So this is a far different story as the events of Volume 1-3 did happen but differently. Pyrrha was saved in time by Ruby and Cinder was killed, however, because Beacon was still destroyed most of the students relocated, so now JN(P)R are in Vacuo with CFVY as Pyrrha is kept close to the circle, however, instead of RNJR it is, RYP hunting down who Cinder was working for, as the same events play out with Blake and Weiss.
The events of Volumes 4-5 and some events of "After the Fall" is slightly different, but this story takes place after Vol.5 and begins at the ending of "After the Fall" and slightly before some events of Vol.6-7 and the events of "Before the Dawn".
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Sun Wukong was rushing through the Shade dormitory, looking for a particular three-man team who he was sure was going to like who he had seen and what he had done on his journey with Blake, after all, he had just told CFVY what had happened they too were as happy as he was sure they were gonna be. In a matter of minutes, he eventually came across their dorm room, and without knocking, he opened their door only to see Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren in their room, both seemed to be relaxing and Nora was watching her scroll and Ren seemed to be doing homework.
Sun gave them both a large toothy smile, "Hey JNR!" She cried with glee.
Nora quickly got up and tightly hugged the monkey Faunus, "Sun!" She cried with glee.
Sun hugged back and they both broke the hug, and Sun looked at Ren who was smiling at him as well.
"Welcome back Sun," Ren said with a nod.
"Good to be back!" Sun replied.
Nora smirked, "So... how was stalking Blake?" She asked with a raised brow.
Sun chuckled, "Pretty good, went to Menagerie, and even got to meet her folks!" Sun said with a smile, "And between me and you guys, I think Mr. B like me!"
Nora chuckled, "You work fast Sun,"
Sun chuckled, "Thanks," he replied. "Anyway, I think you guys want to hear what happened while I was out there," Sun said.
Sun then explained what had happened since he followed Blake. He told them about Adam killing Sienna and the attack on Blake's family home, as well as Blake and her father taking back the White Fang who were about to attack Haven.
Hearing this, the two Beacon students got worried, after all, it had only been a year since Beacon's fall and was still under repairs.
"What happened after that?" Nora asked.
Sun gave her a reassuring look, "Don't worry, we got there in time, stopped them, and saved Haven at Mistral's CCT tower, but me and Blake were both in for a surprise when we ran into the rest of Team RWBY and... Pyrrha!"
Hearing this, both Ren and Nora's eyes widened with shock before large smiles graced their features.
Nora turned to Ren with a happy expression, "Did you hear that Ren!? She's ok! P-Pyrrha's ok!" She cried, tears forming in her eyes.
Ren nodded and looked back with a smile, "Yeah..." Ren began, taking a deep breath, composing himself, "She's ok," He said.
Sun's face then kind of took a serious expression, "Though... turns out things on their end aren't so good,"
Both of them quickly stiffened and looked at Sun with worried looks. Sun saw their expression change and let out a sigh, knowing they weren't going to like the news he was about to tell them, but he couldn't tell them everything, he swore to Pyrrha and even RWBY that he wouldn't tell them everything he knew, even though he felt it was wrong.
"Look, I can't tell you guys everything, Ruby's uncle said it was kind of top secret stuff... but Cinder Fall's still alive, and she working for someone really, really bad," Sun said.
This caused Nora and Ren's hearts to nearly stopped. Hearing that the woman who led the attack on Beacon and nearly killed their teammate was worrying, because they were sure, she was out for revenge.
"But don't worry, We beat Cinder and her goons! Saved Haven and Mistral and everyone's alright! Pyrrha even wanted me to tell you guys she misses you!" Sun said.
Nora smiled but sighed, "Wish she could tell us that herself..." Nora muttered.
Sun winced on the inside, knowing that the JNR members were not very happy with their missing teammate, and Sun couldn't really blame them, leaving your team and not telling them why was one thing, but not talking to them for over a year was another. He understood why, but to him that didn't make it right, Pyrrha was ok with RWBY getting involved but not her own team. To him, it didn't make sense. Sun then looked around only to see that one member was missing. "Hey... Where's Jaune?" Sun asked.
Hearing that Question, Nora and Ren looked at each other with nervous expressions before turning back to Sun who had a raised brow and was starting to get worried himself.
