Author's Notes

So I fixed the issues acting up with the code part at the end of chapter 49. Feel free to go back and reread it if you wish. It's not relevant to this chapter (you're in for a doozy), just a note for those who had trouble reading it.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!

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Chapter 59: The Boss

In which Mercury, Weiss, and you finally get some answers.

"Py-"

"The Faunus? The fucking cat on Team Rainbow is the one calling the shots?"

Emerald shook her head. "No. Salem has always been the one calling the shots, but you don't need to worry your pretty little head about her. Blake Belladonna has been coordinating our actions since the very beginning. She is the Boss."

"Cinder–"

"Is my beloved. Is a determined if not slightly abrasive huntress-in training. Doesn't know about any of this. Will. Not. Learn."

Mercury picked up on the threat. He was still reeling with shock as the Mistrilian anthem played. Cinder was giving some sort of victory speech about how much better she was than everyone else while accepting a trophy.

"Salem–"

"Be careful how you throw around that name. Let's say she's an influential woman with a lot of resources under her command and a mind to change up the playing field for good. She and Blake were in an alliance of mutual benefit and mutual dislike, and their plan needed my semblance. Lionheart – the old headmaster is in Salem's pocket, by the way – told Salem about Cinder's dream to win the tournament and prove herself the strongest. We made a deal. Let's get one thing straight. Cinder is…I love her, but she's a kind of a goody two shoes, at least compared to our type. She's not okay with murder or stealing or cheating. I was a thief for a living before Cinder took me off the streets; my moral code is more flexible."

"Cinder has some secret heart of gold? You gotta be shitting me."

"Why do you think she got so upset when she learned that Neo tried to ice the Schnee and the robot? She always told us to keep our hands clean. I let you two assume it was code for 'don't get caught,' but it's actually because it upsets her when we did something illegal. Make no mistake, Cinder doesn't play nice with any of the other kiddies, but at the end of the day, she's a law-abiding citizen. She did choose to become a huntress, after all."

"So, going back, you made a deal."

"Yep. Cinder and I were a two-lady team for the longest time, and even still, we were Haven's best. She was too good a student for Lionheart to pass up, but no other pair of hunters-in-training stuck around for more than a week under her leadership. The only reason she and I get along is because I accept how perfect she is."

You kiss her ass. Literally.

"Bending the rules to allow for Team CE was blatant favoritism, but Lionheart got his star pupil, and Cinder didn't have to waste time on stupid subordinates."

It didn't take long for Mercury to figure out why that couldn't last forever.

"Vytal needs four teammates."

"Bingo. We needed a pair of names to list in Line 3 and Line 4 on the application form, and not even Lionheart could pull the strings and cheat our way in this time. Salem, through Blake, promised me not only placeholder names but hunter-level mercenaries behind those names, ones who could help us out in the full team round. I got to tell Cinder I scouted out two promising 'recruits' for her dream of entering Vytal, so everyone was happy."

The truth gave Mercury a throbbing migraine. This whole time, he'd thought there was some grand design to his actions, but he was just the lien chip being handed over. "Dust, we were only here for the stupid tournament. I thought you needed my skills as an assassin."

"Nope. Blake needed your father to assassinate someone, but you were just a well-trained kid in the right age range to join Team Caiman. Oh, I forgot to mention, your dad is dead."

Mercury's mind exploded for the second time tonight. He distracted himself from the life-changing revelation Emerald had just dropped by trying to piece together the timeline.

"Belladonna was the one I saw. She was the one with fire eyes who came with you to hire my dad."

"She matches Cinder from afar – same colored eyes, same hair, same figure, the ability to control fire as a mai…you know, let's keep some things private. Anyhoo, it made it easier to trick you and Neo into obeying Cinder if you thought she was the one pulling the strings."

"What's in it for Belladonna?"

