Author's note: There's some more switching between scenes coming. Also something I'm kind of working on on the side.
Ruby, King Srebro and prince Biser waited for an hour for the relic to be sent back, but nothing happened. As time went on, Ruby got more and more uncomfortable, mostly since she sent something incredibly dangerous away on a hunch, and also because it belonged to Sirena.
"So, where is it?" King Srebro asked in old Soraklian.
"She should have sent it back by now," Ruby answered, "Maybe she isn't in Argus after all."
"You mean to tell me the relic is gone?" King Srebro asked.
"Not for long," Ruby answered nervously, "I mean, it draws in Grimm, so Sirena will know that something is going on, and then she'll find the relic eventually."
"You sent something that attracts Grimm to a city full of people?" King Srebro asked.
"Well, yes," Ruby answered, "But to be fair, it is a fairly protected city, so the people aren't in as much danger. Plus, surface Grimm are a lot weaker than the ones down here."
"Well, my mother trusted your judgment," King Srebro said, "But I am keeping my eyes on you regardless. Now, I believe it is time for you to resume your classes. I also have a nap to take." He got up, waved his regent over to take his place, and he and Biser went to go and take a nap. Ruby left the castle and headed to the academy, her eagerness to take the final exam being hampered by her confusion why Sirena hadn't returned the relic to prove that she was still alive.
~o~
Weiss sat in her soul core, overlooking the vast sea of damned souls. She thought back at what she had learned while fused with Talia, which was a whole experience and a half in and of itself. She sighed, feeling a bit underwhelmed with how what she had planned actually played out, compared to how it was always portrayed in media.
"Alright, let's see where this takes us," Weiss said to herself. She focused, created an astral fishing rod from her mana, and cast the hook, hoping for a soul to bite. She waited for what felt like an hour hoping for a soul, any soul, to bite, but eventually decided to give up and made the fishing rod disappear again. She returned to the waking world, where she sat in her team's dorm room, and thought of another thing she could try. Accessing the dream realm, a place as surreal as the wildest dreams, she reached out to herself.
"Who goes there?" Weiss from another timeline asked, and came face to face with herself. The other Weiss wore almost the same outfit as her, but also a red scarf with a snowflake symbol embroidered at the ends.
"Hi me, I'm you," Weiss answered, "I just wanted to try talking to myself, so no reason to be upset or anything."
"H- how are you here?" The other Weiss asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Magic," Weiss answered, "I know, it's weird, but I can enter dreams and stuff, and I figured I might as well see how far I can go."
"I see," the other Weiss said and asked, "So, you too? Wait, where's your scarf?"
"I lost it in the train crash," Weiss answered, "Wait, you can use magic, too?"
"Yep," the other Weiss answered and asked, "And you didn't get the scarf back? Why not? It was a gift from Ruby."
"Wait, did something happen to her?" Weiss asked in a panic.
"No, but still, it was a gift," the other Weiss answered.
"I see," Weiss said and asked, "So, what kind of magic can you use? And what happened in your timeline?"
"Dream magic," the other Weiss answered, "And, well, see for yourself." She created a slide show of events and explained things, but the only difference seemed to be that one of them still had her scarf, and the other didn't.
"Well, that might explain why it was so easy," Weiss said, "We're more or less the same."
"Seems like it," Scarf Weiss said.
"So, want to help me get more of us?" Weiss asked.
"Of course," Scarf Weiss answered. They combined their powers and reached out further into the void, crossing the non-existence between timelines until they found other versions of themselves.
"Alright, what do you want?" Another Weiss asked. She wore a more rough-looking outfit, almost like a bandit leader.
"We're you," Weiss answered.
"No crap," Bandit Weiss said and asked, "But what do you want?"
"Talk?" Scarf Weiss answered, though it sounded more like a question.
"Sorry, not interested," Bandit Weiss said, "Beacon isn't rebuilding itself, and supplies are running low, so I'll have to go scavenging again soon. Bye." She disappeared before either of the others could offer their help, and both agreed that she probably didn't want their help anyway, so they kept looking for others.
"Who are you two?" Another Weiss asked when they contacted her.
"We're you from another timeline," Weiss answered, "We both picked dream magic, and we'd like your help, since you can use order magic."
"With what?" Order Weiss asked.
"Think of it as a hub," Scarf Weiss answered, "Just us Weiss', all in one pocket plane, talking about stuff."
"Sounds interesting," Order Weiss said, "Alright, I'm in. But I need a lot of juice for that to work out."
"Can we help?" Weiss asked.