Away from Shade and inside the city's red-light district, which not only consisted of sex work but bars and even fighting clubs, and in one fighting club, Jaune Arc, leader of JNR was fighting against another person, both were using fists, and both were fighting savagely and the crowed over the pit cheered for more.
The man punched Jaune in the face and then punched Jaune in the stomach, however, none of it seemed to really faze Jaune as the blonde put a little bit of aura into his hands and swung at the man, punching him in the stomach and causing him to heel over and fall to his knees, Jaune then kneed his opponent in the face, sending them falling backward onto the floor.
The crowd cheered as they saw the man fall to the floor and not get up, and Jaune backed away as someone came out from the sides of the pit and went to the man to check if he was alive, which he was, and with that confirmed and the man not getting up, the blonde was declared the winner and the crowd erupted with cheers and Jaune left the pit, heading back up to the main bar. Once up at the bar, a man handed Jaune a stack of Lien.
"Nice going again kid," The man said, before walking away.
Jaune looked at the money, looked through it, and took out a 10 pocketing the rest and looking at the bartender, a middle-aged man named Arturo.
Arturo looked at Jaune, "What will it be this time, niño?" Arturo asked.
"The same as always," Jaune replied in a bored tone.
Arturo nodded and poured him a shot and handed it to the blonde. Jaune grabbed it and took a drink, as he did, he was approached from behind.
"Jaune?"
Hearing his name, Jaune set the drink down and turned to see Sun, along with Ren and Nora, after seeing who it was, he turned back to look at the bar counter. "Welcome back Sun, what can I do for you?" He asked.
Sun didn't answer as he heard the sounds of fighting down below in the pit and people watching it, he then turned back to Jaune and walked over to him and sat right next to him, and turned his head to look at his fellow blond. "What the hell are you doing here Jaune?" Sun asked with a serious tone.
"Does it matter?" Jaune asked.
Sun peered at him, "Yeah, because the Jaune I knew wouldn't be in a place like this, or participating in a fight club," Sun said.
Jaune took a drink and set it down and then turned his head to look back at Sun. "Yeah, well... things changed," Jaune replied.
Sun sighed, "Look, I heard about your last mission dude," Sun began, "Look, I don't know what you're going through man, but this, this is no way to deal with it," Sun told him.
"This coming from the guy that abandoned his team," Jaune replied.
Sun glared at him, "Low blow dude," Sun replied. "Besides, someone had to watch Blakes back,"
Jaune looked at him with a smirk as he took another drink, "Is that all you were doing? Watching her back?" Jaune asked.
"Jaune!" Nora said sternly.
Jaune rolled his eyes, "What are you two doing here anyway," Jaune asked, addressing his teammates, "I told you not to follow me anymore," Jaune said.
"You're our leader, Jaune," Ren replied, "We worry about you,"
Jaune chuckled, "Worry about me? Sure, whatever you want to say to make yourself feel better, Ren," Jaune replied.
Hearing that, Ren's fist balled up and he slightly glared at his leader. Sun was surprised by the hostility Jaune was giving him as well as his own teammates, it wasn't deserved, even after everything he went through, he had no right to take whatever he was feeling on Sun and his teammates. "Look... I came here to tell you about what happened at Haven,"
"I don't care," Jaune replied as he raised the glass to his lips.
"RWBY and Pyrrha were there," Sun replied.
Hearing that, Jaune stiffened for a moment and Sun noticed this, but Jaune still took a large sip of his alcoholic beverage and then slammed the glass back on the counter and looked at Sun with a glare, "Again... I don't care and I don't want to hear about them," Jaune said sternly.
"But what about Pyrrha? Huh?" Jaune asked, "She wanted to know about you guys, she wanted to know how you were doing?"
"If she so worries she can come here and fucking see for herself then," Jaune said, his tone slightly raising. "She's the one who wanted to stay and do whatever it was with Ruby's uncle and Goodwitch, she's the one who pushed us away so she could follow her destiny," Jaune said, his tone laced with more anger.
Sun glared at him, "Jaune... look, it isn't that simple, if you knew what RWBY and her have to face-"
Jaune then stood up and glared at him and Sun stood up as well, prepared for whatever happened next, Nora was frightened of what may happen next and Ren was prepared to step in in case things went too far.
