King: First chapter, and post, of 2024.

Knox: Nice!

King: We've been going at this for a while... But I'm not going to stop just yet. And, to answer the burning question, because of my rules on Voting, Weiss is our big winner at a resounding 2.5 points. Not too many people voted this time, but that's fine. Regardless, that means I'll be starting Weiss inevitable fall into joining the ranks with the others. Second Place was Neo with 1.5 points. Third was Blake with 1. We'll see where that goes another time. For now, I hope you enjoy this story.

Inspiration: N/A (but I hid a couple of references in there that I didn't think warranted a full inspiration. Can you spot them?)

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As everything settled again, King gave a light glance to Tyrian. This should be interesting.

The screen opened to reveal a forest area. Snow covered the ground as the viewers could hear distant gunshots.

"Not a good start." Yang remarked.

Eventually, someone broke the tree line and ran away from something. The camera hung long enough to reveal a young girl with white hair running away. There was blood falling from a cut on her forehead. She nearly tripped on a rock, but kept running.

Weiss recognized herself from a few years ago. The situation was new, but she could at least tell this was her this time. Most of her friends and family could tell as well, and grew more concerned.

Another figure broke the tree line and revealed a modified White Fang uniform. It was clearly an early version of the masked fighter that would be the modern Fang, complete with a basic balaklava over their faces instead of the masks they'd gain. The man drew his gun and let the shot ring out over the forest. Time seemed to slow as Weiss fell forward. She hit the ground hard and clutched onto her leg. The shot hit her leg and she couldn't even move it without causing pain.

Winter jolted up in protective instinct. She cared for her siblings and hated the idea of them getting hurt. Safe to say, she already didn't like this one.

Weiss, at the ripe old age of 14, had her transport attacked by a splinter faction in the White Fang and had just been shot. Adrenaline coursed through her veins to instigate a flight reaction. She knew she had to run, but her leg was losing blood and feeling with each passing second. She grit her teeth as she tried to get back up to escape. However, the pain jolted through her again and caused her to fall. Seeing this, the Fang member laughed and moved closer slowly.

He marched up next to her as she tried to crawl, stopping down on her injured leg. "You and your family will all pay for your crimes against the Faunas." He leveled his gun, ready to finish her off. "You all had this coming brat."

Gira growled as he clenched his fists. He fought so hard to try to end collective guilt like that, rooting it out from the organization. He knew it would never really go away, but he wanted them to be free of such poor mindsets. He had hoped they could be better than that.

Weiss tensed her body and closed her eyes. She heard the gunshot not long after.

Ruby gasped and clenched onto her best friend.

Weiss wanted to push her off, but knew better than to do so here. It was a terrible way to go in general. And seeing herself be murdered is hardly a good thing.

But someone else spoke up, "This could be a fake out." Yang called out to her group. However, she was still nervously tapping her heel on the ground.

After a moment, Weiss felt herself falling.

Falling.

Falling.

Her eyes barely opened, seeing nothing but darkness. There was a light above her, but darkness around her. The camera showed a wide shot of nothingness as she fell. The light from above was fading. The camera returned to her as her eyes became heavy. She began to fade out, falling.

Falling.

Winter clenched her fist against her chair's armrest.

The camera held on her face as light began to wash over her. The camera tracked underneath her as someone's arms extended out to catch her. Weiss started to open her eyes, sight fuzzy and uncertain. There was someone there. There was light behind their head. She could barely make out what they were saying, but couldn't understand anything else. The voice barely a whisper.

"Not yet. You still have the Light in your soul. You still have a duty to accomplish in this life."

The camera moved to a wide shot as a pair of brilliant wings spread out from the figure as light began to fill the scene. The light took over the scene completely and everything went white.

"What the heck is that?" Nora asked. She was in awe of the angelic being, "What does it mean?"

After a moment, the scene returned to show Winter as she ran through the frozen forest. Still in her cadet uniform, she'd been sent to help with clean up of the attack. Seeing her sister had disappeared from the site, she ran in a scramble to find her. She followed tracks matching Weiss' boots, but that trail came with another set of larger boots. Someone chased her. Winter hoped Weiss would be okay. Hoped… Prayed! Whatever god would listen! Keep Weiss safe!

Where most were somber, some didn't agree.

Tyrian laughed. "Foolish little one. Death is a necessity under the great goddess! Nothing can save her!"

Now it was Winter's turn to want to strangle the scorpion man.

Winter scrambled and broke the tree line. She had to stop at the scene before her, the insanity of something that said she must going mad.