"Sure," Order Weiss answered, "But it'll take a lot of power, so us three aren't enough."
"On it," Weiss said, and she and Scarf Weiss began searching for more powerful versions of themselves to speed of the process. They found several other Weiss', including some faunus, and people who worked regular day jobs, though somehow almost only baristas. They weren't powerful, but the absurdity of Weiss working at a coffee shop, and how often it occurred throughout the multiverse compared to any other, potentially more fitting, profession, made them get several on board anyway. Then, they hit what they believed to be the jackpot.
"What? Where am I?" The new Weiss asked when she looked around the white void. She wore white shoes with light blue soles, light cream pants with ruffled rims, and a simple cream shirt with thin shoulder straps and a light blue stripe across the stomach section. Her hair was open, safe for two small braids starting in the center and running around her head, connecting behind it.
"Please don't panic," Weiss said.
"Too late," the newcomer said and asked, "Who are you, where am I, why am I here, and what do you want?"
"Check the new girl's fit!" Archery Weiss called out, "It's super weird." The newcomer looked over to her and saw the Grimm the group had summoned to compare summons, including an Ursa, a Leviathan, and a Hound.
"Can we please stay calm?" Weiss asked, but the newcomer already tensed up.
"Wh- what are those?" The newcomer asked.
"Wait, you don't know about Grimm?" Scarf Weiss asked and summoned an Arma Gigas.
"B- but Grimm went extinct decades ago," the newcomer said, catching everyone off-guard.
"Wait, Grimm are extinct in your timeline?" Weiss asked, "How?"
"I don't know," the newcomer answered and calmed down, "They just are. They're legends, nothing more. After the Great War ended, the Warrior King used a great power to remove them from the world."
"That's definitely a nice timeline," Weiss said, and agreeing murmurs rose in the crowd of alternate Weiss'.
"We do have to contend with other beings, though," the newcomer said, "Creatures that thrive off of destruction, and can use whatever humans discard to form physical bodies. To deal with the threat, people are trained as warriors, deriving power from their desire to preserve life in all its forms to access mystical powers."
"What kind of power?" Science Weiss asked. Instead of the vivid blue shrug, she wore a white lab coat, and her earrings looked like the relic of knowledge.
"Well, since you're me, I suppose I can tell… me," the newcomer answered. In a flash of light, her appearance changed. She now wore heavy white combat boots, a light blue skirt with white tulle underneath, a white shirt under a dark blue vest with a sky blue ribbon on her chest, white fingerless elbow gloves, and her hair was now much more voluminous, and had a mystical, silver shimmer to it.
"What… is that?" Weiss asked, and the others all gathered to get a closer look at their alternate self.
"This is my alter ego, Alfa Snow," Magical Girl Weiss answered, "We Alfas are trained to defend the innocent, using the powers we are given by the Gods."
"Incredible," Science Weiss said and asked, "What can you do?"
"Well, I'm stronger than normal people," Alfa Snow answered, "I also have ice-based magic attacks. Also, like my brother and sister, I can do this." She created a glyph in front of her.
"So, you can still use your semblance," Ranger Weiss said and asked, "Can you summon anything?"
"My semblance?" Alfa Snow asked, "What's that?"
"Glyphs," Weiss answered, "Our family's semblance. A reflection of our soul, that every Schnee is born with. See?" She created her own glyph, and others followed suit.
"Wait, so this isn't part of my Alfa powers?" Alfa Snow asked.
"Nope," Weiss answered, "As long as you have aura, you can use this."
"So, what's aura?" Alfa Snow asked.
"It's the manifestation of your soul," Scarf Weiss answered, "It protects you from damage, for one, but it also lets you use your semblance. If it takes too much damage, it breaks and takes some time to regenerate."
"I see," Alfa Snow said, transformed back and asked, "Can you teach me how to use all this stuff without having to transform?"
"Sure," Weiss answered, "But, we need to ask a favor of you first."
"What is it?" Magical Girl Weiss asked.
"You see, this void is somewhat unstable," Scarf Weiss answered, "So, we'd need some power to keep it from collapsing. You're the most powerful version of us we found so far, so we would really appreciate if you would chip in and keep this thing active. I promise, it won't hurt."
"Alright then," Magical Girl Weiss said. All the Weiss' with related types of magic set up the pocket space properly, then they all began training their less experienced versions for a while, until they had to wake up again. Weiss and Scarf Weiss were the last to leave, as they could enter the space at will, and were not limited to their timeline's progression of time while outside it.
