Introductions

Cold. Ruby couldn't feel her body yet she felt cold. She could taste the bitterness of the tea lingering on her tongue. Her head felt like it was underwater but her body felt like it was up in the air. Her senses were blurred, but she could hear voices talking around her. One sounded familiar but she couldn't place it. The other was unknown to her. The voices became distant, then nothing.

Ruby's eyes fluttered open and her ears rang. Her head was pounding and everything was fuzzy. She could feel something soft underneath her- like a pile of blankets or a mattress- and a small weight on her chest. A groan escaped her and she haphazardly put her hand to her head, unintentionally smacking herself and only making her headache- or migraine, more likely- worse.

"Oh! Oh! She's awake! Ruby! Ruby, can you hear me?" a small voice called out.

The ringing in her ears gradually dissipated. Her vision cleared enough to see and her eyes darted around, trying to piece together where she was. It was… a bedroom. Her bedroom. From back home. But… she wasn't home, was she? The room was identical to her bedroom back home, but when she looked out the window all she saw was endless black space. Actual space.

Her thoughts were disrupted by the tiny weight on her chest moving, followed by wings flapping and someone repeatedly saying "ow."

"Okay, okay! She's awake, I get it! Stop pecking me!"

She turned her head to look at who was speaking. Someone about her age- maybe a little older- was being pecked by some kind of orange bird and was trying to swat it away. The bird was… kinda small- and the stranger had white hair.

"Ruby! Ruby!" the small voice shouted.

The girl in question shot up to a sitting position. She looked down at her lap- having felt a small thump after shooting up- and felt tears gather in her eyes.

Her voice broke a little, "Little?!"

She scooped up the mouse and hugged them close to her chest. Little hugged her finger in return since they were much too small to give her a proper hug. Tears spilled as she started to cry. One tear dropped onto Little's head and they looked up at her.

"Don't cry, Ruby! This nice person said that everything is okay now!" they gestured to the white-haired stranger, who was now leaning against the desk at the end of her bed, the orange bird perched on their shoulder.

Ruby stared at them for a moment, looking both the person and the bird over, "Who… are you? And… what is that?" she pointed to the bird.

"Well, I go by five different names but for the sake of simplicity just call me Spade. I'm the owner of this house. And this bird here is… my friend. She's a phoenix." they explained, gesturing to themself and the bird respectively.

"A… phoenix…? Aren't they usually… bigger? And more… on fire?"

"Ehh, usually. Normally she's the size of a peacock but she decided to be burrow owl size. As for being more 'on fire,' I told her if she burned anything I'd throw her outside for a week."

Ruby and Little both glanced at the window, looking at the endless space just outside it. The former looked back at Spade, "Is that… safe?"

Spade paused and looked at the window, "Oh-! There's an outside area with a galaxy dome around it. Perfectly safe."

The girl sighed and slumped back against the headboard, plopping her hands- and Little- onto her lap. It was only then she realized she wasn't wearing her normal clothes. She'd been changed into her black pajamas, the only difference between these and the original set being her emblem and team name being sewn onto the collar.

Another quick glance around the room and she saw her clothes neatly folded on Yang's bed and her boots on the ground next to it. Crescent Rose was nowhere to be seen. She didn't exactly feel… upset. She didn't know what she was feeling.

"So… does your friend have a name?"

Spade stuttered for a moment, seemingly caught off-guard by the question, "Uh- yeah- her name is, uh… Ccc… indy… Cindy!"

Cindy facepalmed (face… winged-?) and Ruby just accepted their answer without question. Little climbed up to Ruby's shoulder and sat down, putting a paw on the girl's face. Cindy flew off of Spade's shoulder and landed on Ruby's lap, looking up at her and chirping. She gently patted the bird's head as Spade sat on the edge of the bed.

"I brought you and everyone else here because I thought it would be fun and because you really need a break. You're going to be watching… alternate universes of yourselves. Or AUs as they're commonly referred to. Everyone else is in the theater. Do you want to join them or would you prefer to stay here?"

Now that they were so close and her vision had fully cleared, Ruby saw that Spade's eyes were red. Like Yang's when her Semblance is active.

She looked down at Cindy then glanced at Little, "I… think I'd rather stay here… for now, at least…"

"That's alright. You can stay here as long as you need to. Cindy will stay with you and if you need anything just press that button on the bedside table." they gestured to a yellowish-orange button next to the lamp.