Emerald shrugged nonchalantly. "No idea. I just worked with her, did my part, and took my payment." Cinder waved to her, and Emerald sat up ramrod straight to return a blown kiss.

"Neo and I were your payment," pieced together Mercury. "But what was your part?"

"Originally, Belladonna needed me to discredit the Schnee publicly with the whole world watching. Yeah, that was me, dumbass. Then, she decided that she needed Ruby Rose to be knocked unconscious and put out of the tournament. I got a little extra for that – Blake made sure that Cinder faced an easier opponent in the finals. Valkyrie practically doesn't have a semblance unless there's a thunderstorm, so I thought Cinder would fare better against her than the robot."

The lightning bolt that struck Nora – that was Belladonna? From Team Rainbow?

Wait, does…does she not know the robot works for us?

Mercury had not mentioned his little after-school club with Morrighan the horseman, and he decided that he would continue to not do so for a little longer.

If there's some sort of internal discord going on between this Salem and some of her other pawns, it's best for me not to get stuck in the middle.

"Technically Blake's little trick didn't work, but hey, Cinder won anyways." Emerald smiled lustily. "Cinder always wins."

"So, what now?"

"Team Rainbow will be dead tomorrow morning. We'll be shocked to learn the news and express our deepest sympathy. You'll be provided with a new pair of weaponized legs to replace the ones you lost. I'll be keeping you around for a little bit since Neo had a, ahem, family emergency in Mistral, and it wouldn't do for both of you to mysteriously disappear, but you're on your own after this."

Bye bye, Pint Size. I hope Little Red was worth it.

Emerald turned her attention back to the festivities, and Mercury watched the show in stunned silence. The fat old man and Mistress Uptight were droning on and on about the need for unity across all four kingdoms. Across Cinder's face was the eternally rare smile (not a smirk; an honest to the Brothers smile). He'd have staked his life that the crowds would be screaming in agony by this point, not in celebration.

Valkyrie had been a good sport about losing, happily accepting her silver medal, so none of her fans felt the need to riot on her behalf. Still, Mercury doubted that Cinder Fall stuffed toys would be hitting the shelves anytime soon.

-a?"

"Pyrrha!"

A beam of pure pale green hit Weiss in the chest, knocking the wind out of her and breaking her aura faster than ever before. Weiss dropped the shadow clone and crumpled into a heap. Blake didn't look happy as the heiress collapsed, but who knows? Maybe she was pleased. Weiss didn't really have a good grip on what her partner was thinking anymore.

"B-Blake?" Weiss rasped.

"Shhhhhh," the Faunus cooed. "I'll explain everything." Fire was pouring out of her eyes.

What was going on? This couldn't be real.

"I don't want you to die without understanding first why it is necessary. You've earned the truth."

Die?

This was a bad dream. Any second now, she'd wake up and find out that it was all a nightmare and Ruby had spiked her drink with raw cookie dough and she'd contracted brain-eating salmonella and…

"I'm sorry about your parents. But, given everything I'd ever heard about your father, I'm guessing we did you a favor."

"We?"

"The White Fang. Weiss, I never left."

This was another trick, like they'd done with Neon Katt in the doubles. L-Like how Father and Winter and…and someone in the tournament had tricked her. Weiss had learned that she couldn't always believe her eyes and ears by now. Blake wouldn't do this. Blake wasn't evil. Blake was Blake.

"You…You…"

Speaking hurt her lungs, and Weiss couldn't take any more pain. Fortunately, Blake seemed to be in a monologuing mood.

"Before Beacon, I was the second-in-command of Vale's White Fang. The first-in-command, a bull Faunus named Adam, was my boyfriend." Blake practically spat out the word. "And he was insane. He'd lost sight of our dream to make a better world for Faunus and human alike. All he wanted was revenge, so he set his sights on burning down the place where humans had hurt our people the most: Mountain Glenn. I didn't approve, but it was like I said – he was in charge, and I wasn't. Then, we were approached by…a woman. A woman with a better plan, a smarter plan, one that would change the world without senseless murder. Adam was skeptical, but I managed to convince him to give it a try, provided we kept Mountain Glenn as a contingency in case I failed. Now, I liked this new plan for a lot of reason. I got to get away from my lunatic boyfriend, I got to end Faunus suffering practically overnight, and, best of all, I got to kill a Schnee."