~o~
Blake sat in her team's dorm room, with a clone standing in front of her. She knew it was a part of her. She knew it was her aura. She closed her eyes and focused. As Blake reached out, her mind mapped the clone, and she felt like she was taking its place again. But this time, she had to do something different.
"Just like in the Alpha State," Blake thought. Instead of moving her muscles, she moved her aura, and eventually felt a slight response from her clone. After continuing for a few minutes, she opened her eyes again and saw that her clone's right index finger had moved slightly, and despite being exhausted from the effort, she was happy that it was possible to move her clones independently from herself.
~o~
Marrow stood in a park in Atlas and looked at a water fountain. He knew his training was officially over, but he still felt like he could do more. He also had yet to unlock his Alpha State. Shutting out all ambient noises, he took a deep breath and focused.
"Stay!" Marrow commanded, stopping the water's flow. However, he knew there was still more he could do. He reached out and felt that the water was still moving, albeit in ways he couldn't see. As he focused more, his aura grew strained and was stretched thin. Marrow felt his aura grow out of control, realizing his mistake too late to stop it.
~o~
Maria sat in a break room in the military base, trying to improve her skills. As she reached out, trying to sense Grimm from farther away, she felt like she made a mistake, as Grimm were much closer than they should be. She was about to write it off as an error on her part, when the recently-installed early warning sirens turned on.
"Everyone, Grimm are approaching from the north," the woman on the speakers said, "Furthermore, Marrow Amin has lost control and needs to be restrained, without lethal force." Maria grabbed her weapon and put her communicator in her ear, then headed to the northern edge of the city.
"I'll deal with Marrow," Blake said over communicator, "It's too dangerous for the rest of you."
"Ren and I got a plan," Nora said, "But we'd need Yang's help."
"Got it," Yang said. She transformed into her dragon form and flew over to pick them up. Ruby's Group, minus Ruby and Blake, and the Ace-Ops, minus Marrow, stood on the wall around Atlas and Mantle, looking at the approaching Grimm, and several soldiers joined them, assembling into different platoons to maximize efficiency.
"And remember, everyone," Clover said, "The turrets are there for a reason, so don't worry if a few Grimm slip past you. Just keep that number as low as possible." Yang was in her dragon form, carrying both Ren and Nora, with the latter sitting behind the former. As soon as the Grimm were clearly visible, everyone jumped off the wall. Weiss made several rows of glyphs to help those who couldn't fly, and Yang flew towards the enemy horde.
~o~
Blake found Marrow in a park in Atlas, walking hunched over and with long claws made from light blue energy protruding from his fingers, as well as ears on his head. He immediately noticed her, and seemed to have taken the park as his territory. Blake took a deep breath, and her aura manifested on her fingertips and hip. Unlike Marrow, who was completely out of control, her being in control of her aura meant she retained more of it, giving her a time limit. Marrow charged towards her, and she made a clone to evade the attack.
~o~
Ren shot a disk from the launcher on his back, drawing any nearby Grimm towards a central location before opening fire with his new bullets, courtesy of one of the soldiers and her Crystal Projectile semblance. The bullets burst into a flurry of crystal shards upon impact, damaging any nearby Grimm and creating a healing orb for each hit. Yang circled above the Grimm, allowing him to keep shooting the ones that were drawn in by his special disk and keeping the orbs densely packed. Soldiers with sniper rifles, as well as the sniper rifle turrets, kept the airborne Grimm under control with various projectiles.
~o~
Marrow tried slashing at Blake, but only hit her clones. She created multiple at once, trying to catch him off-guard, but his predator sense told him which clone was the real Blake, and she took a slash to the face, sending her into a nearby building. Just as Marrow was about to pounce at her, Ilia, also in her Alpha State, crashed into him and tackled him to the ground before getting back up.
~o~
Harriet swiftly weaved between Grimm, shooting her special disks into them. The disks hit their targets, bounced off, hit another Grimm, and bounced off again, while her semblance allowed her to evade the Grimm attacks. She saw that the orbs she created were either just hovering in the air or following her, and decided to switch to Spectral Assault instead. The attacks she had launched before were still affected by Spectral Healing, but any disk she launched afterwards created an orb that harmed the nearest Grimm.
~o~
Blake got back up and reentered the fight, keeping her distance to Ilia, just in case Marrow could still use his semblance in this state. Ilia swung her whip, using Power Whip augmented with ice-dust, and Marrow was engulfed in ice blue flames. Blake immediately rushed in and delivered a series of swift strikes, hitting Marrow with each of her claws individually, creating multiple snowflake minions that homed in on Marrow to deal additional damage.
