Hi. I know it's been a minute since you all heard from me, and I wish it was better news. No, this story is not coming back, and I have no intention of ever finishing it. If you want to, you have my complete permission to do so.

But let's talk for a bit. Or rather, I'm going to talk for a bit, to explain why I've abandoned this story for so long before finally putting it out of it's misery. And then, I hope I can give you a bit of closure by telling you how it was supposed to go from where we left off.

So around the time I was writing this... god, I just realized, I posted this sooo long ago. I was Seventeen when this story was published. I was still in high-school. Holy crap. But anyway. Around the time I was writing this, RWBY was beginning it's decline. I found myself having to plan around a lot of bad writing choices being made, and was generally just not enjoying the story as it was being told. And there's only so much effort I could make for "fixing it", as egotistical as that sounds.

I decided to put it down for a while, because well... I wasn't interested in the story. Then of course, my life went to shit for a good long while, and when I did finally stabilize again, this story did come back into my mind. I actually wrote about half of the next chapter that very day. But the spark was slow to come back to me.

And it never really did.

Roosterteeth and RWBY continued to decline, and I fell out of love with the story almost completely. And now, it's time I finally close this chapter of my life.

God, reading over my old work I see so many mistakes. Alex being almost a 1:1 parallel with myself at the time, and broken-ass powers to boot. Alex was meant to be someone who could stand side-by-side with Delsin and help ground him to the world, and that just... wasn't needed. I could have never included him, and it would've been fine. Young Me was just wanting to be in the story, I guess.

The first few chapters didn't even have an outline. Ilyanna was there just as a vehicle for me to give Alex a power that was plot convenient. The Yang/Alex romance was forced as hell. The whole backstory I wrote for Alex's family was horrendous. The age-difference with Delsin trying to be a *Student* again was such a dumb decision. A lot of the fight-scenes are just there to be Set Pieces rather than advance the story. Hell, if I'd never introduced Alex to the story, half of these wouldn't be here.

There are a few things I wrote that I still love. The Valean Ray-Sphere Blast was one I'm still proud of. I can't take full-credit for Dorado Arachne, since she was a fan-submission. But I loved the fighting style I made for her. Kind of a mix between Spider-Man, Bakugo, and a high-level MMA fighter.

But despite all of this nostalgia coming back to me, I think it's time to close this chapter for good.

Now, that said. I know some people out here, all 5 of you, wanted to know how this story ends. I don't remember a lot of the smaller details, and my old outline has been lost to time and a complete hard-disk failure.

So to give the answers to the big burning questions.

In my version of the story, most of the events would play out the same. The Vytal Festival would be play out on schedule, though with Alex and Delsin facing off against Team FNKY in place of Yang and Weiss. Alex would eventually manage to tag Flynt, and in a "twist of fate" gain a much stronger version of his semblance, but render the both of them comatose for a few hours. Basically, Alex walks away with the ability to make duplicates of himself, to a max of 3.

I remind you all, he's broken as fuck, and I was a lot younger at the time, lol.

The rest of the tournament would play out fine. Alex would go on to represent team CNDT at round 3, only to face Cinder in place of Mercury. Alex would manage to put up a fight against Cinder, pushing her pretty decently, but Cinder would throw the match enough to give Emerald room to try and influence his perception, and do to him what she did to Yang in Canon. Alex would manage to resist, but would go unconscious as a result, causing him to lose the match.

Pyrrha VS Penny progresses, and Alex wakes just in time to make it to Ozpin, who manages to stop the fight, but not before Penny loses an arm. (Never planned to use her in the story after that, so I don't know why I didn't just let her die?) While it's not what she planned, Cinder does manage to capitalize on the Chaos, and begin her plan.
Team CNDT moves to defend however they can. Alex splits into 4, and guards the Civilian Transports. Cole helps Port and Oobleck hold the Arena, Eugene becomes He Who Dwells, and summons a host of angels to try and take control of the skies, and Delsin and Dorado move towards downtown Vale.

Once the arena is clear, Cole makes his way to Vale with the others, and Alex joins with Eugene.

While the Conduits seem to be making excellent progress, Corrupted Grimm soon take the field, and start pushing them back, as Bertrand and Augusttine come and join them. The OG Conduits do their best to move in and fight their old enemies, with Delsin managing to absorb Bertrand's Powers. Meanwhile, the scene below Vale in the Maiden's Chamber progresses as normal, with Cinder stealing the rest of the Fall Maiden's powers, and Pyrrha in pursuit. But right as Pyrrha is about to be killed, Alex arrives, having seen their fight taking place, and saving her life.