Ruby looked at it, then at Spade. They nodded and she looked at it again, this time reaching out and pressing it. After a minute the door flung open and in walked a small, toddler-sized… robot?

Spade picked up the small robot and held it like a child, "This is Mi-a! Pronounced 'Mia' but written with a dash between the 'I' and 'A.' She'll help you with whatever you need. Don't worry if it lags or glitches, it does that sometimes."

Mi-a waved at Ruby and she waved back. It had short blond hair and orange eyes with what resembled crosshairs instead of normal pupils. On top of its head were… bunny ears? Or something? Made from robotic parts.

"Hello, Ruby Rose. I am Mi-a. I am here to assis- assist you," her attention turned to Spade, "Ruby Rose-Fall is ready and waiting."

Little tilted their head, "There's two Ruby's?"

Silver eyes peeked in from outside the door. The owner of the eyes came into view and stood in the doorway. Ruby's expression shifted from confusion to shock as she stared at herself. An almost identical copy of herself was standing in the doorway. Didn't she just talk to herself face-to-face back in Ever After?

Spade stood up and pulled the other Ruby into the room, "Ruby, meet, uh- well- Ruby- I guess. This is Ruby Rose-Fall. She's like you, but also not like you," they paused for a moment, "Okay now I'm sounding like that fucking cat-"

"What is going on?!" Ruby Rose interrupted.

"Right, right- sorry," they set Mi-a down and she stood by Yang's bed, "Uhm- since you want to stay in here, my Ruby will pretend to be you. They'll go into the theater and act like you so nobody panics about you not being there," they looked at Rose-Fall, "Hm… to avoid confusion, how about we call you Rubes?"

Rubes nodded, "That works with me."

Ruby still didn't understand. How were there two of her? Why was the other's name Rose-Fall? Why were they almost identical? She wasn't in the Ever After anymore yet she somehow had even more questions. She put her head in her hands and groaned. Nothing was making sense.

"Ruby…? Are you okay…?" Little moved down onto Cindy's back- much to the phoenix's displeasure- and looked up at the girl with a worried expression.

"I just… I don't understand… nothing makes sense anymore… seeing myself in the Ever After made at least a little sense but here? Where even is here? We're not in Ever After anymore!"

Cindy cooed and Rubes stood next to Ruby, the latter looking up at her, "We're not… exactly the same person. We may share a name and a face, but we're still different people. I'm technically from an AU myself. I don't share a lot of your experiences. Think of us like twins."

Ruby sighed, "I guess… that helps… a little…" a brief pause. Her attention turned towards the little robot on the ground, "Can I… get something to eat? And some water?"

Mi-a nodded and made a little beep before leaving the room. The two Ruby's sat in silence while Spade began setting up two monitors on a table at the end of the bed. One was the size of a large TV and the other was a normal computer monitor.

"This," they started, "is so you can watch everything. The big monitor will show what's being played in the theater and the small one will show the rest of the theater. You'll be able to see and hear everyone's reactions as they happen."

The monitors were hooked up and turned on with a click. The bigger one was blank while the smaller one showed an aerial view of the theater previously mentioned. The angle made Ruby guess that the camera was in a front ceiling corner to the… right of everyone. The faint light outside of the camera's view was likely the theater screen.

Rubes quietly sighed and left the room, Mi-a entering at the same time. The tiny robot carried a plate of food in one hand and a glass of water in the other. It was comical how both looked bigger than they were compared to her. A holographic set of stairs appeared in front of the bedside table and Mi-a carefully made her way up them, setting the plate and glass down once she was at the top.

She turned to Ruby, "I have gathered all of Ruby Rose's favorite foods as well as cheese plant slices for Little."

"Thank you, Mi-a."

It nodded and hopped back down the stairs, said stairs disappearing afterwards. It left the room once more and Ruby picked up the plate, handing a cheese slice to Little. Cindy chirped and was given a strawberry, which she gladly took and pecked at. Ruby looked at Spade.

"So… what exactly goes on in… AUs?"

"Oh, all sorts of things," they turned to her, "Some take place in Remnant, others take place somewhere else entirely. Some of the Remnant AUs can happen because of a single difference between it and your universe. Even something that seems minor can have a big impact."

"What changed in Rubes' AU?"

The other stayed silent for a minute, very briefly glancing down at the bird on Ruby's lap. They smiled, "You'll find out eventually. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go perform an exorcism."

