Chapter 6: Still in the Dark

False Remnant #10,435,793: The Emerald Forest

Weiss

Weiss stepped off of Roman's bullhead, Myrtenaster at the ready in her left hand. "You sure about this?" Roman asked. "Shouldn't Red, or one of the others be with you?"

Weiss shook her head. "Ruby doesn't know I'm here. And she doesn't need to know yet, Torchwick. Remember that."

He put his hands up defensively. "Hey, just saying, this is kinda dumb."

"I didn't ask." Without so much as a glance, Weiss began to march into the forest proper, leaving Roman behind.

"I'll just, you know, be here. Ready to clean up your body, or whatever." He shook his head. "Damn brat's gonna get herself killed."

Weiss smiled, barely able to hear him mutter to himself. Once she was out of sight and earshot, she held out her right hand. "Sniff him out, Ouroboros. Show me the way."

The miniature version of the godly serpent slithered out of her chest area, spiraled down her right arm, and poked his head and part of his body out of her sleeve as he licked at the air. "The air is clean. Untainted. They've not been here in some time."

"Then we need to go further in," she said with a smile. "I didn't expect him to be on the edge, I suppose."

"This is suicide if he is here," the snake whispered.

Weiss frowned. "When I want your opinion I'll give it to you. We're going deeper, so just keep looking."

She could feel the serpent sigh in her hand. "As you wish, Witch," he muttered bitterly.

False Remnant #55,437, Ruins of Vale

Penny

Penny had spent the trek through the ruins of Vale explaining the situation to this world's Yang, who responded in kind by laughing uncontrollably. "Penny, when you said you were trying to be more human, this isn't what I pictured. That's a hell of an imagination you developed. You should write that shit down. It would make a good book if we ever get Remnant back on its feet."

The robotic girl shook her head. "I assure you, Yang, every word I said is true."

"Seriously," Yang continued without listening. "I also can't believe that you'd follow us without telling us, let alone bring someone that I've never met before." The blonde shook her head. "And playing dumb to boot. This has been a pretty good joke, but we're done playing around, okay?" She said all of this with a slight giggle in her voice.

"She's telling you the truth!" Rose yelled angrily.

"Uh-huh. So, what's your story?"

The gun toting shifter sighed. "My name is Rose. Rose Gordon. I'm Penny's partner in our mission."

"No, seriously. Stop with this prank. Who are you?"

"If I tell you the truth, which I already have, you're just going to get angry. Let's just go to this settlement of yours so that we can prove our story." She paused. "Wait. We don't have to do shit, Penny! Let's just leave. There's no way that Weiss is still alive in this world, right?"

Yang froze in her tracks, causing the whole party to stop suddenly. She turned to Rose with reddened eyes. "How do you know that name?"

Penny stood between Yang and Rose. "We're telling you the truth, Yang. We really are from another Remnant. A Remnant where the Longest Night never happened. But there's an imbalance in the multiverse. Weiss is caught in a temporal loop; forever stuck reliving the events of the Longest Night. Only one version of her exists at a time, and she's lost in an infinite sea of worlds. We're trying to find her so we can save her."

Yang pushed past Penny and grabbed Rose by the collar of her vest, lifting her off of the ground. "Black hair, red clothes, named Rose...who are you?"

"I'm not affiliated with your sister, if that's what you're asking," Rose assured nervously. "Just a coincidence. See? Green eyes, and I don't have a...well, I do have a scythe, but that's not important. I'm not even from Remnant. I'm from a world called Earth. Completely different."

"Different how, exactly?"

"Well...no Grimm. Just a bunch of human nations who either really like each other or really hate each other. Except for Switzerland. They're the only middle man, I suppose. Look, I'm not important here. Weiss is. Is she still alive on this Remnant?"

Yang growled and threw Rose up against a concrete wall, falling to her knees. "Do not fuck with me, little girl!"