No. No, Blake would never hurt anyone. This was fake…right?

Please, Gods, let this be fake.

"I was to earn the powers of the Fall maiden. I know that means nothing to you, but it was a gamechanger for the Fang." Blake raised a hand. Orbs of fire began to twirl above her palm. "This power…I can do anything. Adam insisted I use it to force criminals like Roman Torchwick to serve the White Fang and steal Dust for his idiotic bomb, but Salem's pl– er, our backer, her plan was subtle. We could limit it to six deaths – one maiden, two hunters, and three Schnees. And all she wanted in return was for me to open a door and retrieve a trinket for her."

"N-No!"

It brought Weiss great pain to speak after the attack she'd taken, but Weiss could no longer hold it in. She had to say something, to express her discontent with reality glitching out and challenge these lies, these hallucinations.

"Six too many, I'm guessing? I figure you planned to, oh, I don't know, reform the SDC and make it a safe haven for humans and Faunus alike to hold hands and be friends and have sing-a-longs and make love. How long would that take? You know as well as I do that normal change will take time. The SDC is not just a CEO; it's an institution. There's shareholders and officers and managers that would fight you at every turn when you threaten their profits. Six deaths are regrettable, but six hundred die in the mines every year. Do you think you could save them in time?"

Weiss didn't admit that she'd come to the same conclusion only moments earlier when talking to the shadow clone Blake.

The shadow clone…oh, whyever had she been so worried before? This obviously wasn't real. This was actually quite fun, messing around in a lucid dream as she was. Weiss lifted up a fold of her combat skirt and watched it sink back down from gravity's pull. So realistic! Such attention to detail!

"How will you fix it any sooner?" politely asked Weiss, leaning back to get more comfortable. "I'll gladly hear your solution, Blake. I'll bet it's wonderful." Weiss smiled genuinely at her partner.

"I won't be fixing the SDC. Whitley will."

Too realistic!

The mention of her youngest sibling drove Weiss mad with rage, eliminating all doubts or worries about whether or not this was all true or false. There were only three Schnees left, and Weiss refused to see that number drift any lower, whether it was in a dream of hers or not. "If you lay so much as a finger on him–"

"I told you; this plan is a subtle one, made specifically to limit killing. Your brother is safe. We won't let anyone hurt him. We need him. It wasn't difficult to get ours amongst the maids and housekeepers in the Schnee mansion. Your father hires Faunus by the dozen since he can get away with paying them peanuts. Whitley was lonely after being abandoned by his beloved sisters who ran off to leave him behind and play huntress. His dearest parents ignore…ignored their spare, so when a very nice Faunus…a very, very n-nice Faunus…started taking an interest in him, he latched on to her tightly." Blake's voiced had wavered mid-sentence when describing the White Fang agent who'd gotten to Whitley, but she regained her strength not a moment later. "Now, he'll do whatever the White Fang says."

Weiss weakly slammed a fist into the floor. It didn't shake the world with rage like she'd hoped, instead only weakly pattering against the floor. "It won't matter. The powers that be will still fight to stop him from helping the Faunus."

"But what if they couldn't? What if the SDC was in such hot water that it needed to rebrand itself to avoid a customer outcry? What if the Schnee name was damaged so badly that no one would try, no, would be able to fight it when the last remaining Schnee heir suddenly cares about PR and helping the workers?"

The whole world heard me insult the Faunus. Father's always worked hard to keep the company's dirty little secrets swept away into the closet, but now it looks like we're a family of unrepentant racists.

"You hate me that much?"

