Hey everyone. Sorry that this is not an update. As a reader myself and an avid one of stories that interest me, I can understand the slight annoyance of having to read a message instead of a new chapter but I would not be making this if I did not believe there is something important to tell all my readers. As you should know by now, RWBY Volume 9 has finally started with the first episode airing last Saturday.
Now when I first started this story, I began with theories on what the Ever After might be, going off on ideas that I have considered and read about online and admittedly they are not perfect and I possibly made a mess at the beginning but I had hoped to make them believable enough to not mess with the flow of the story. Given the warning of Ambrosius in Volume 8 it was generally assumed that to fall off the yellow brick road also known as the Central Location that Team RWBY made to evacuate everyone from Atlas and Mantle to Vacuo that it would lead to a world with very dangerous creatures and/or people. That theory is still up in the air but the trailer and opening for Volume 9 has left us with the knowledge that the Ever After alludes to Wonderland. Well, looking back on Volume 8 when the fairy tale The Girl Who Fell Through the World was mentioned it did sound a lot like Alice in Wonderland.
Now between my own ideas for a Kingdom Hearts/RWBY crossover and the fact that Volume 9 is now finally coming out after nearly three years of hiatus give or take, I suspect that perhaps my own ideas might not be close to what the Ever After is supposed to be and yet at the same time it does not yet look like it would cause me to just declare the Ever After in this story and the one in the main series are completely different and simply declare it an AU. I like to try to respect the canon of both series close enough and for now I will wait and watch Volume 9. I have a lot of hopes for this Volume but based on what I see I may have to consider at least rewriting the first arc of how Aqua arrived in the Ever After first but we'll wait and see.
There were some ideas I had considered at the beginning that I never could fit but as more episodes of Volume 9 come out it's possible if I do rewrite the beginning I can incorporate those ideas enough that they won't contradict the chapters that come after, such as Aqua appearing in the Age of the Brother Gods, meeting Ozma and Salem, the Heartless destroying Remnant in the future and leaving Team RWBY and Jaune brokenhearted as well as Aqua and Neopolitan partnering up. I admit that was a unique case but it fit more as the story continued and it could give us a unique twist to how some RWBY/Kingdom Hearts crossover stories go. I fully intend to continue Aqua's journey through the ages while slowly giving a hints to what future she has created by changing the past in many ways which I have worked to show.
RWBY has a story has a lot of potential, though admittedly I can see why many believe the quality has diminished with the unfortunate passing of Monty Oum. Some of which were more noticeable as the story began in Volume 4 and continued on but I will not make such comments. The purpose of these future arc spin-offs is to show what changes have been made through Aqua's decision to travel through time and the rules created by Drasil who is supposed to function as the heart of the Ever After. A chance to do some world building and show how much everything and everyone has changed.
Ansem being the new husband of Willow Schnee is something you all should know by now while also continuing his work as DiZ, the servant of the World, working in his own way to keep Remnant safe from Salem but he takes more active approach than Ozpin who focuses on mostly defense and reacting since he believed there wasn't a way to defeat Salem because of her immortality and could only work on stalling her, keeping the Relics from her until a possible solution could be found. Many condemn him for this course of action but given how Volume 7 and 8 went down, it's to show that Ozpin wasn't perfect, that he could make mistakes and how easy it is to make the same mistakes, even if you don't think you can do better.
Aqua becoming Empress of Mistral during and after the Great War, working with Ozma who is the King of Vale, more will be expanded on that down the road.
And Namine who is the daughter of Glynda Goodwitch and James Ironwood, that was hinted in another chapter.
All of these future arc chapters function to show the new future Aqua and her friends are helping to create as the timelines of RWBY and Kingdom Hearts slowly begin to come together, culminating into that little hint I showed taking place in Kingdom Hearts III. Until then, I hope you all continue reading and enjoying the chapters to come. Thank you for your time in reading this message and I will let you all know in advance if I am going to rewrite the beginning.