~o~
When Ren ran out of crystal bullets, Nora rolled off of Yang's back and fired an air-dust canister into the Grimm, knocking them back and cushioning her fall. Ren got up and jumped back, flying towards a platoon of soldiers carrying Stealth Bullets, which dealt double damage on sneak attacks. He loaded a magazine of them into each of his own guns and masked the entire group of soldiers, and they began marching into the enemy horde, completely unseen by them, shooting them down with one hit each.
~o~
Blake and Ilia kept attacking Marrow with all they had, forcing him on the defensive. His aura regeneration wasn't as good as theirs, but he wasn't running out of time. Blake created a steam-dust clone, and Marrow hit it, creating a smoke screen. Just as Marrow used his predator sense to locate Ilia, he hesitated. Light purple energy flared up around Ilia's eyes and she rose off the ground, much to Blake's awe. Marrow backed away, but the grass around him rapidly grew into a thick hedge, trapping him, and he submitted. His aura traits disappeared, he dropped to the ground, and passed out.
~o~
Nora landed in the massive pile of healing orbs and created a large lightning-dust crystal in her hands, using up all the available aura. She used it to create a Combat Drone with a faint, yellow hue, and sent it to where the Grimm came from before she jumped on top of it and loaded her grenade launcher with water-dust canisters. Ren fired another special disk, this time aimed at Nora, and any Grimm within the area of effect immediately abandoned their original target to follow the huntress instead.
"I'll see you all later," Nora called over her shoulder as she disappeared behind the Grimm horde, shooting water-dust canisters into the Grimm. Whenever a Grimm was hit by an electric attack, either from the drone itself or relayed due to Chain Lightning, the water would get electrocuted as well, relaying the lightning once more, and increasing the range of effect.
"I've got a nice trick as well," Yang said after landing in a cloud of smoke and turning back to human form. She punched a Sabyr's head off, setting off an explosion of golden fire that rolled over both soldiers and Grimm, but only stuck to the Grimm.
"Ok, that is cool," Elm said, paused for a moment and asked, "What is it?"
"Daybreaker," Yang answered, "The semblance of a fusion between Sirena and I, which the fusion is also named after. If I kill a Grimm, it sets off this wave of fire, burning any nearby Grimm. If a burning Grimm dies, either from the fire or other causes, it is neutralized, as if it was killed by the silver eyes." She beat up the burning Grimm, causing them to fizzle out of existence in a crackling golden energy.
"That… is unbelievably useful," Clover said and asked, "Could I copy that?" He jammed his fishing spear into a Centinel, electrocuting it and the surrounding ones and creating more healing orbs.
"Sorry, but we need Sirena for that," Yang answered, "But you can still help me." She loaded air-dust shells in her weapons and propelled herself over to Clover, slamming down on a Beowolf and killing it, setting off another explosion of light. Clover electrocuted one of the burning Grimm, and the attack jumped to nearby enemies, killing several Grimm in one hit, most of which burning.
"Yang, head's up," Jaune called out as he flung a Sabyr towards her with the gravity-dust in his shield. Yang caught it, stuck a bomb to it, and threw it in a different direction. The bomb went off and killed the Sabyr, setting a pocket of Grimm near Ren and his platoon on fire. Clover focused and electrocuted the nearest Grimm, and his semblance made the lightning travel to the burning Grimm, killing them and creating more healing orbs for the group.
"Thanks," Ren said and had the orbs recharge his aura, before the platoon had the rest. The orbs seemed to be especially interested in one woman, and after she had absorbed enough of them, her ice blue aura flared up and she unlocked both her aura, and her semblance. When she fired another shot, the bullet was coated in ice blue flames, and the Big Ursa she hit was set ablaze as well.
"Hold on, I have a plan," Harriet said and seemingly disappeared, moving too fast for the naked eye to see, "Here you go." She handed the woman a few magazines of unholy bullets.
"I- thanks," the woman said, ejected her stealth bullet magazine, and loaded the unholy bullets instead.
"You're welcome," Harriet said, "Now get to shooting."
"Yes, ma'am," the woman said and saluted, and Harriet looked at Ren.
"Sorry to step on your toes like that," Harriet said, "But her semblance seems to be perfect for these bullets."
"It's fine," Ren said, remembered the strict military code and added, "But we'll still have to talk about this later."
"Got it," Harriet said and rushed off to kill more Grimm, which was almost exclusively visible as a pocket of them dying and a cluster of assault orbs popping up to harm nearby Grimm. The woman shot a round into a Grimm and the semi-transparent purple bullet passed right through several enemies, hitting seven Grimm in a straight line and engulfing them all in ice blue fire.