Ruby blinked in confusion, "An exor-wha- hey-!" she looked around. Spade seemed to have disappeared into thin air, "Where did they…?"

Little looked up from their food and pointed at the small monitor, "There they are! How'd they get there so fast? Looks like people are fighting too."

"Oh, boy…"

While chaos was expected, an all-out brawl was not. Spade groaned and rubbed their face, yelling out into the hallway from the theater doorway, "GARNET! STOCKING! GET IN HERE!"

While waiting for those two, they opted to separate people before anyone was seriously injured. With a wave of their arm, every fight participant in the room was separated from their opponent. Clusters of small, red-lined, black cubes with white specks pinned people to the walls, lifted them into the air by the arm, or- in Neo's case- encased them completely.

"I don't get paid enough for this… wait I don't get paid at all- now someone tell me what the fuck happened."

30 Minutes Earlier

The tension in the room was thick enough you'd need a chainsaw to cut through it. WBY and Jaune had just witnessed Ruby killing herself then suddenly they were in a strange theater with almost forty other people. Jaune was back to normal and people that they had seen die were alive. Ironically, being in the same room as Salem was the least of their worries at the moment. Neo- who was still possessed by the Curious Cat- looked ready to attack.

Nobody moved a muscle. The room was dead silent- not even breathing could be heard. It seemed like no one was willing to be the one to break the silence and no one was going to be the first to move. After what felt like an eternity, words cut through the silence.

"Where's. Ruby." it wasn't a question Yang was asking, but more so a demand. Her eyes were trained on Neo- or the Cat, I should say- ready for any move they may make.

The Cat made a face and crossed their arms, "She drank the tea with the leaves from the tree. She Ascended. At least, she did in theory. Who knows what really happened to her." they laughed and Yang went to lunge, being stopped by her teammates before she could.

If Roman wasn't bewildered before, he sure was now. He'd never heard Neo speak before but he knew damn well that wasn't her voice. His confusion switched from "How am I alive?" to "Whose voice is that?"

In the back of the room- at the very top of the steps- Cinder and Salem exchanged a glance. Even if killing Ruby was one of Cinder's main goals, she found it hard to believe the girl was actually dead. She had known Ruby long enough to know it would take a lot more than Grimm and a fall off a bridge to kill her. And given that the rest of her team as well as Neo were alive, she could assume the void beneath the bridge wasn't deadly.

Cinder's thoughts were disrupted by a fist to the side of her face, making her stumble sideways. She looked over and scowled. Although she wasn't entirely surprised Watts was the one who hit her, it was still strange seeing him there after she had left him to burn in Atlas.

Not too far away- about two rows down, actually- Adam and Sienna were staring each other down. Ghira stood behind the latter and Kali hid behind him, peeking around his arm. She hadn't seen either Faunus after leaving the White Fang, but she had heard of Sienna's death and Adam's rise to high leader. Quite frankly, she'd never thought he was quite cut out for that high of a position. But she wasn't about to say that to his face. Not right now at least.

Back at the bottom, to say Winter was angry would be an understatement. She was beyond furious with Ironwood and it took the entire Ace-Op team to keep her away from him. The pleasantries of being reunited with Clover and Vine were cut short when she tried to jump the former general. Luckily, she had enough self control to not warrant a need to be fully restrained. Unfortunately, Qrow didn't have nearly the same amount of self control and decked Ironwood in the face. Can't say he didn't deserve it though.

Only a few feet away stood the rest of the Schnee family, Whitley half hiding being his mother while his father berated them with nonsense he tried to tune out. He turned his attention to Weiss- who was still keeping Yang restrained- and felt a small sense of relief. Winter had said Weiss had fallen off the bridge along with the rest of her team. Seeing his elder sister alive eased his anxiety a bit, but not fully.

The chaos that was already ensuing came to a brief halt when the door- which had previously been locked from the outside- opened not-so-silently and in stepped Ruby, alive and well. Of course, this wasn't actually their Ruby, but they didn't need to know that.

The Cat took the opportunity of everyone's guard being down- albeit very briefly- to go for their previous host choice. Unfortunately for them, Ruby was quick to side-step and grabbed their arm to swing them into the door. They fell to the ground after bouncing off said door and Ruby backed up towards "her" teammates, catching a glimpse of Jacques glaring at her as she passed by.