"To be fair," she said through a pained grunt after standing up, leaning on the wall. "I'm about a hundred and twenty-two years old."

"I don't care if you're a God damned queen! I don't trust outsiders. None of us do. Your story is bullshit, and I don't buy it! Who the fuck are you, and what have you done to Penny?!"

"That's enough!" Penny shouted, invoking a magic spell that grabbed Yang and threw her to the ground. The blonde found that she was unable to move, as an unseen force was holding her in place. "I'm not the Penny you know! I'm one hundred and eleven years old, and while that time has taught me patience of the likes that you can't even imagine, even I will wear thin eventually! We're not here to hurt you, Yang!"

Yang's eyes flashed deeper into a crimson red before Ren approached and put a caring hand on her shoulder. "Stop, Yang. They are being sincere."

"How do you know?" Yang growled in a low, pissed off voice.

"Because our Penny can't do...that," he said, pointing at the area of magic that was binding Yang.

"I'm going to release you, Yang," Penny said in a calm tone. "Will you stand down?" Yang looked between Ren, Penny, and Rose before nodded slowly. Penny lowered her hands, and Yang was able to move again. "I can understand if you don't want to take us to your settlement. As Rose said, we're looking for Weiss."

Yang stood and spat. "She's gone," she said sadly. "She died about three years ago, right before the Longest Night." She laughed a dry, sarcastic life. "That bitch. She killed herself."

Penny and Rose were shocked to hear this revelation. "Why?" Rose asked.

"She was ranting and raving about a comet that would bring thousands of Grimm. That we were all going to die unless we ran away and found a haven. She couldn't handle that we thought that something was wrong with her. Maybe she'd had a minor stroke, or a very vivid dream that she'd confused for a memory. We tried to calm her down. She drew Myrtenaster and stabbed herself in the jugular. She'd gone insane." She looked at the ground, genuinely heart broken even after three years. "We didn't listen to her until it was too late. She'd killed herself, then that comet of hers showed up." She turned and started to walk away. Ren motioned for them to follow her.

She seemed to be rambling now, going on about the last three years as though she were just remembering random bits here and there. After a half hour, she stated, out of the blue, "Did you know that Vale's population before the Longest Night was about four hundred thousand?"

"Yes," Penny said thoughtlessly. "I, uh, kind of can't forget numbers. Or anything else, for that matter."

It was then that Penny noticed that Yang had stopped in front of a makeshift wall made out of sheet metal and automobiles. The middle of the wall had a wrought iron gate that seemed to be barred from the inside. She whistled a tune, and the bar came undone as the gate opened. "Welcome to Shard; all that is left of Vale. Population: four hundred."

False Remnant #10,435,793: The Emerald Forest

Weiss

"Wait!" Ouroboros shouted suddenly, causing Weiss to halt mid stride. The snake's tongue flicked in and out of his mouth, tasting the air around them. "The air is...foul."

"Foul how?" Weiss asked.

"Like living death. Like shadow. It is the scent of Grimm."

She smiled, gripping Myrtenaster tightly in her left hand. "We're on the right track, then. How strong is the scent?"

"If I could vomit, I would."

"Good."

The snake shivered. "I am not accustomed to smelling my own kind this way. It is...unsettling. Terrifying, even."

"It's because you're bonded to me, Ouroboros. Humans are naturally terrified of the Grimm. It's been programmed into our genetics through thousands of years of being hunted. Much like how wild animals know when their most feared predator is near, so too do we. Disgusting, isn't it?"

"I'd have rather stayed dead," he whispered in response. "Turn north from here; the scent grows stronger."

Turning right, she proceeded as instructed. Weiss's eyes darted back and forth, looking for any signs of danger as she went. Cautious though she was, there was an obvious amount of bloodlust in her eyes. "Soon, all seven of you will be mine," she muttered to herself.

"Bold words from one who dies so much," Ouroboros taunted.

"Pretty big talk from someone who's in my servitude."