"What the heck did she see?" Ruby asked, no one else really having an answer.

There before her, in the frozen landscape of Solitas, were flowers. White flowers. Blue flowers. Red flowers. Gold flowers. It felt warm, inviting. So unlike the world around it. And there, at the center of it all, was a blond boy, seeming to be holding her sister as she slept, draped over his crossed legs. He was dressed in a white tabard over a black shirt and pants. Light seemed to emanate from him like a miniature sun. He smiled with closed eyes, a face full of care for another. His eyes opened to reveal brilliant blue, like a pair of mirrors to the skies above. He simply smiled before placing Weiss onto a bed of white flowers. He stood, arms held out to his sides as angelic wings sprouted from his back. The light took over again and blinded Winter. When she could see again, he was gone.

"Ooh! Spooky." Nora was having a little fun with it, lifting the mood somewhat for the others.

"So, is Jaune an angel in this one?" Velvet asked the ruling duo, but found only silence.

Winter just ran up to Weiss, the warmth beginning to recede in favor of the natural chill of Solitas, but it didn't matter. The cadet quickly checked for a pulse and any injuries. The younger girl's pulse was normal and there were no injuries to be found. However, there was blood coating her leggings. Winter grew worried, but her worries were unfounded. Weiss was fine.

Winter let out a sigh of relief.

Tyrian snapped his fingers in disappointment.

The chill passed through and caused the petals of the flowers to fall into the wind, covering the view and transitioning to Weiss, now aged 17. She was waking up at Beacon on the day of initiation. As she stretched, she thought back to that day as she looked out the window. The sun was positioned behind some clouds to create a halo-like effect in the sky, reminding her of the figure from that dream. Winter told her what she had seen that day and as hard as it was to believe that an actual angel came down and saved her life, it was impossible to ignore the feeling she had died. That blond angel brought her back. It was… eye opening, to say the least. Few people get such a direct experience with the divine.

"How dare-!" Tyrian jumped up, only to collapse as his anger boiled and the theater shut down his ability to act on it. He growled and tried to shake it off, "The only divinity is our glorious goddess, Salem!" He was resoundingly ignored.

Weiss sighed and started to stand up from her temporary sleeping site. She stretched her arms over her head as she started to head toward the showers to ready herself for initiation. The screen swapped to show her grabbing her weapon. Then she was at the cliffs. She lowered her stance and flew into the sky over the Emerald Forest. It felt like she was flying, like she'd sprout wings at any moment. For now, however, she had to land like a mortal woman. Swinging her body, she created a series of glyphs to break through and break her fall bit by bit. By the time she reached the ground, it was a light tap to the dirt beneath her. She took a breath and bolted forward and northward to the ruins. She weaved through the trees like it was the easiest thing in the world. She knew she needed a partner, but had faith that she would find someone great to compliment her fighting abilities.

"And I say it worked out!" Ruby smiled, turning to Weiss. She was clearly expecting the heiress to agree.

Weiss sighed, "Eventually." Despite the exasperation, they did become a good duo and excellent team.

Weiss spun around a tree before sliding on the ground a bit. She felt something. Something off… She spun around and pointed her blade at a bush, sending an ice bolt at it. A figure suddenly shot up from the bush, and revealed Blake landing nearby.

As Blake righted her stance, the camera allowed the audience to get a better look at the cat faunas. The first difference to notice, and the easiest to see, was that she was dressed in a black leather bodysuit with attached boots. She had a holster with darts and an apparatus on one wrist clearly meant to fire them. The other arm had a similar device on her wrist, but it's function wasn't clear right away. Her hair was up in a long braid that fell down her back. She leaned her weight to the side as she addressed Weiss, "So you noticed me after all. I'm actually impressed."

Weiss relaxed once she saw it wasn't a Grimm, "Sorry about that. I guess that makes us partners."

"Looks that way."

Weiss moved closer and held her hand toward Blake, "I'm Weiss."

"I know who you are." Blake decided to cross her arms instead of taking Weiss' offer to shake hands, "And I want to make one thing clear, I don't like you. Your family is a constant source of suffering for faunas. I'll be civil, but that's it."

"Dang…" Yang recoiled a bit, "Bit on the nose."

"Better to get it out there sooner rather than having it blow up later." Weiss actually defended the alternate Blake's take, and reminded them of their Blake's fight with Weiss that led to their temporary break.

Weiss lowered her hand and just nodded. She simply turned her back and started to walk, "That's as good as I can hope for, I suppose."