Yang jumped over the seats in front of her and tackled her sister, earning a startled noise from the younger girl, "Ruby! You're okay! We- we thought you-" she couldn't get the words out but didn't need to- Ruby understood what she was trying to say.

"Yeah… I'm… I'm okay… just… confused, I guess…" Rubes was doing her best to act and sound like Ruby. They may have been identical physically, but Rubes had to study how Ruby had been acting before Spade brought them all here. Acting wasn't as easy as some people made it out to be.

Weiss and Blake soon joined the hug- which was really just the four of them in a pile on the ground- and Jaune hesitantly followed suit. He was already over the shock of being young again, even if he was still appalled at how he sounded. Is that really what he sounded like to everyone?

Jaune and WBY were too relieved to see Ruby alive to notice the subtle differences that indicated this wasn't their Ruby; the slightly longer hair, the absence of heavy eyebags, the fact she seemed to be a bit more muscular. Although, when I say "absence" of heavy eyebags, I mean that Rubes' weren't as bad as Ruby's.

A few rows up stood Penny and Pyrrha. They were both watching the commotion below while still processing that they were alive. Pyrrha could feel the phantom pain of Cinder's arrow piercing through her sternum, impaling her heart and exiting out her spine. Penny could still feel the pain of Jaune's sword in her abdomen. It was a strange feeling for her considering physical pain was something still new to her.

Ozpin- who was back in his previous body- stood near the outer edge of the front row with a confused Oscar staring up at him as well as former Beacon staff behind him. Well, this was awkward, wasn't it? He never counted on ever meeting the boy in person with his own physical body (even though it wasn't really his body) and he really never counted on seeing his former coworkers again. Regardless, he could feel Salem's gaze burning holes into the side of his head. That wasn't the only thing he felt, but he couldn't put his finger on what else it was. Strange…

In the very back of the theater- behind Salem and her cronies- stood the mystery woman of the hour; Summer Rose. She didn't know where the hell she was or who most of these people were, but she wasn't planning on making her presence known.

Once RWBY and Jaune were back up on their feet, their attention turned to the Cat standing at the door. They looked between the group and the empty, dimly lit hall behind them. While they could make a break for it, they had no idea where they were or where the hallway went. Or what was at the end of it. Although Ruby had appeared unharmed, they weren't about to take any chances.

So they instead lunged forward and went for the RWBY member closest to them: Yang. This action caused fights to break out throughout the room- Adam and Sienna going for each other's throats, Cinder and Watts engaging in a fist fight, Tyrian leaping down from the back row to attack Qrow.

Present

"… and the fighting continued until you came in."

Spade sighed and rubbed their face, "Thank you, Ren." They could feel their sanity leaving.

With a snap of their fingers, everyone but Neo was released. Spade cracked their knuckles as two others came in behind them. One was much taller, sporting a pair of visor sunglasses and gauntlets that seemed to make Yang's look like children's toys. On top of that, her skin was a sort of pink color. The other was shorter and wore gothic Lolita clothing- oddly with one stocking missing- and carried a blue sword in one hand.

"I'm gonna release her. Garnet, you hold her down. Stocking, you be ready in case she gets free. Don't let her leave." Spade shifted into a stance.

Garnet- the taller one- went behind the cocoon-like structure encasing Neo and tightly wrapped their arms around it. Stocking stood behind Spade with her sword at the ready. The latter snapped again and the cocoon disapated, Neo now being held around the waist with her arms pinned to her sides. The Cat hissed and thrashed about like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

"Let go of me! Who are you people?!" they- quite literally- hissed while aimlessly kicking about.

Spade didn't bother giving them an answer. They shot forward and plunged their hand into Neo's chest, a black void opening and red sparks of electricity- or more accurately, lighting- crackling around the area. The Cat yelled out in both surprise and pain as they were slowly pulled out of their host's body, albeit with some difficulty.

"Come on you little shit-! You can't stay in her forever-!" Spade pulled them out by the scruff, yanking and falling back when they were finally disconnected from Neo.

Stocking snickered, "That's what-"

"Say 'That's what she said' and I'll shove that sword up your ass."

She crossed her arms, "You're no fun."

Garnet set Neo down on her feet and guided her to the closest seat, sitting her down and kneeling down next to her, "You alright?"