"It is my own personal hell." He turned to look into Weiss's eyes. "There's a lust within you comparable to the Second. You are my Hell."

She spat. "What is with everyone and that fucking Dante around here? No matter how many lives I live through, someone recites that god damned poet's work."

The serpent chuckled. "I am the patron of temptation; I couldn't resist the urge." His tongue flicked, and his head jerked forward. "Hide." He said lowly, and Weiss leapt into a thick tree without hesitation. "We're near a clearing; I can smell the corpses of flowers and animals."

"What else?"

"Beowolves. More than I'd care to count. This can mean only one thing; Cerberus."

"Can you smell him?"

"No. I don't know if he is away or the sheer number of Beowolves has him masked. I suggest a tactical retreat."

"I told you to keep your opinions to yourself," she snapped, gripping Myrtenaster. "He dies today. And if he's not here, then we'll kill the Beowolves and wait for him to come home." She leapt from tree branch to tree branch until she approached the clearing; the very same clearing where she'd seen Cerberus before. Of course. I should have known.

The clearing was the size of a small field, filled almost completely with Beowolves. She looked all over, but could see no sign of Cerberus. "He isn't here," Ouroboros said.

"Then we wait for him. These Beowolves must be here for a reason."

The snake licked the air again and hesitated. "The air has shifted unnaturally. Something is...off."

"How off?"

"I believe...oh." The snake chuckled to himself. "Watch."

Weiss set her eyes upon the Beowolves once more and stared intently. "What am I watching for?" she asked after a minute of nothing. A Beowolf began to howl at the sky, sending a reflexive shudder down Weiss's spine. Then the second started to howl, and a third, and a tenth, and a fiftieth. She'd lost count after a moment, and she stared in awe at the organized movement of the monsters before her.

Hundreds of Beowolves circled each other with their heads aimed at the comet in the sky. A dark mist began to form around their bodies. "The fuck?" she asked aloud.

"It has begun," Ouroboros commented before going silent.

The mist began to solidify into a sort of tarry liquid, seemingly melting the army of Beowolves. Yet, the howling continued. It grew louder and louder, and soon the hundreds of unique howls began to dissipate and shift into one singular bestial war cry. The black liquid grew and formed a rough, giant shape of a Beowolf with one large head. The giant head split into three equal parts, growing ears and eyes. The tarry substance began to solidify, and in places the boney white armor plates of Grimm began to form.

Weiss's eyes went wide as she watched the spectacle before her; Cerberus had been born. He arched his middle head to the sky and howled one singular, horrendous cry of hunger.

"Hungry," she heard it say to itself. "More. I need more!"

"He is the manifestation of the gluttonous appetite for power; the more Beowolves he absorbs the stronger he becomes," Ouroboros said. "He is unique amongst us Master Units; he is the only one capable of becoming Nidhog's equal."

"Then let's go," Weiss said as she leapt from the tree and into the open field.

"Witch, what are you doing? He's still a Master Unit; newborn or not, he's still powerful. He's devoured hundreds of Beowolves just to be born!"

Weiss was ignoring him as she calmly approached the massive, three headed beast. She stopped fifty yards from the monstrosity and glared daggers into his very being."My name is Weiss Schnee. Cerberus, I am here to destroy you."

Cerberus arched all three of his heads to look down at Weiss. The center head spoke. "A human...who knows me? How quaint. How did you find me so soon?"

"A little help from one of your friends," she said mockingly. "So, do I have to cut off each head, or do you have a singular heart that I can rip from your chest."

A loud, saliva filled dog like bark escaped the Master Unit's mouth. "You are a fill. I shall eat you first."

"You can certainly try," she whispered. Creating a glyph beneath her feet, she shot herself up into the air just out of Cerberus's reach and began bombarding him with dust based projectiles from her rapier, slowing her descent with another glyph.

