myrtenaster. "Damn it!" she shouted. "Weiss may be dead here."

"I think we've got much bigger problems," Rose said fearfully, pointing into the sky.

Penny followed her gaze, and her eyes widened. A giant, scaled beast flapped its massive wings in the sky. The head alone was larger than a bus, and the body was like a small airship. It almost looked like a Nevermore, but it held no feathers. It landed atop the wreckage of the airship and glared at them. "You smell...foreign." it said.

"Penny...the dragon-bird spoke. The dragon-bird spoke! Why did the dragon-bird speak?"

Penny glared at it. "It's a commander Grimm. Ozpin told me about them when I was researching how to travel between worlds. Said we might face them if we got to another Remnant." She deployed her blades. "What is your name!?"

Fire sprayed from the beasts nostrils. "Nidhogg," it answered. "Burn."

Penny smiled. "My pleasure." Rose nodded, drawing her pistols.

Song: Riders on the Storm- The Doors

Authors Notes

Hello! Chapter 1 is done and ready! And yes, you read it correctly. I've linked Toy Soldier to my Shifting Remnant AU because I'm stupid and ambitious and my fingers are crossed that my private RWBYverse isn't too large for me to handle. With that said, I wonder why Garnet found and finished building Gamma-3? Questions for later.

Penny and Rose have arrived on a failed Remnant, and Weiss is not the woman we knew from the last few stories. In The Longest Night and Eternity Rising she still acted normal because she held out hope that she could be fixed. But that was over a million timelines ago. Now? She's tired and bored. Hunting the Master Unit Grimm is the only pleasure she has left...well, mostly.

Fun Fact: I finished watching Marvel's Jessica Jones today. It was sweet! Almost as sweet as...CHRISTMAS! (See what I did there?)

Till next time! :D