As Weiss walk in front of her, the camera fell to Blake's side and her wrist. The other apparatus snapped open and a small blade extended down with a soft snap. Blake wasn't just a random faunas. She was a former White Fang assassin, an expert in infiltration and death. She always saw the horrors created by people with power like the Schnees. She seriously considered taking that small amount of vengeance.

This made team RWBY more nervous than they expected.

Kali frowned, silently blaming anyone she could think of that made her alternative daughter the way she turned out.

Blake slid her foot slightly, ready to enact that exact plan. She was ready to kill, ready to accept the pain if it meant getting back at the Schnee family. Silent as the night, she leapt forward, blade back and ready to lunge. However, her approach was off slightly and she ended up too far to the left. Her blade stabbed into flesh, but that of a Grimm that leapt out at the last second.

Yang let out a sigh, "Lucky break, right?"

"No kidding." Blake let out a breath in relief.

Blake blinked in shock as Weiss recoiled from the sudden movement. Weiss turned to her partner with a smile, "You really are good. Thank you for the save."

Blake turned to Weiss, not sure if she was just messing with her, "No problem…"

The following scenes showed various moments where Blake was clearly trying to kill Weiss, only to end up saving her. From a Grimm to a falling branch. Each time Blake tried to strike, she would end up saving the heiress at the last minute. Every. Single. Time.

That got Coco to raise an eyebrow, "O-kay? That's a bit more than luck at that point."

After the fifteenth attempt on Weiss' life, Blake just gave up. It was one thing to have conviction in the face of adversity, but there was a line between that and insanity of consistent failure. She couldn't even bother to try anymore. She briefly considered that Weiss' Semblance must be some kind of advanced fortune, but Blake was aware that the Schnees had a hereditary Semblance. So that wasn't it. And that just made the situation worse for Blake as she tried to wrap her head around what was stopping her.

Eventually, they reached the ruins and found Ruby and Yang picking out a chess piece. As the new duo approached, they ended up taking a corresponding piece. Everything was coming together as far as teams were concerned. But as things were seeming to be relaxed, a loud roar echoed through the air. Whatever it was, it was big and shook the air. Birds flew from their perches in the trees and fled from what lurked within.

Nora tapped her foot on the ground a bit in thought, "Was that the Deathstalker or the Nevermore?"

"It sounds like something different." Ren pointed out. "But it doesn't sound familiar."

Port crossed his arms in thought. He'd heard that roar before, but couldn't place it. It was right on the tip of his tongue, so what was it?

"We should probably get moving." Ruby reasoned to the others.

"Why bother?" Blake noted, bitterly. "Just send her at it." She jammed a thumb toward a confused Weiss.

"What?" Yang asked, "She some kind of badass?"

"I'm convinced she's protected by the gods or something at this point." Blake had a deadpan face, seemingly reliving the moments of her failures that helped her come to this rationalization.

The other two turned to Weiss, expecting some kind of explanation, but just got a shrug in return. The scene transitioned to the four of them running through the forest. Whatever was out there was getting closer. They reached the remnants of old aqueducts acting as a bridge toward the cliffs. They had to cross it quickly and they should be able to escape. But life is rarely that easy. A whip-like appendage shot out from the trees and slammed into Ruby's back, sending her tumbling to the ground.

"Ruby!" Both Yangs screamed in unison, scared for their sister.

The creature finally passed the trees and revealed itself in all its terror. Standing there was a massive black monster. Bipedal and demonic in form. Massive leather wings stretched out behind it. Its mask was adorned with goat-like horns that bent forward and downward to properly resemble the demonic. In one hand was a long black whip that seemed to retract and move at its will. In its other hand was a massive sword seemingly made from fused rock. Its tail snapped against a bolder and broke off a chunk of the stone.

"W-w-what the heck is that thing?" Whitely shook, having seen few Grimm in his life. And even those monsters couldn't compare to that… thing.

"Balrog." Port finally realized what it was, that hellish memory that eluded him. "A rare Grimm type. There are only said to be a handful in all of Remnant and are often found in old caverns. Seeing one above ground… while not impossible, is certainly unlikely."

"There isn't one of those in the Emerald Forest, right?" Velvet asked the professor.

"Of course not!" Port returned to his usual jubilance. "There's no caves that can handle those monsters, and if there were, we'd have noticed."

Yang was instantly at her sister's side. Ruby's aura was decimated by a single attack and, while still conscious, she was too disoriented to run. As Yang was ready to get fighting, her sister let out a groan with a warning, "We need to get away."