"No, Weiss." The black haired cat Faunus frowned. "I planned on hating you, and I really tried my best to, but I can't. Yang, Adam, Ilia – you were better than them all. If I had to choose, I'd choose you over any of the others in a heartbeat."

"This isn't you, Blake! We can still be a team. You don't need to kill anyone!"

Blake shook her head. "I was a killer long before I met you, Weiss, and I've been a killer since. Amber was the first. She never stood a chance, the poor dear. Ilia objected to the new plan and tried to stop me when I left for Beacon, so I killed her too. That Beacon professor, he tried to get in my way in Mountain Glenn. It's ironic; I ended up investigating myself, and it provided me the perfect cover to snuff out Adam's evil little plan once and for all. And that brings us to Gretchen…she wasn't going to let me walk free after learning who I was. When we got split up, I messaged Adam and let him know that the sheriff was going to have to die. Their blood is on my hands. And I'll wear it gladly if it brings about the change the world so desperately needs."

"I…I loved you…"

"Oh, Weiss." Blake's face fell. "Oh, you poor, poor thing. I'm not even into girls."

"Whuh– but…but…"

"I slept with Adam even when I'd come to despise him, because I needed to stay close to him and keep him and his murderous impulses under my control. Compared to that, it wasn't too difficult to pretend I was interested in you. Don't get me wrong: I do like you. If I was attracted to the same sex, you'd be my first choice. Certainly not meathead over there." Blake gestured to Yang, still pinned to the wall by Schachmatt.

"Don't you dare! She adored you!"

"And I despised her. I kept this little love triangle going because choosing one of you might have driven away the other, but I felt sick to my stomach every time I had to play along with that blonde pile of bricks when she thought she was being romantic. Did you know that we first bonded over her planning to murder her own mother?"

Blake spat on the floor with disgust.

"You'll be glad to hear that I never loved her; I only kissed her to get close enough to shove your pickaxe through her gut. She was never more than a pig being led to the slaughter."

Weiss glared back at her partner. "And so was I."

"Y-Yes. It's…It's not what I want. You're a good person. If it makes you feel any better, I never lost faith in you. I was the one who set you up in the doubles, and I know you weren't being a bigot. But when the world sees leaked security camera footage of Weiss Schnee hearing of her father's death at the hands of the Faunus that cuts off when she calls us animals, others won't hesitate to brand you a Faunus-hater. And when they find the bodies of your teammates torn apart by your own weapon…" Blake pulled Schachmatt out of Yang's stomach, allowing the blonde to flop downwards by the pull of gravity. "…everyone will think that the next Schnee, slated to be CEO, murdered her team in a fit of rage. SDC stocks will plummet, and Whitley will be able to do whatever he wants in the name of salvaging the company's public image. It'll look like he's desperate to fix your mess, and no one will object."

The long lasting shadow clone from before didn't react to being stabbed in the heart with a pickaxe. It simply maintained the shocked expression on its face.

"Impressive, isn't it? I used the boost from the powers she gave me to make it stick around even when it gets damaged. Now, it's no different than a corpse."

Blake looked down at Yang's bleeding body. "Unfortunately, you won't be around to tell the world the truth. Yang Xiao-Long will have fired off a lucky shot to end your killing spree before succumbing to her wounds."

"Please, let them go," Weiss wheezed, regaining control of her lungs as her regenerating aura was immediately spent healing them. "L-Let Ruby and Yang go. Kill me, but leave them be! I'm begging you, Blake, pleaheeeheeeease!"

"I'm sorry, Weiss. Your crimes need to be so horrible that the world hates you more than the Grimm."

Blake grabbed hold of Ember Celica, still on Yang's wrist, and placed her foot against Yang's ribs for leverage.

Weiss whimpered.

Then, Blake pulled. In a single movement, Yang's entire right arm was torn free from her torso.

"NOOO! PLEASE, NO!" Weiss sobbed.