"This is amazing," the woman said and switched her assault rifle into burst mode, firing three-round bursts into the Grimm and using the recoil to slightly adjust her aim every time, peppering the Grimm with bullets.
"Are you still good?" Elm called out to her platoon, comprised of almost five dozen soldiers with strong offensive semblances. Her Poisonous Roots harmed any Grimm that got close enough, creating healing orbs for them to keep using their semblances.
"Yes, ma'am," one of her soldiers answered and fired another projectile from his hands. His dark red aura manifested into a winding mass of thorny vines that extended in a single line and remained in place for a few seconds. A couple Grimm went around the area and ran into the poisonous spores, taking damage and creating more healing orbs. One of the Knights shot it with an ivy bullet, immobilizing it with vines and allowing the spores to kill it.
"Snipers, focus on the golden burning ones," Yang said over communicator and ran over several Sabyr and Ursai, planting bombs in a few of them and setting them off when she was out of reach. The snipers, using crystal bullets, aimed at the burning Grimm and took them out one by one.
"Air support is here," Weiss said, standing on a summoned Queen Lancer and leading several other summons into battle, with Whitley riding on his single Sea Feilong, and Winter sitting on one of her summoned Sphinx. The summons quickly took care of all the Grimm, leaving only a few stragglers that tried to flee from battle, but were petrified by Maria, much to everyone's joy.
~o~
Nora kept riding her combat drone and killing Grimm, even though the enemies became less and less numerous as she continued through the mountain pass. Her dust crystal had shrunk considerably, and would likely only last for one more drone, so it was kind of good that the drone had time to regenerate. As she approached a cliff, she peeked over it and jumped off from her drone at the sight of what she saw at the bottom.
"Guy, I think we have a problem," Nora said over communicator, and sent back a picture of a weird pool forming in the tundra. The drone flew over it, but didn't do anything, implying it wasn't Grimm. When Nora looked up, she saw Amity hover above and secrete a pale yellow liquid, which collected into the pool underneath it.
"What is that?" Clover asked.
"I don't know," Nora answered, "But I'm not staying to find out." She collapsed her scroll, turned into a wolf and headed back to Atlas. Unbeknownst to her, Mercury saw her, but took a bit to process the sight. He then returned to his duty of making sure the new monsters grew properly. With the Infection crystal and the Ex Machina card combined, they had a stationary minion inside Amity that would feast on the negativity generated by other Ex Machina minions, and turn it into a yellow liquid.
~o~
After passing her final exam, turning energy into matter without using her own energy, Ruby was invited to a big party, though that mostly consisted of meeting higher-ups and other important people, in order for her to form bonds with them and better cooperate with them in the future. Looking around, she realized she was the youngest person in the room, earning her quite a bit of attention and admiration due to how easily she had mastered alchemy.
"Ruby Rose, hello," Belisama Tidebreaker, the arch-mage of alchemy, said in old Soraklian, "You are by far the youngest, most promising student of my school, and I hope to see you grow even more."
"Thanks," Ruby said, "I appreciate the opportunity to learn this art, and I will use it to help those in need however I can."
"I'm glad to hear that," Belisama said, "It means you didn't lose your way." Suddenly, Ruby heard a distant noise, and she knew what it meant.
"I would love to stay, but I have to return to my body," Ruby said, "Thank you for everything." As the distant noise became more and more clear, she slowly made out that it was Zwei barking. Her grip on Soraklia faded, and with a wisp-like sound like a gust of wind, she found herself back in her body in her bedroom in Patch.
Author's note: Ever have one of those dreams where you talk to a lot of versions of yourself, but they're all a bit different? Several dozen Weiss across the multiverse can relate. Also, a little teaser for my magical girl AU.
Also, notice how Blake said that engaging Marrow would be too dangerous for the others, rather than that she was the only one who could do that? Yeah, that was totally not at all planned. As in, I had completely forgotten that Ilia was in Atlas.
Originally, my plan was to have Ilia get the fall maiden powers a few chapters back, where she and some WF members fought Grimm, but then Zohar showed up and derailed everything. And they got along, so I couldn't even swarm them with Grimm.
Stupid wholesome lesbians reuniting without any angst and ruining my epic reveals.
And Ruby is finally back home, meaning I no longer have to underline all that text. I could swear I did it when I wrote it, but something messed that up.
Anyway, yes, royal nap time. The king is roughly 5 years old, after all.