Yang growled, but ultimately agreed. She picked her sister up and set about running down the bridge. The others were ready to follow, but the massive Grimm was smart enough to strike the bridge with its whip, causing a large chunk to be torn from the stone. Blake and Weiss were stuck.

Weiss growled as she drew her sword. "I might be able to hold it down with an ice wall."

"You really think that'll work?" Blake raised her ranged gauntlet and fired a bolt at the Grimm. She then noticed something to her side, a small pile of blood. Given the placement, likely Ruby's. That could be helpful.

"Wait, how is my blood helpful?" Ruby was both concerned and confused.

Blake dodged an incoming whip attack as her hand landed on the blood. A small needle extended down from her gauntlet and extracted some of the blood. After a moment, Blake's body seemed to morph and mix into a smaller frame. Her hair seemed to sink away to a shorter cut with red accenting at the tip. After a moment, Blake was seemingly replaced with Ruby.

"What the hell?" Sun could only be confused.

A sentiment shared by the entire audience in the theater.

Neo raised an eyebrow, Was this her Semblance?

'Ruby' dug her foot in the ground before disappearing in a cloud of rose petals.

"I have several questions!" Coco shouted.

"Identity theft!" Ruby shouted.

Blake flew around the massive Grimm before reappearing behind it before trying to stab at the back of its neck. Her blade dug in, but the muscles on its back were thick and she couldn't get a kill in.

"She's too used to humanoid targets." Port observed. "A Balrog's weakness is their size and non-functional wings. If you can knock it down a large ravine, it can be handled."

"I wouldn't have thought those wings wouldn't work." Kali observed. "But they do look a little small for its body."

"Exactly. They're primarily for intimidation and can be used defensively."

That defensive ability came in handy as it swung them up and knocked Blake away. She swung in the air, returning to her normal appearance. She grit her teeth in annoyance. Without proper preparation, I can only hold it for a few seconds.

Weiss charged up before slamming her blade against the ground, creating a wall of ice. "We need to go!"

Blake nodded, "Yeah." They both turned and started to cross the bridge, but the cracking of ice forced their attention back. "Damn it!"

Weiss looked back to see Yang, and by extension Ruby, reached the other side. She turned back to see the Balrog's blade pierce the wall of ice. She grit her teeth and cycled her weapon's Dust chambers. "Someone needs to get help from the professors."

Blake could tell what she meant. Someone had to try to slow that thing down. Her speed made her the best option. She took a breath, ready to take on the challenge, but found Weiss in front of her, sword pointed at Blake. With a burst of wind, the assassin was sent flying over the length of the bridge.

The room was pretty silent all things considered. The Weiss on screen basically volunteered for a suicide mission to hold that monster off for the others. But there was at least a little hope. They were on the bridge and, if what Port said was true, they could use that.

As Blake flew through the air, she felt… conflicted. All her life, she'd heard of the cruelty of the Schnee. They would gladly sacrifice anyone to get what they wanted. Yet here was one who, with seemingly no idea of what Blake had been doing, was willing to basically sacrifice herself for Blake to go get help. Blake grit her teeth and swung her body around to land properly and jump to a sprint. She may as well prove herself, that she was a better person than them.

Weiss, meanwhile, spun around and took a deep breath. She pulled her weapon back, ready to unleash an elemental torrent. The Balrog broke through the ice and was met with a small tornado of wind and earth, rocks catching in the gust. It swung its body around to push back against the current and force. Weiss couldn't keep that up too long as it started to get a foothold and walk forward. So, she switched elements. Hoping to put in more damage, she cycled her elements to fire and created a pillar of flames that shot toward the Grimm.

"That was a mistake." Port remarked.

And everyone saw what he meant immediately after. The Balrog was now wreathed in flames as its whip and sword began to glow. It looked more and more demonic as it marched forward. It cracked its burning whip against the ground, seemingly hoping to fill Weiss with fear at the end of her life. She grit her teeth and prepared a new element, only for the Grimm to bash its blade against the ground in front of her. She was knocked back by the impact force and bleeding from a heavy blow to her head. She turned, looking back up toward the creature. It raised its blade again, ready to end this.

"She'll make it!" Ruby was using her own Weiss as a stress toy at this point, squeezing the girl as if to remind herself she was still there.

"Ruby! I need to breathe!" Weiss didn't try to push her off though, understanding why the young girl was doing this.

The Balrog's blade slammed down hard and kicked up a massive cloud of dust and shattered rock.