"She's still alive, but blood loss will take care of that soon," Blake said as she threw Yang's arm to the floor and slid off the shotgun gauntlet. "I'll have to put it back on and switch the bullets when you two are dead. It simply wouldn't do for people to wonder why the discharged round came out of the arm you toe off in your bloodthirsty savagery."

Weiss averted her eyes from the horrifying scene, and they landed on the occupied hospital bed.

"R-Ruby…"

"Ah, Ruby. Sweet, innocent Ruby." Blake followed Weiss' gaze. "The complication. Our backer's plan called for the full team to die, but even I have limits. I'd never kill a fifteen-year-old. Two seventeen-year-olds who know the risks of becoming huntresses, sure, but never a little girl in over her head. That's why I went through such lengths to make sure Ruby was incapacitated tonight and couldn't be a witness. Ruby will live. You have my word."

A switch flipped in Weiss' mind. "The CCT – that was you."

"Guilty as charged. I needed access so Watts could tap into the security cams. Nearly pissed myself when Ruby up and called me out by name, but she managed to convince herself that dear old Blake would never be up to no good. I spared her, though. I couldn't bring myself to hurt Ruby then, and I still can't now."

Blake sighed. "I don't want this, Weiss. I considered leaving the White Fang so many times. I told you how Adam tasked me with killing an entire train of innocent people, and how I could find no reason for why they deserved to die. To this day, I still can't, but I killed them anyways. You know why? Because even if killing those innocent people was wrong, scores more innocent Faunus would die if I had done nothing. If I have to take a few innocent lives to save many more, I'll gladly bloody my hands for the greater good. My idiot mother and father waited and peacefully protested for years. How many suffered for the inaction of those fools? I've been given a chance to save hundreds, no, thousands of lives. How can I value a racist industrialist, his wife, and two of-age huntresses who know the risks above that?"

"Don't reduce them to numbers!" screamed Weiss. "Yang Xiao-Long! She tells stupid puns, she spends two hours every morning fussing over her hair, and she would've fought a million Grimm to impress you. Willow Schnee! She refused to hire a nanny for eight years because she wanted to take care of her kids herself. They had names! They had lives!"

Blake looked Weiss in the eyes. "Vina. She was a hamster Faunus who died from chronic Dust inhalation. Alvin. He was a kestrel Faunus who lost too much blood during a cave-in. Carrie. Her boss beat her to death when she didn't show up for work on time one morning. Fuschia. Pike. Selene. Hermes. Each and every one of them died at your family's hands. What about their names? Why don't their lives matter?"

Yang mumbled something incoherent and coughed up blood. Weiss tried to crawl over to the dying huntress, but Blake grabbed her by her white ponytail and raised her up.

"I mean it when I say that I wish things were different. You don't deserve this, even if it needs to happen. In another life, we could've been best friends."

Blake put the barrel of Ember Celica to Weiss' temple.

This can't be happening. Please, I need help. Somebody, anybody, come save me. Please.

A noise came from the frozen door. Both turned to look at it.

"Pyrrha! Can you hear me?"

Penny flew as fast as her rocket thrusters could carry her. Her original plan had been to let Friend Pyrrha do the bulk of the work: become the maiden, recover the relic of choice, and use it to kill the Fall maiden, but circumstances had changed. Penny now had the relic securely in her grasp. As per Salem's instruction, once the relic was in friendly hands, the primary objective was to impede the Fall maiden's actions through any means.

Friend Weiss was in danger. Penny had no time to get the relic to Friend Pyrrha.

She would kill Blake Belladonna herself.

"Pyrrha? Oz, something's gone wrong. We need to get her out of–"

"I texted Belladonna, but she's not responding. Thrush, you must make haste. They could be in danger."

"The door's jammed, Dove," Russel said to the scroll. "I can't get in. We might be able to tear off the hinges if we had Pyrrha here."