Fiery explosion covered Cerberus, coating him in smoke before he leapt out to reveal himself. "You're out of your mind!" Ouroboros shouted.

Weiss smiled as Cerberus's open jaw approached her, ready to snap shut. Using another glyph, she dodged out of the way on the left. Her right hand, facing towards Cerberus, jerked as she threw the snake into the beast's maw. "On my signal!" Weiss shouted.

"What the hell are you doing!?" the snake shouted just as the jaws shut onto him; Cerberus gulped, swallowing the shrunken snake whole.

Weiss landed on the ground with a light thud, keeping balance and prepared for her next move. "Alright. Now for step two." Gripping Myrtenaster, she prepared a true fire spell in her right hand.

False Remnant #55,437, Settlement Shard

Penny

The gates had been barred once again from the inside as the group passed through the entryway. Penny looked about as she strolled by, noticing the haggard and hungry look on many of the faces. Cardin Winchester stood atop the makeshift wall under a small tarp canopy with a battered looking rifle in his hands, his mace resting at his hip. He was bare of his armor, and was instead wearing a curious garment; a jacket with a rabbit insignia on the front.

Jaune, Penny thought to herself. "Only four hundred survived the Grimm?"

"No," Yang answered. "Two thousand survived the Longest Night. The rest died after the fact. Sickness, starvation, marauders. You name it, we've faced it. You won't see much left of the Beacon students here. Cardin, Ren, Nora, Luna, and Velvet are all that's left of us."

"And the instructors?" Rose asked curiously. "Did any of them make it?"

"Glynda was the last to die. That was about three weeks ago; built up an infection in her leg. We looked as hard as we could but couldn't find any leftover antibiotics. We think that the world's supply of pharmaceuticals has run dry."

"So, who's in charge?" Penny asked.

"You are," Ren replied smoothly.

"Come on," Yang interrupted, clearly irritated. "Let's go see the real Penny."

Penny and Rose nodded, following the duo through what was clearly a shanty town. Some of the concrete buildings were usable, but a great number of them were in disrepair from battles long past and were crumbling. "Not much of a settlement," Rose muttered without thinking.

"We can't afford to move," Ren explained. "We've tried. This spot may not be ideal, but the marauders and remnant Grimm have trouble piercing the walls. We're using the outlying buildings as part of the defense. There are better suited places for living, but not for surviving."

Rose shook her head. "Are there no worlds safe from this cataclysm?"

"Just the one," Penny chimed. "We have Nik to thank for that. I owe him more than I realized."

"Quiet," Yang spat as they approached an alive green tent. A massive radio tower jutted out of a hole in the middle, rising a good five hundred feet up. "Hey, I'm back," she said to the front flap.

"Come in," replied a voice that, to Penny, was both alien and familiar.

"This is going to be weird, isn't it?" she asked Rose.

"Brace yourself. Don't have an identity crisis on me."

The group entered through the flaps. Ren approached a nearby table and set his duffle bag down. "We couldn't find much, but we did find a few components that might be of use to us." Carefully, he dumped the contents onto the table; a myriad of computer and radio parts clattered about.

Standing before them, turning to see what Ren had brought, was another Penny. This Penny, like the Shifter, hadn't aged at all. Instead, bits of her fake skin seemed to be peeling off as some sort of battle scars across her body. She wore khaki trousers in place of her normal one piece dress, with a long sleeved green shirt. The right sleeve, as well as all the flesh from that arm, was completely gone, exposing the metal endoskeleton underneath.

Her metal hand picked up a couple of the parts and began to analyze them; Shifter Penny had started doing the same from a distance without realizing what was going on. She stopped herself and shook her head, giggling internally at her self induced confusion. "Yes," this world's Penny said with a slight smile. "I might get the radio working with this."

"Might?" Yang asked.

"No promises. We have to fix one problem at a time, and each time we fix something we find another thing that's broken. It's all trial and error at this point."

"Fingers crossed, then," Ren said with a smile. "We need medicines and food; bad."