The rest of the new Conduits manage to join the fray, and with Delsin's command of the corrupted Grimm, force Augustine and Bertrand to retreat. Alex's fight with Cinder begins in earnest as the Grimm Dragon attacks Vale, and it's clear he's outmatched. With the ability to heal infinitely by using her Maiden Powers to make flames to absorb, Cinder's Conduit and Maiden powers overwhelm him despite him giving her as best he can. And in a final blow, he gets forced to his knees, and stabbed in the chest with a Sword of Fire.

Cinder is blasted off her feat by a gust of icy wind, and Maria, his mother, appears. Her face is cold as she leans down, and despite her hair being her natural white, ice pools around her hand as she closes her son's wound, preventing him from bleeding out. And with a chilling speech, her eyes ignite as she reveals her secret.
She is the Winter Maiden. (Freya hadn't been revealed yet)

Cinder smiles, thinking she has this won and that she's gotten lucky enough to be able to harvest two maidens in one day. She throws a ball of fire at the woman, only for Maria to snap her fingers and extinguish it. Maria surges forward, and reminds Cinder that while she has gained great power Maria has had the Maiden's Powers for 40 years, and she's not about to lose to the woman who attacked her son. Cinder raises her gloved hand, trying to summon the Grimm to steal Maria's Maiden Powers, only for Maria to cut it off at the shoulder, not giving her a chance.

But even with her experience, Maria is only Faunus. Cinder regrows her arm with no trouble, with her overwhelming raw power, force Maria onto the back foot. But as she starts to monologue, Alex, still bloodied and badly wounded, rises. Removing the glove from Cinder's dismembered arm and placing it over his own hand, he grabs the nascent Maiden by the neck, forcefully draining her powers into himself, even as it rages against him.

Most of Alex's usual powers are suppressed as he fights to control what he's stolen, but he and his mother manage to hold Cinder off in time for the other Conduits to arrive. Delsin manages to absorb Cinders powers, and with the others soon to arrive, Mercury and Emerald sacrifice their own chance to let Cinder escape.
The Dragon has been largely ignored to this point, and I had a really cool set-piece for how they killed it, consisting of Cole, Delsin and Pyrrha turning Yang into a Railgun bullet. Can't remember the specifics, sadly. Oh and Adam didn't manage to cut off Yang's arm because she turned to Iron and broke his sword, but I believe that happened off-screen.

The day is mostly saved, despite the casualties, and the Heroes are treated with due accord. Ozpin and Pyrrha live, and Yang has kept her arm, and the forces of Salem have faced a sound defeat. Meanwhile in her castle, Salem is utterly furious at how completely Cinder has failed, and begins attacking her. Her usual composure is long gone, and pain surges through Cinder as Salem forces her towards a Power Transfer Device, threatening to give her new Conduit Powers to someone more... worthy.

Cinder is not having it. She screams in rage, and manages to summon up enough power to overwhelm Salem, and force her into the transfer device. And before she can manage to free herself, Cinder activates the device, stealing Salem's powers and amplifying her own.

Massive artistic liberty with how the device works, and somehow it also Kills Salem? I forget if I had her actually die or not. Not my best writing, but I liked it at the time.

While the rest of her group does NOT tale this well, Cinder manages to corral them... mostly by threatening to incinerate them, before reminding them they have plenty of more power to take. They rally to her, resuming their plan to conquer Remnant.

From there, we have several small character moments. Jacques Schnee arrives to try and take Weiss back to Atlas, but Alex has her back and tells him to leave. Seeing the last of the Avian Faunus before him has Jacques terrified, and he turns tail and runs. Blake tries to run away like she did in the original story, but Cole convinces her to stay. Jaune and Pyrrha have a well deserved and long awaited talk. Cole and Glynda have a few moments, and Cole opens up a bit about his life.

Around this time, Synthetic Blast Cores have been manufactured in Atlas Labs, and are shipped to Vale.

Ozpin, fresh off of an unexpected victory, has decided to flip the script. He calls the Conduits in, and gives them a version of his backstory, and opens a Mission for them to go and attack Salem's castle, putting an end to this, once and for all. (Salem's Backstory and Immortality hadn't been revealed yet.) The Conduits, minus George (And Qrow and Raven, who got Acid and Paper Manipulation respectively, but I never managed to fully bring into the story) all agree to go.

The Blast Cores arrive in mass quantities, and the teams use them to power up, gaining new abilities and giving themselves a much-needed equalizer for the battle ahead.

Meanwhile, Alex is struggling to maintain his hold on the Fall Maiden's powers. Half of his abilities are malfunctioning, he's having all manner of spasms, and it's clear to everyone he's not fit to go out into the field. But as no one knows yet what will happen if he lets go, at the risk of it transferring back to Cinder, he has to hold onto it, even as it threatens to burn him up.

However, his Mother manages to calm the power, stabilizing it, but only while she's nearby. The two are able to go on this last Mission, but only if they stay together.