Neo blinked and looked around. She was confused and most definitely traumatized from that whole ordeal. She looked at Garnet, halfway in a daze, and gave a small nod. The other's gauntlets disappeared and she patted Neo's head. Neo noticed they had reddish-pink gems on their palms- as well as silver and gold wedding bands on their right and left hands, respectively- and tilted her head.

While Neo pondered about the person in front of her, Spade and Stocking were wrestling the Cat into a cat carrier. The latter held it open while the former tried to shove them in- getting the shit scratched out of their arms in the process. After a minute or two, one could assume they internally said "fuck it" when they jumped back several feet and hucked the Afteran feline into the carrier as if they were a baseball.

Stocking slammed the carrier door closed and locked it, sighing and bringing it up to eye level, "So what do we do with it?" She blew a raspberry when they hissed at her.

Spade awkwardly held their arms by their sides and huffed, "Put them in the room with the Brothers. I need to get patched up." They muttered something along the lines of "Stupid cat bitch" as they left the room, Stocking trailing behind them.

Confusion was one emotion shared amongst onlookers. Jaune and WBY looked a cross between horrified and shocked while Ruby barely looked fazed. A few heads turned towards Garnet as she eased Neo through the shock she just went through while others' attention was turned to the door the other two had just gone through. A deafening silence overtook the room once more, but this time no one moved to break it.

Ruby and Little stared at the screen with both their jaws hanging open- Little's more dramatically than Ruby's.

"What… was… that?!" the mouse asked no one in particular.

Ruby shook her head and blinked a few times before looking down at Cindy, who didn't seem bothered by what they had just witnessed. The bird looked up at the girl and chirped, shaking like a wet dog and fluffing up her feathers.

"Is…" Ruby hesitated, "Is that sort of thing… normal here…?" She doubted the phoenix could answer, but who else could she ask?

To her surprise, Cindy moved her head in what could be described as a "kinda?" motion. Seeing as Cindy couldn't speak, Ruby made a mental note to ask Spade- or whoever she came across first- about it later. Little had apparently forgotten about the whole thing already and was back to eating their cheese plants.

Spade returned ten minutes later with gauze bandages wrapped from their wrists all the way up past their elbows. If you looked close enough, you could see tiny pinpricks of blood peeking through the white cloth. They looked quite annoyed at being scratched up but didn't say a word about it. Actually, they couldn't even get a single word in before Jacques started yelling, causing them to make a face cross between disgust and "I'm going to fucking kill you again."

Jacques stood less than a foot away from Spade, quite literally looking down on them and yelling in their face, "And just who do you think you are?! You think you can just kidnap me and throw me in a room full of criminals?! As if being near those animals isn't disgusting already!" he gestured to the Faunus around the room.

"Gods, you're insufferable. No wonder your wife became an alcoholic and your children abandoned you. Get outta my face and sit the fuck down before I shove you in a crate like I did that cat." Spade crossed their arms and appeared to gag a little as an unspoken insult.

"Excuse me?! Do you know who I am?!" Jacques' face was turning a shade of red that rivaled a couple peoples' hair. Was that a vein popping out on his forehead?

An eye roll and a drawn out yawn was the only response he received, which in turn only angered him even more. Spade made a shooing motion with their hand and was grabbed by the collar of their shirt. They were pulled forward and lifted off the ground enough they had to stand on the balls of their feet. Garnet stood up, her gauntlets reappearing, but stayed put when Spade lifted their hand in your typical "hold on" manner.

While most were unable to see Spade's face due to either further away or at an angle that didn't allow them to, the few closest to the pair could see it clear as day. They looked annoyed- and rightfully so- but they also appeared to be completely calm about the whole thing, even as Jacques continued to yell at them.

"If you would kindly put me down," they said once given the chance, "I'll explain everything. If you don't want to willingly put me down that's fine, but Garnet over there has no problem cracking your skull open like an egg if you hurt me."

A glance out of his peripheral told Jacques that they weren't bluffing. Garnet may have been staying put but they weren't happy about it. And by the looks of it, she likely towered over him by quite a bit. He grumbled and dropped the little shit, backing away a few paces and crossing his arms. Spade gave him a smug look and blew a small raspberry at him. How childish.

They brushed themself off and straightened out their shirt, "Anyway, introductions are in order. I have five different names but for the sake of simplicity you may call me Spade. That lovely gem over by Neo is Garnet and the girl that took the Cat away was Stocking. Don't ask why she's named after a clothing item, I couldn't tell you, I didn't name her." They could tell them. They just didn't want to explain it.