"Please! Please find a way, Thrush. Arc and Nikos have been unresponsive. It's up to you, Thr– Russel."

Shit. This was real. Russel had thought this to be nothing more than Dove requesting a friendly checkup on his injured girlfriend, but his tone and rare use of first names suggested it was a matter of urgency.

"Are you coming?"

"I will not be able to support you. Inclement weather delayed all flights, so I'm stuck in Amity. I'm keeping an eye on Team Caiman, whose involvement I suspect, though the mute girl, Neopolitan, is missing."

"Inclement weather?"

"A random thunderstorm broke out in the surrounding skies following the awards ceremony. It is most curious, as the night was entirely clear prior."

A random thunderstorm.

Maiden power.

Cinder.

She must be using her powers to keep everyone in Amity while Neo snuck back to Beacon and got the girls. All of the huntsmen, huntresses, and students were trapped up there, so Russel wouldn't be able to count on any support to swoop in and save the day. Dove was trapped up in the skies. From the sounds of it, Jaune and Pyrrha were probably doing some secret Ozpin shit, meaning Russel was going to have to ride this one out solo.

"Dove, if I don't make it out of here, there's something you need to know. It's…the…Ozpin…the fairy tale of…oh, there's so much to say. Dust, I wish I had the Mistral relic so Jinn could just show you in the blink of an–"

Dove cut him off. "There's no time for this. You can tell me after."

"Right. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, my friend. Thank you."

Russel ended the call.

Both of his daggers were stuffed to the brim with Dust, but he'd seen Neo fight once or twice. He wasn't going to be winning against that thing. His only hope was that she was still on her way, and he'd have time to evacuate them before her arrival. Actually, all he needed to do was get Ruby out of harm's way. The others were still mobile and could make their own way to safety.

Russel kicked on the door and slashed at it with his daggers, but it did nothing. It was sealed shut from the other side. He could blow it to Vacuo, but he didn't want to use heavy ordinance without knowing who or what was on the other side, especially when Ruby was injured and at potentially low aura. Russel put his ear to the crack to try and see if he could hear what was going on from the other side, but he instead felt it to be cold as snow. Was it…frozen?

Wait – frozen meant ice. Ice meant water.

Russel threw himself to the floor and dug his fingers under the door. The air was colder on the other side. Maybe, just maybe, there was still hope. It hurt, but he pressed his hand further and further through the tight space and reached the tips of his index and middle fingers around blindly.

Finally, he came into contact with the ice he'd been so desperately searching for. It was still solid, but there was a thin layer of water that had melted and now coated the rest of the ice wall. Russel closed his eyes and braced himself. Neo and a warzone might be on the other side, and he needed to be ready. If she was, his only chance was to slip in and pop her one between the eyes before she had time to get her aura up. This was it. It was time to become a huntsman.

Russel entered the miniscule coating of water and immediately exited on the other side of the wall.

"–been best friends."

Yang's jacket was soaked through with blood, and she was facedown. Blake held a weapon to Weiss' head. Ruby lay unmoving in a hospital bed.

Russel had sworn not to hesitate, but he couldn't help himself. Shock lasted for all of one and a quarter second, and he lifted his daggers. One pointed to Blake and the other at Weiss. He'd come here to save them, but they were both the girls he'd wanted to save.

Was Blake the killer? Or was Weiss the one responsible for all this? He couldn't blast either one of them because he simply had no idea. Right now, the best course of

Weiss didn't throw away the chance that came her way when Blake was distracted. She dove for Crescent Rose as Blake reacted to the momentary mohawked distraction. The scythe was folded up on a table next to Ruby's bed. It was never far from its gun-obsessed owner. Weiss' leader had made sure that everyone knew 'how to handle her baby,' and Weiss had never been more thankful for such childish immaturity than she was now. Maybe Ruby was secretly a genius.