"I still think the radio is a bad idea. It's just going to draw more attention to us. We shouldn't needlessly put ourselves at risk."

"And we shouldn't let this community starve to death," said the bare armed Penny. She looked over and saw Penny and Rose standing side by side; her eyes locked onto Penny. "Well...that's interesting."

"Sorry for the intrusion," she replied. "And the confusion."

"Which Murakumo are you? I didn't think they duplicated any of our appearances."

Penny gave a nervous smile. "Uh, well...about that."

This world's Penny's eye's shifted in intent and stared her down with mistrust. "Command Prompt: Force Identification. Authorization: Lambda_11-30955. Identify yourself."

Penny felt the strangest of sensations as she was forced to reply to the statement. "This unit is identified at the product of Dr. Issac Asimov, manufactored at Site Lambda. Unit Designation: Lambda_11, serial number 11-30955-P. Unique Designation: Penny." Her tense body relaxed and she slumped over, taking a gasping breath. "It's been a while since I've had that happen."

"So," Ren said curiously. "She has the same serial number as you, Penny."

"That's not possible. I'm the only unit that Site Lambda built."

"That's true," Shifter Penny replied. She explained the situation, and why she was on this particular Remnant. She even showed this world's Penny the mathematical formula she used to access the Labyrinthus.

"Is that a good idea?" Rose asked as the group looked on in confusion at the seemingly unreadable equation.

"None of them can use it. I'm the only one who currently can. The calculation would take too long for a normal mind, and without magic this world's Penny won't be able to access the Labyrinthus." She turned to this world's residents with a smile. "We're sorry to bother you. We wanted to see this particular commitment through to the end before we left. Weiss isn't here, so we shouldn't be either."

She turned and started to leave the tent. "Wait!" this world's Penny shouted, causing them to pause. "Can...can you help us?"

Penny smiled at herself, an odd experience, and shook her head. "I'm afraid not. My organization has an absolute law; the Law of No Interference. I can't alter your path, for good or bad. You have to make it through this on your own." The three natives all slumped, disappointed. "You'll do fine. You've lasted this long."

"Yeah," Yang said with a harsh laugh. "We've enough food for two, maybe three weeks. And that's with strict rationing. After that? We're fucked."

"You don't know that," Rose said. She stepped forward and looked into Yang's eyes. "No one knows the future. Not even Weiss does. Every world we've been too has been different. Some in small ways, some in little ways. This community of yours? It may be struggling, but its one of the better ones I've seen these past three months of world hopping. Don't lose faith." She put a hand on Yang's shoulder. "You can pull this off." With those words, she returned to her Penny who began the spell to Shift away from this universe.

When they landed, they were in an empty, snow covered field. Rose stepped away from Penny, not facing her, and took a deep breath. "They're going to die, aren't they?"

"Most likely. Marauders, Grimm, and a depleating resource pool; their survival isn't very likely."

Rose kicked a small pile of snow in anger, growling to herself all the while. "I hate that law."

Penny smiled. "I do too." She approached Rose and placed an arm around her. "You know that small pouch you carry in your backpack?"

"What about it?"

"I might have taken it while you were talking to Yang." She smiled widely. "And then I left it." Rose gasped, and returned the smile in kind.

False Remnant #55,437, Settlement Shard

Penny (55,437)

The rainbow flames died away, leaving the three in the tent alone to ponder. "What the hell is going on?" Yang asked in a hushed voice. "Gah! I hate this! I can't wrap my head around it!" She kicked a folding chair over, kicked it upright again, and then sat in it with her head in her hands.

"If they aren't allowed to help, there's nothing we can do," Ren said calmly, putting a hand on Yang's shoulder. "We should rest up. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah," Yang muttered. "Tell the missus I said hi."

Ren chuckled softly. "Nora insists on naming the baby after all of our fallen team mates, you know."