"You're currently in the theater in my house. I brought you here because I thought it would be fun for you to watch alternate versions of yourselves. Although, I was less inclined to bring some of you here than others." A sharp glare was directed at the former CEO.

A hand in one of the middle rows shot up and their attention shifted to it, "Yes, Velvet?"

Velvet's ears drooped slightly as she stuck to Coco's side like glue, "Are we still in Remnant? And how did we get here?"

"No, you're in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, I teleported most of you here. And by 'most of you' I mean those of you who were still alive. There was a whole process for those of you who weren't. And then an entirely different one for those whose status was unknown to me. That means you, Summer."

Summer's breath hitched at the call-out and she froze in place as people turned to look at her. A staring contest with Salem wasn't exactly on her to-do list. She slowly inched away from the other woman and walked along the wall, making her way towards Raven and Tai a few rows down from the Belladonna's.

Spade cleared their throat, "Ahem… moving on. As I mentioned before, you're here to watch alternate versions of yourselves. We call these 'alternate universes'- or 'AUs' for short. Some will be similar to your own universe while others will be completely different. Not all of them will be… pleasant… to watch, so I apologize in advance."

"And what do you mean by 'not pleasant?'" Sienna asked, ears twitching. There was a slight ringing in her left ear that wouldn't go away.

"Well- ah-" they made a face, "Some of them are embarrassing, some are very vulgar, and some are just really gory. Best part is that I gave my tablet to one of the other residents here and let her do todays lineup. I have no idea what we're about to watch."

Several groans arose. By now Garnet didn't want to immediately want to break a certain Schnee's skull and was making sure Neo was okay for the time being. The much smaller girl was still a little dazed- as well as feeling like she got hit in the sternum with Nora's hammer- but seemed to be fine for now. Garnet patted her head and took their leave, whispering something to Spade as they passed by, causing the other to snicker.

Willow spoke up, Whitley at her side, "How long are we going to be here?"

"Excellent question, Miss Schnee. Originally I'd planned to only keep you here for a week, buuut you might stay longer. At the end of the week you can vote on if you want to leave and go back to Remnant or stay here for another week. Majority vote wins."

Once again, Jacques became angry, "A week?! You expect me to tolerate you and those animals for a week?!"

Spade gave him a look that could kill him again, "Keep that attitude up and see what happens. While I did say the other residents can't kill you, I didn't say anything about not beating the shit outta you. Quite a few of them would like to do just that and I have no problem turning a blind eye to it."

Roman cut Jacques off before he could open his mouth again, "Just how many people live here?"

There was a pause as Spade thought for a moment, putting their finger to their lip, "Around two hundred and twenty, give or take."

"Two hundred and twenty?!"

"It's a big-ass house."

"Even the largest home estate in Atlas couldn't hold that many people." Ironwood chimed in, "How can this place possibly be big enough?"

A cheeky grin appeared on Spade's face but no actual answer was given. They waved their arm and everyone was picked up by the backs of their shirts by black, limb-like protuberances that seemed to come down from the ceiling. With another arm wave, people were moved about and placed back down in the theater seats.

In the front left row- starting from the aisle outward- sat Ozpin, Glynda, Port, Oobleck, Ironwood, and Jacques. You wouldn't notice it at first, but Jacques' seat was smaller than the rest to the point of being a bit uncomfortable if sat in for too long.

In the opposing row sat "Ruby," Yang, Blake, Taiyang, Qrow, and Raven. Rubes threw a slightly annoyed look at Spade, who merely grinned.

The second left row had the rest of the Schnee family- going from eldest to youngest- with Oscar and Clover at the outer end.

Opposite them was team JNPR- with only Nora and Pyrrha being switched- and the lesbian half of CFVY.

Behind the Schnees was Salem, Cinder, Tyrian, Mercury, Adam, and Watts. Tyrian was pouting at the stinger having been removed from his tail while Adam- surprisingly- kept Watts from trying to land another hit on Cinder.

Across from them sat Hazel, Emerald, Harriet, Vine, Elm, and Marrow.

Behind the former villains and Ace-Ops was Neptune, Sun, Ilia, Sienna, and Ghira and Kali. The Belladonna's were sat in what could be assumed to be a couples' seat.