Ruby's tension caused Weiss to actually have to push Ruby off her. The girl was legitimately choking the heiress out by this point.

The camera hung on the Grimm's face for a moment before showing as the cloud started to clear. She was standing with her blade held back and ready to thrust forward, the sword having barely missed her. She thrust forward with a cry of furious pain. She activated her blade's Dust system.

And all hell broke loose.

The Balrog was forced to take a step back as wind, fire, ice, and stone all slammed into it at the same time. A constant stream of Dust in every form blasting it in the face. As it regained its footing, it tried to reach down to her, only to be blasted by another push. The camera tracked down toward Weiss' cylinder, showing the depleting levels of Dust. Every form of Dust was getting lower and lower. She grit her teeth and dug her foot down into the stone beneath her. With a primal scream, the force of Dust increased more and more. The stream becoming more and more intense. But while it held the Balrog back for a moment, the wind began to fade. The stone fell with little more than pebbles. The ice fizzled and melted before it could form. All that was left was flame.

"Where are the professors?!" Coco shouted.

Ozpin's eyes narrowed. A Grimm like this would definitely get their attention. Why hadn't they intervened?

With only fire, the Balrog started to gain ground. It began to reach toward her, ready to crush her for good measure. Weiss' fire Dust was at its last legs. All she could make was one more push. She clenched her jaw and prepared for what she could do. This was the last chance she had. Whatever that Light the angel had mentioned was, she needed it now more than ever. Whatever she could do here, this had to count. And she'd make it count, damn it! This WILL be enough! She WILL stop this monster! And if that wasn't real…

The scene froze, time moving slowly. The fires at the tip of Weiss' sword began to grow brighter. From red to orange. Orange to yellow. Yellow to white. Weiss seemed to glow in kind with the flame, her eyes burning with determined fury and righteous indignation.

I'LL MAKE IT REAL!

Time returned to normal as the white flames shot forward like a lance of burning might. The fire wrapped over the Balrog's head and pushed it back slightly, causing its hand to miss Weiss. The demonic creature was pushed back before falling forward. The flames started to die out as the creature hit the bridge, its head burned clean off.

"HOLY SHIT!" Yang shouted in amazed excitement.

"YEAH!" Ruby grabbed Weiss in a hug and crushed the girl again.

"RUBY!" Weiss tried to warn her assailant of her need to breathe.

Port, however, was just flabbergasted. "How could that have worked? The amount of Dust shouldn't have created a flame hot enough to bypass the Balrog's resistance to flame."

Weiss's breathing was heavy. She'd used a lot of willpower to make that happen. Truth was, Weiss knew what Blake had been doing. She knew she could do what she had. It was her ability, one she'd had since her meeting with the angel. One she'd been using all day to let Blake save face and allow her to properly begin a journey of redemption. One that could do the impossible.

Miracles.

"She knew?" Blake was surprised. "But how could she do that? And why?"

Weiss let out a haggard breath as she fell to her knees. "Got him."

There was a silence around her, but a wind that felt so warm. Wait… it was warm. At first Weiss was concerned that the demon could heal itself, and reform, but it was disappearing. So what was it? She felt an odd light form around her from above. She looked up toward the sky as clouds parted. Something from above started to descend. Something flying down toward her.

The camera finally returned to Blake as she jumped forward and onto the bridge with Goodwitch in tow. For whatever reason, it was as if the world tried to keep her from reaching the teachers. But she eventually found them.

That explains that. Ozpin mused, But what was causing that?

As they both approached, they both had little choice but to slow down and take stock of what they were seeing. Weiss wasn't alone. As the Balrog's body finished fading away, a blond angel descended toward the heiress as light glowed around them. He held a golden halo in his hands, holding it out toward Weiss as she was still on her knees. Jaune placed the golden halo behind her head and it seemed to attach to the air behind her. His smile radiated with pride. "I knew there was a Light to be cultivated within." He was properly revealed as Jaune, though everyone knew that by this point. "Rise, Sister in arms. Stand proud in knowing you are blessed."

Weiss, still a little out of it, wasn't sure where to begin, "Who are you?"

"A simple Guardian." Jaune helped her to her feet, "And I'll be happy to see where you go from here."

The scene ended with a holy light.

"Well that was… different." Yang couldn't even find words for that.

"No kidding." Weiss finally wrestled herself free of her team leader and sat in her chair properly again. "What's next?"

"What, indeed." Knox mused. "I do wonder what you have in store for us, King."

King rolled his eyes, and prepared.