"Please, for the love of god, do not let her name that child after all of them. Just pick one!"

"I'll tell her again. Good night, Yang. Good night, Penny."

"Night."

"Good night, Ren," Penny said. She turned and went back to repairing an old military radio set.

Ren approached the tent flap, ready to walk out, when something on the ground caught his eye; a small pouch. Arching an eyebrow, he picked it up. "Penny, did you drop this by accident?"

"Hm?" she asked, glancing over from her work. "What's in it?"

He opened the pouch, and he was rendered speechless. Inside were several white bottles, labeled with the chemical names of several different antibiotics. A tear rolled down his cheek before he came back to reality and ran over to the women to show them what the Shifters had left them.

False Remnant #10,435,793: The Emerald Forest

Weiss

Weiss's jacket had been torn off in the battle, exposing her bare shoulders to the wild strikes of Cerberus. She was covered in cuts and gashes, but nothing life threatening. She was running ragged, and had used up much of her energy casting spells and glyphs to evade and attack from a distance. The battle with the three headed Grimm had lasted five and a half hours, easily. Just a little moreΒΈ she thought. He's a living being. It'll happen soon. I just have to persist.

Throughout the battle she'd felt a light tug on the back of her mind; proof that her summoning of Ouroboros hadn't been broken. The snake was trapped inside Cerberus. Now she was playing the long game, waiting for her sign to strike.

"You were a fool to come here," Cerberus said for the millionth time.

She groaned. "Not to self; don't ever fucking summon you! You're worse than the snake!"

"Be gone, human!" he cried, ignoring her as he pounced, but as he attempted to leap from the ground, she noticed that one of his feet slipped.

There! Glyphing out of the way, she placed herself beneath the great Beowolf. She ignited Myrtenaster, setting it ablaze, and lunged into his torso.

"Aaaaaaargh!" it cried.

"Ha!" Weiss cheered. "Can you hear me, Ouroboros?" She could hear no response, but a part of Cerberus's stomach bulged. "Great! Rip him apart!"

Without warning, Cerberus exploded into two halves; the source of the sundering was Ouroboros in his true form. The snake, easily the same size as Cerberus, couldn't be contained when Weiss altered his size, and came out via forceful eruption. Weiss laughed as the two halves landed, destroying the grass and uprooting trees in the turmoil. She placed a hand upon the white scales of Ouroboros's spiritual body. "Good work," she said cheerily.

"Warn me next time, Witch!" the snake replied loudly.

She approached the heads of Cerberus, which were still breathing. Just what she wanted; she needed to perform the final blow herself to claim his spirit. "Any last words, Cerberus?" she asked with a sadistic smile upon her lips.

The right and left heads were limp; they were already brain dead. The central head stared into her eyes with fear. "You...are a witch!"

She smiled. "You're god damned right I am!" She plunged Myrtenaster deep into his skull, twisted it, and snapped the blade in her glee. Cerberus began to fade from existence, flaking away piece by piece, and Weiss began to twirl and dance and laugh. "I've never felt so alive! This is what I'm meant to do! This is why I can't just stay dead!"

Ouroboros slithered up to her. "I've...never seen you so happy and energetic."

She laughed before she spread her arms out and fell backwards into the grass. The sun was setting as she lay there staring at the sky, watching the stars appear one by one. She kicked off her boots and dug her toes into the grass and dirt as she seemed to sink into a relaxed state. "Two down, four to go." She looked up at the giant snake before her. "We'll get the rest, Ouroboros. We'll do it together."

"Am I to take that as a form of 'I love you'? Am I your friend now?"

"Oh, you hurt me, Ouroboros. You've been my friend for a while now. I've got nothing left in my life except for monster killing, and the spirits of the monsters I kill." She sat up to look him in the eyes. "Don't worry. You'll always be my favorite. Cerberus can't compete with you."

"I wouldn't know. You made him swallow me."