Jaune and Sun had a stare-down, and both glared at each other, Jaune's hand was balled up, and Sun could tell that Jaune really wanted to punch him, to let go of all the anger that he clearly had inside of him, but Jaune just pushed passed him and left the bar.
Nora walked over to Sun with a sad expression, "I'm sorry, Sun, Jaune's just been... he's had a rough time,"
Sun shook his head, "Don't be," Sun replied, "I can't imagine what he's feeling, and the same goes for you two... I'm surprised you haven't changed as much as he has," Sun said.
Ren shook his head, "No, we changed just as much as he did, we just... we haven't let it get to use like it used to," Ren said.
Nora slightly nodded and Sun looked at them and could still see the slight pain on their faces, and he hoped that things got better for the three-man team, they already lost their home/school and had a friend leave them behind, and moving to Vacuo wasn't easy, Sun knew what the people of Vacuo were like and they didn't take well to outsiders due to Atlas, and add all that with what happened with their last mission, he couldn't help but feel pity on them, from what Nora and Ren told him, it was the really when everything changed for them.
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Back in Shade, Theodore was reading the report of CFVY's mission and the files of both Carmine Escolados and Bertilak Celadon, who were arrested and waiting for transport back to Vacuo a few days from now from Coquina, and with the information that CFVY were able to gather about the two rouges mission and who they worked for, Theodore couldn't help but worry, because before, the fall of Beacon, he was getting reports of Students and Huntsmen missing, all of which had some very powerful Semblances, a number which has increased since the fall had happened.
He was worried because this wasn't something Salem was a part of, but something she could easily use, as she had done with the White-Fang and Roman Torchwick in Vale, However, what still eluded him was the Crown's goal and who was in charge of it.
'This isn't good,' He thought, 'I can't let this go on anymore, they could cause trouble enough before Salem comes knocking on our door, and if I don't deal with them soon, Salem could use them,' Theodore thought.
However, the headmaster of Shade also knew that they weren't going to get answers from Bertilak or Carmine, both having a hatred for him and the staff of Shade. and with how secretive this organization was, they weren't going to let anyone ask questions for too long or let anyone in looking for them out of the blue.
No... the best course of action was to get someone on the inside, someone that had could have a valid reason to betray the school and someone with a very powerful Semblance, and it had to be a student, not some older Huntsmen.
But the question was who and would they even agree?
Theodore sighed and went to his computer to find a student with unique and rare semblances that the Crown may want, this included all the newer students who came from Vale and who were now coming from Haven and one that was having problems recently.
He would not rest until he found the right student, because if he let this happen any longer, the events of Beacon would repeat themselves in Vacuo... and he would not make the same mistake as Ozpin, nor would he falter as Lionheart had.
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So, some events that have changed in this story are the Fall of Beacon and of course the events of Vol.4-5 (and eventually 6-8)
During the Fall, Ruby arrived on time and managed to save Pyrrha and they both seemingly killed Cinder when Ruby's silver eyes blasted her off the tower and Pyrrha got the Fall Maiden powers. However, her survival as well as how she lost the Fall Maiden powers, will be explained when RWBY+POQ enter the story since they'll still be dealing with the events that happen in Atlas while JNR, CFVY, SSSNN, ABRN, and NDGO will be dealing with the crown a bit before the final events of Vol.7-8 and I'm not gonna touch on the events of Vol.9 because I haven't planned that part out yet.
But with some hints, you can see that Pyrrha pushed JNR away in order to keep them safe and before you say Pyrrha wouldn't do that, mind you that Pyrrha was completely willing to become the Fall Maiden before the fall, which means she was completely willing to abandon her team and hide secrets for them because she fully believed it was part of her "Destiny".
Because you know Ozpin and the rest of the circle couldn't allow her to be on a team and would keep her close since they would be afraid she would slip the secret to her team and even team RWBY, who I assume would have been told when they were good and ready (graduation) much like I'm sure he did with S(T)RQ (Why I leave out Tai will be explained later down the line).
(I'd also think that in reality, Ozpin would have only told RWB about Salem because he would have similar reasons he had with Tai also because Ruby's a silver-eyed warrior, Weiss is the daughter of the owner of the SDC and want to become its CEO, and Blake is the daughter of the Chieftain of Menagerie, three very powerful pieces he could use!).