The team makes their way to the north-western continent (the one that looks like a Dragon), having used an upgraded Ray-Scanner to track Cinder and the other Conduits, and it's not long after they arrive at Salem's compound that the fighting starts. Armies of corrupted Grimm charge at them, and they do their best to push them back, burning through a good chunk of resources to punch a hole through. Maria and Alex use their abilities to let the Conduits recharge, but they don't get long to do so before they have to move.

They soon come to a central chamber, where they find Hazel, Dr. Watts, and Tyrion waiting for them, each one enhanced with new Conduit powers to augment their abilities. And behind them all, Cinder sits upon Salem's throne, smirking as the fight begins.

Cinder easily holds off most of the heroes, as the three others try their best to whittle them down. Even with all of their new powers and Two maidens, it's a tough fight. And right as the artificial conduits begin to fall, Augustine and Bertrand reveal themselves once more, and Cinder blasts the heroes back. She takes steps forward as all three of them grow. Cole gasps as his eyes fall upon Cinder, her form almost identical to The Beast.

The Final Battle begins in earnest.

The Throne Room is quickly destroyed, and the conduits are already on the back-foot. Alex and Maria manage to combine their powers and stun the enemy Titans for a moment, before he reminds Delsin of their first big fight together. Delsin smirks, and summons up a massive amount of Concrete, forming the body of a Titan of their own.
The other Conduits combine their abilities, augmenting the Titan with each new power added.

Yang creates iron armor around the Titan, protecting it. Glynda forms spikes of ice in the gaps, reinforcing the stone body. Velvet and Jaune maintain defensive stances, blasting all attacks headed for the platform where they all stand. Dorado and Cole use their abilities to augment the titan's movements, yanking it out of danger and using electromagnetic fields to forcibly lighten it. And Eugene summons the sword of He Who Dwells, giving the Titan it's weapon.

The battle begins again, and even now the heroes are being pushed to their limits. They manage to fight off Augustine and Bertrand, but Cinder is relentless, giving her subordinates plenty of time to recover. Even still, it's clear she's taking a great deal of damage.

In one desperate move, Augustine attempts to take control of the Titan's body, wresting it from Delsin and giving Cinder a chance to grapple them, pinning the titan as Cinder laughs in their faces at their futile effort. Only for one last trick to reveal itself.

Some of you may remember, I once told you that there were 10 new Conduits. Go back over the story, and count how many I've revealed. Only 9, right? Even with Dorado?
Rolling out of Yang's pack, one small, four-legged ball of fluff scampers to the front of the Titan and lets out a small Yip. The entire battlefield goes silent as everyone stares at

Zwei, the ever-present stowaway. And their shock only deepens, when two intense beams of energy shoot from the dog's eyes, blasting Cinder back and giving the heroes their opening.

The titan now freed, Augustine and Bertrand are dealt decisive blows, taking them out of the fight for good as the team hits Cinder with everything they have. And not even in this state can Cinder withstand this much power.

Cinder is forced out of her Beast-State, and the heroes let the titan fall away.

Bertrand, having long been sickened of his own abilities, cries as he is once again brought to ruin. He begs Cole to finally let him die, to let this torment end. And in a show of mercy, Cole gives him a quick and painless death.

Eugene stares down Augustine, who raises her hands in surrender, knowing she's been beaten.

And Delsin, marches on Cinder. Cinder screams, throwing everything she's got left (Little as it is at this point) at the Conduit who has stood in her way time and time again. But Delsin doesn't care. Rapidly shifting powers, he counters every move she makes, until he makes it right to her face. He punches her right then and there, knocking her to her knees as he looks into her eyes and says two words:

"You Lose."

Unable to leave a threat like her alive, he uses her own power against her, turning her to ash and letting the wind carry her away. None present question this decision.
The team returns home, Augustine in custody. Alex, barely having managed to hang on to the Fall Maiden's power, lets go at last, letting it find a new host. And at long last, the day is saved.

Eugene and Delsin debate about next steps, and if they should try and find a way to get back to their world, still not knowing how they managed it. And at long last it is revealed that Cole, during his torture, was forced to such incredible heights of pain that he is in fact the one who brought them both here. Given all of his new abilities, and a lot of preparation, he should be able to take them all back to Earth.

Some time later, a portal opens in the middle of New Marais. Delsin, Eugene, and Cole Himself walk through, followed by Velvet, Neo, and Rad. No one speaks, and word quickly spreads of this incredible event. The crowd and bustling city parts around the group as Cole makes his way forward to his own statue, where his Amp lay, embedded in the stone.

Zeke appears in the crowd, stumbling forward in shock as tears threaten to take over his face.

And like King Arthur before him, Cole withdraws the Amp from the Stone, raising it aloft as he returns, flanked by his fellow heroes.

And that's it. That's the end. Feels good to write it down, and finally let this chapter of my life close.

So while it may not be perfect, or everything you wanted from this story, I give you now two final words.

THE END.