"Now now, don't be mad." She stood up and folded her hands behind her back. "I'll actually let you fight next time. How's that sound."

"It should sound dreadful," he said disdainfully. "Yet, surprisingly, it is exciting. I'll hold you to your word." He glanced over at the two halves of Myrtenaster, laying in the grass where Cerberus's body was. "You'll need a new sword."

"No, she won't," came a voice from behind Weiss that neither of them had noticed. Surprised, she turned around and was face to face with Ozpin. "You won't be needing anything."

Bang.

The sound of a black powder, muzzle loaded flintlock echoed throughout the forest. Weiss looked down; he was holding the pistol to her heart when he pulled the trigger. "But...my Aura..." she muttered as she stumbled backward and fell to the ground, bleeding from a huge hole in her chest.

"You fought for nearly six hours, Weiss; you exhausted your Aura ages ago."

"Bastard!" Ouroboros yelled. Reeling back to strike, he made to attack Ozpin with his teeth. His body stopped short, just shy of the man's face. Ozpin, to his credit, was unfazed. "How are you stopping me?"

"I'm not," he said. "Your summoner is dying. You are fading in an effort to prolong her life. Any moment now she will pass, and you will fade away into nothingness."

Weiss looked at Ozpin from the ground with an angry scowl on her face. "Why?"

He met her gaze with a sad expression. "I didn't want to do this, Weiss. But you are too dangerous. Your outlook on life has changed since you began your cycle. You no longer care for living, or the lives of others. I can't let you risk the lives of my students and people because of some vendetta against the Master Units." He adjusted his glasses and put the pistol into his jacket. "This way, you won't put any unwanted attention on us. With Cerberus dead, the other Master Units aren't likely to come this way. I'm sorry, Weiss, but while you will wake up in a few moments, the rest of us won't after we die."

Weiss smiled at him; it was a cruel smile. "I'll kill you for this."

"The other Ozpin's aren't guilty of murdering you. Just me. Can you truly take the life of an innocent man."

She chuckled, resulting in her coughing up blood. He flesh was pale and gaunt, and light finally left her eyes; she was dead.

Ouroboros looked and saw that his tail was dissentigrating. He turned to Ozpin and chuckled. "Yes."

"I beg your pardon?"

"The answer is yes. When she wakes up, she'll kill you in that world. Innocent or not, she won't care."

Ozpin stared at the snake. "All the better that she is gone from my world, then. This is my Remnant. I do not care for any other worlds."

Ouroboros began to retort, but found that he hadn't the strength to speak. Soon his vision faded from him as the rest of his body turned into nothing. Ozpin turned around and began to walk back to Beacon, leaving Weiss's body in the forest. "God, forgive me."

Song: Still in the Dark - Daisuke Ishiwatari (from Guilty Gear X: Millia vs Zato theme)

Author's Note

Holy shit! Over five thousand words this time! I don't write a chapter this long usually, and here's why I did this one. I wanted this chapter to end with Weiss killing Cerberus and then dying as well (thus the use of Still in the Dark), but I didn't feel I was able to write 2500+ of only a single fight, so I bounced between Weiss and the dynamic duo. I then realized I wanted to do some story fluff for their story arc, and by the time Penny left the medicine I was at 3000 words. Fuck it, I'm committed. So, here's a 5000+ chapters.

Also...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So, I had an idea; what if I wrote a series of side stories based on the failed Remnants? Not full blown stories, just little tidbits from some of the worlds we've seen? Who wants to see Roman and Ruby fall in love? Or why Cardin is wearing Jaune's hoodie? Or any other variation I've concocted of this convoluted story that's followed me for three fucking stories. I can't seem to kill it!

Let me know what you think, please! Leave a review, a PM, or a comment on Reddit! Tell me what you thought of this story, or how you feel about some side stories.

Fun Fact: I had a pretty fun Christmas, even if I did misplace my sister-in-law's gift for two hours.

Till next time!