Yang was down, but she just might survive if they got her in front of a doctor and…and…and…

Weiss switched it to sniper mode and fired one shot wildly at Blake. It wasn't over. They could still win this. If Russel held Blake off with those twin rocket daggers of his, Weiss could cover him from a distance with Ruby's gun. He could wear her down while–

Blake caught the bullet.

No, that wasn't the right description. The bullet, still burning from the Dust that had ejected it from Crescent Rose, floated in the air. Blake wasn't even looking at it, facing instead towards Russel. Weiss could see the eye flames from the back of her head, so she knew that Blake had been the one to stop it.

Russel was…

There was no Russel. There was only a pile of ashes. Even his skeleton had been reduced to mere dust.

"I won't fault you for trying to stop me," Blake said, lowering the fire-drenched hand she'd pointed at Russel. "From my point of view, I'm choosing between sacrificing the few to save the many. From yours, it's a struggle to defend your intrinsic right to exist. I've been there. When Atlas' airships and specialists rained down fire upon our camps, we weren't thinking about the philosophical impact of lives' comparative values; we would've done anything to survive." Blake shook her head. "But maiden powers are absolute. I have those of Fall, and no force from here to the shattered moon can stop me now. I wouldn't have told you my intentions if there was. You can't overpower me, you can't trick me, you can't sneak up on me when I'm monologuing, you can't do anything."

"I guess six deaths just went up to seven! How many more? How many are you going to kill before–"

"All of them. As many as it takes."

"Russel was innocent."

"And so are the Faunus I seek to save," Blake said, still turned away. "Even if they're not here right now, their lives rest in the palm of my hand. If I turn back now, I'm as good as killing them, and also rendering the deaths of those who I've already killed meaningless. I can't let guilt stop me."

Blake turned back to Weiss. Tears were streaming down the Faunus' face.

Weiss may have been woefully unable to beat her in a straight fight, but that didn't mean she couldn't get through to Blake, or at least try to talk her out of this madness. "I thought you wanted to make Remnant a better place. You said it yourself during the therapy session. You're sick of all the death and suffering you'd put into the world. Please, Blake. There has to be a better way!"

"I remember that night. You know, I'm not stupid. I remember how passionate you are about my people's suffering. I do appreciate the irony that you probably care more about the Faunus than any other human, and I'm killing you in their name. She calls fate a cruel, sick game that uncaring gods play, and I'm inclined to agree. I want to let you live. I want to bring back Russel and Ilia and the teacher and all the others and play along with your fantasy of peace more than anything. But I can't. It's too late to back down now."

Weiss crossed her arms. "I thought you were smarter than believing a sunk cost fallacy, Belladonna."

"Even if stopped, there's no way I could just rejoin Team Rainbow like nothing ever happened. I'm a cold blooded murderer. I'm damned."

"Then run. Go out into the world, and do good, and make up for all of this."

"What?"

"Live your life and use whatever power you've been given to fight for what is right. You don't have to kill. Are you a murderer, Blake? Do you choose to keep hurting innocent people when you don't have to?"

"I…I…please, just stop, Weiss!"

Electricity arced through the air as Blake brought her hands to her head and screamed. Without aura, Weiss had no choice but to grit her teeth and bear the pain. The battle for Blake's heart had begun.

Pyrrha tried to open her eyes, but they stung.

She was Pyrrha Nikos. She was a member of Team Adventure: Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing.

She was still herself.

The transfer had done something. But…something good. She could now clearly separate the memories that were hers and the memories that were Summer's.

Oh, there was also that. She could not for the life of her understand why the memories were Summer Rose's and not Raven Branwen's, though. Apparently, that knowledge had not come with the maiden powers.

Pyrrha forced her eyes open. The liquid in the tank burned her eyes, but both she and Summer had faced more pain before.

Wait, liquid? The transfer chamber had been empty when she'd stepped into it.