The last row- behind Salem and her cronies- sat only Penny, Neo, Roman, and Summer. The remaining two seats were empty. Whether that was intentional or simply because there weren't enough people was anyone's guess.

"Now then," Spade started, "shall I explain the rules? I've had your Semblances and Auras temporarily taken away as well as stashed your weapons elsewhere. The Maiden powers have also been taken away, so don't even try to use them."

Raven and Cinder grumbled at that. Winter, on the other hand, thought it was fair enough.

"While I do enjoy a good fight every now and then, there will be absolutely no fighting in the theater. If you just have to beat each other up I'll let you use the training room with supervision. Light jabs and bad puns are fine," a small glance at Yang and Taiyang, "but I won't tolerate direct verbal attacks. Also, try not to talk too much when something is playing onscreen."

The room fell silent for a few minutes. Spade shifted their weight from foot to foot, growing increasingly uncomfortable with the silence. They could feel several people staring at them and could see several others exchanging looks. They exchanged a glances with Rubes and stood up straighter, opening their mouth to say something only to be cut off.

Salem rested her chin against her hand, "What are you?"

Spade blinked and raised an eyebrow, "A person-?"

The older woman's eyes narrowed, making the younger take a small step back, "You may appear human but the abilities you've displayed further prove the theory that you aren't. What. Are. You?"

"A witch, obviously." The sarcasm in their tone was more than obvious. They sighed and rolled their eyes, "Regardless of what you may think, I am human. I'm not from Remnant, so the limits of your world don't apply to me. That answer your question?"

"… for now."

"Great…" They teleported to the open space in the back of the theater and seemingly pulled a chair from nowhere. There was a tablet resting on one of the arms and a bottle of what looked like coffee in a cup holder.

They began mumbling to themself and picked up the tablet, turning it on and messing with it with their back turned to everyone. Tyrian silently moved to jump from his seat only to freeze when Spade spoke again.

"Tyrian if you try to jump me I will shove your tail so far up your ass you'll change Faunus types."

He grumbled and sat back down, crossing his arms like a child. A moment later a door on the back wall rattled as if someone were trying to open it. Spade looked up from the tablet and at said door. A muffled "goddammit" from the other side was heard followed by what sounded like angered stomping.

Spade went over to the door and knocked, "Need help, Embry?"

A moment of silence.

"No, I got it." the person on the other side- Embry- replied.

"If you say so." They said while walking back to their chair and plopping down, continuing to mess with the tablet in their hands.

Watts looked at it and scoffed, "Seems rather primitive."

"You're rather primitive."

The man was too stunned to speak. Snickers and giggles could be heard all around the room. Cinder herself was amused at her former coworker being shut up so quickly.

With a small click, the theater screen lit up. Most everyone turned their attention to it, but some looks lingered on others. Whether that be Spade or another audience member depended on the person looking. Salem's gaze briefly lingered on Ozpin. She'd be lying if she said there weren't times she missed how things used to be. Even after being made immortal and turning herself into a monster, Ozpin had still loved her during his first reincarnation. She wondered if he still did. It almost pained her to call him her ex-husband. Almost.

Spade clicked their tongue a few times- the kinds of clicks you'd make while waiting for something to load. When something finally did load, they muttered a "goddammit Powder" and quietly groaned.

"Fuck it, we ball. I ain't responsible for any atrocities you're about to witness."

Was that mildly concerning? Yes. But it's not like they had much choice.

*Blows the door open with dynamite*

I'm alive. Kinda.

I started this chapter back in April and I'm honestly surprised I finished it in just a month considering how my motivation disappears like RWY's moms. Deadlines are for losers.

Translation: Don't expect the next chapter anytime soon.

Brief(ish) explanation for Rubes and the other non-RWBY characters:

Last year basically my entire friend group made the discovery that we're all system. I'm an OSDD system with mostly fictive alters. Rubes, Mi-a, Stocking, and Garnet are just a few of the many… many… alters in my system.

My system is called the Void House system. There are several more RWBY alters that *might* appear later but I'm not guaranteeing anything. Simply because I can't make nicknames for them all, they'll likely only appear once if at all.

Also. I re-read the reviews on the old MVT. Some of y'all are fucking weird (/lh). I will tell you this right now; I will not be portraying Jaune as any kind of harem protag or anything. The thought alone makes me uncomfortable.

I'm gonna disappear again. Bye.