Pyrrha looked around the underground room. Ozpin was watching her, his eyes swimming with an emotion Pyrrha couldn't precisely decipher. Jaune and Qrow lay unconscious on the ground. Something must have gone wrong!

That wasn't the only thing that was wrong. The other pod was on her left, and it was supposed to be on her right. Pyrrha leaned forward to get a better view of it.

Inside the pod opposite Pyrrha Nikos was Pyrrha Nikos, her eyes closed.

Pyrrha frantically raised her hands to feel her own face, but her arms were too weak. With great effort, she brought them up and looked at her atrophied muscles and frail fingers. She'd seen those weak little arms before. They'd been attached to Raven Branwen.

Oh. Aura transfer machine. Right.

Omake

Weiss: You're still a member of the White Fang? NOOOO!

Blake: I'm sorry, Weiss. I know how much this betrayal must hurt.

Weiss: What? No, not that. Winter was right, and she's never going to live this down.

Next Chapter: A Maiden's Heart - Death finally comes for Team Rainbow.

Author's Notes

With this, I believe we have officially and irreparably diverged from that pesky canon. Watch as my view count skyrockets when people go back to reread old chapters to see if I slipped up, and to verify Blake's claims. THIS WAS (one of) THE REASON(s) I WROTE THIS FULL STORY IN ADVANCE – FOR ABSOLUTE CONSISTENCY.

For your reading pleasure, here is a guide to some particular chapters/famous lines that hit different after today's notes:

Chapter 6 (specifically, the last paragraph)

- Blake was hunting Weiss, and that's the reason why Team RWBY's partners are switched

Chapter 18

- "One particular Mistralian team stood out to Blake. A dark skinned teen with emerald-green hair, a petit black haired woman with a parasol to shield her from the sun, a tall–"

- "Well, the bow had to come off before the Vytal Festival, so now was as good a time as any."

Chapter 23

- Shadow clone, a.k.a, oof

Chapter 25

- Ilia, a.k.a. big oof, tried to stop Blake from 'going to Beacon'

Chapter 29

- Blake magically eats a grenade to the face and survives

Chapter 30

- Blake mistakes 'Summer the super huntress' for the Summer maiden

Chapter 34

- Ruby POV, a.k.a. the BIGGEST OOF – Ruby sees and recognizes 'Blake'... except it actually was Blake.

Chapter 40

- "They'd gathered plenty of evidence that proved there was a single perpetrator behind the Dust robberies in Vale, but they'd yet to locate anything conclusive linking it to Cinder."

- "The most promising result of the whole day was a grainy photograph from a security camera they'd found in a newspaper article. A black haired woman and some orange haired accomplice could be made out at the scene of a burglary. In the shot, a pixelated stream of fire was coming from the woman's hands to melt the glass of a display case holding Dust crystals."

Chapter 44

- "You're one of us and you killed me!"

Chapter 46

- Reread Adam's POV carefully. Does he hate Blake, or is he missing her (in his Adam-esque stalkerish way)?

Chapter 47

- "Do I know you from somewhere?"

- Blake got a little naughty and teased Neo to her face

Chapter 49

- Who does Salem have Watts choose to delete from Penny's code?

Chapter 53

- Blake's feeling guilty, not sorrowful, for screwing with Weiss' sanity like she did

Chapter 56

- "We've got to take her to Beacon's medical wing!"

Chapter 57

- "And if they find out she survived, they'll try again. They're coming for us…maybe even right now."

- Blake manipulates Weiss into freezing the door, trapping them inside in a way that can be tied to Weiss' Ice Dust.

Those are all the chapters I can think of that directly relate to or foreshadow Blake's descent to the dark side. There are probably more, and that doesn't even touch on the Cinder hints/clues.

This should answer a lot of questions about the mysteries up to this point, but not all. We are still only at chapter 59 out of 100. Questions are now back up and running, though I cannot guarantee answers to all of them. If you believe you've spotted a discrepancy or continuity error, please ask – I will do my best to clarify.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!