Author's Notes

READ THE NOTES FIRST – THIS ONE MAY NOT BE YOUR CUP OF TEA

tl;dr This fic is arguably lower quality and edgier than my usual works and mainly exists to have a complete 3 alternate endings.

I don't like this story. As a whole, I can't say I'm pleased with how it came out (it's less 'inspired' and yes that's as pretentious as it sounds), mainly because I'm not into bleakness, doom, and despair. It has its good parts (mainly the beginning and ending), but overall it's definitely the weak link of the 'Origin Story' series. It's certainly the grimmest and crosses the fine line from dark to edgy in many spots.

I love all of 'Origin Story.' I love all of 'Hero.' I do like the beginning and ending of 'Villain,' but much of the middle feels like dark, slightly gory horror filler. I never thought I'd have to tag Dead Dove, but here we are. I'm not trying to put you off of reading this, but if you don't like gratuitous violence described in detail, you may want to turn back.

There will be gore in this one, and lots of death too. The basic premise is that Ruby decides to fully commit to Salem after Goodwitch and Cinder die. Most of the story is her waging war against the kingdoms, and some scenes describe bodies being murdered and/or mutilated. It's up to you if you want to read it, but if you can't stand the first chapter, it's only downhill from here in terms of graphicness.

Some history on the alternate endings: I thought of 'Hero' and 'Villain' on the same day, but while 'Hero' was an interesting look into Ruby's mind and how she processes guilt and winds down after her mission, 'Villain' was more of the obligatory bad ending to compliment the good and neutral endings. 'Villain' had an ending, but I didn't really know how to get there aside from just 'Ruby blows up everyone with her magic.' Anyways, I wrote 'Hero' first and was so pleased with how it came out that I decided I didn't want to write 'Villain' so that I could end the series on a high note. This was because, in my mind, it has to be the good ending then the bad ending in that order, and I didn't want 'Villain' to be the sour note ending of the series. I added a brief mention at the end of 'Hero' describing what 'Villain' would have been and considered the matter over.

Three months later, I changed my mind on writing this when I realized I could do this whole alternating-days posting so that 'Villain' was listed as last but the series chronologically ends with the last chapter of 'Hero' on a positive note. This choice was also influenced by the fact that I felt the series needed a good, neutral, and bad ending or it would feel lopsided. I wrote this one based on memory of the outline I deleted and the note at the end of 'Hero,' but I'd rank this as probably my worst fanfic overall. There's just a lot more filler in the middle than I'd like.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!

Chapter 1 – Ruby in Vale

But.

But Yang.

When Salem last gave Ruby orders, she'd told her to raze Vale. Vale had Beacon, and Beacon had Yang. So if Ruby went back to Salem…actually, before Ruby went back to Salem, she would have to kill Yang.

Yang, who was lost to Ruby for good.

Yang, who had last tried to arrest Ruby.

Yang, who had cornered Ruby with her new special friends, three cute girls who probably batted their eyelashes and mattered more to Yang than her own sister.

Yang, who had taken Ruby to Goodwitch when she was sick and started this whole wretched thing.

Yang, who had forced Ruby to eat her vegetables.

Yang, who'd knowingly 'forgotten' to remind Ruby about her overdue library books and cost her three lien, all in the name of 'teaching Ruby a lesson,' when reminding her would have cost Yang nothing.

Yang, who had implied she wouldn't have wanted Ruby to be her partner when they were on the airship to Beacon.

Yang, who knew what the punishment for Ruby's crimes would have been and still wanted to bring her in.

Yang, who couldn't just trust Ruby to know what she'd been doing for once and decided to get in the way and fight Ruby and slow her down and interfere and delay her getting to Goodwitch and prevent Ruby from saving the only lifeline she'd had and…

Yeah, no. Ruby hadn't gone through hell with a forced smile on her face just to be judged by a coddled schoolgirl who got to live the life they'd both wanted.

It was because she insisted on doing her little classroom routine that I was late to Goodwitch.

Ruby hadn't even realized she'd turned around towards the direction of the city of Vale until she was already backtracking her path through the sky.

If she hadn't taken me to meet her good buddy Jaune and that idiot fat professor fuckface and have fucking lunch, I might not have been too late…

There was no point in living in the past, though. For worse or for worse (because this could not be better), Goodwitch was dead, and Cinder with her. The only option left to Ruby was to…to…

Salem will care for me. I'm her dark hero, her bloodied avenger. She needs me; I know it, and I know she'll never turn her back to me like all of the others did because I know that she can't.

Of course, Ruby would need to prove herself by destroying…by…

It wasn't as though this was crossing some point of no return or something. Ruby had already burned down Hibernance, and she'd killed Valean hunters and hunter-adjacent career professionals with glee. For a brief moment, she'd shrugged off the joyous rush of loving herself that came with a kill, but Ruby knew she would be encased in it soon enough.

It'll be easy, Ruby thought as she floated in the clouds above Vale, looking down at the city's numerous tall buildings. Just blast them from space, level the city, and don't look back when you're done. Nothing tough.

And this time, she wouldn't have to feel guilt, because she'd committed. Ruby Rose was gone, and in its place was Salem's blade, perfected for the sole purpose of doing this very task. When Ruby destroyed the world this time around, she could feel happy if she felt happy, she could feel silly if she felt silly, she could just be herself.

It'll be like the world is a big old game. People will be like toys that I can break and play with whenever I want. I'll be a literal god.

R̶u̶b̶y̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶.̶ ̶ ̶S̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶i̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶.̶

̶S̶h̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶u̶c̶k̶ ̶u̶p̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶s̶t̶u̶p̶i̶d̶ ̶f̶u̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶r̶e̶.̶ ̶ ̶D̶o̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶?̶ ̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶'̶b̶a̶c̶k̶.̶'̶ ̶ ̶Y̶a̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶n̶e̶.̶ ̶ ̶B̶e̶a̶c̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶V̶a̶l̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶m̶o̶m̶m̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶d̶a̶d̶d̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶g̶o̶n̶e̶.̶ ̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶e̶w̶ ̶a̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶a̶w̶d̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶l̶e̶f̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶S̶a̶l̶e̶m̶!̶

So. A literal god. Right. C-Cool.

She was floating high above the world, and the city didn't look like a city from this distance. If anything, it resembled a miniature model of one.

It won't be like hurting people. I won't even need to see any people when I kill them. Remember when I was little and I used to built a fort out of mega-brix and filled it with action figures and the dolls from Ya…and the dolls that I found around the house? And then at the end, I would play the Beowolf and knock everything all down while growling and snarling? It'll be like that. The only difference is that this fort is a lot bigger, which means it'll be even more fun to knock down.

I want to do this.

I want to do this.

I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶.̶

She had to do this. Evernight was the only home Ruby could ever have left.

It would be okay. She would just look down, point her hand, the lightning would come out, and Vale would be set ablaze. Defenses from the city wouldn't be able to reach her this high up, and Ruby would see any airships coming a mile away. It would be okay.

Ruby aimed her hand, but no lightning came out. She tried to will the magic to exit her body, but nothing came.

Do it, girl. Now isn't the time for performance anxiety, not when your entire life is riding on this one fight. Keep trying to bring that magic out. Salem won't take you back until you destroy the city. She specifically called you out for being unwilling to raze Beacon because Yang was there. If you want to go back to your happy home in the Grimmlands, you have to –

Ruby looked down to see that, during her psyching-up session, her continuous efforts to expel magic had already succeeded. Waving her hand unconsciously, she'd already send down some sort of havoc-wreaking attack. A large swath of land in Vale had been utterly scorched, leaving behind little more than a ravine full of charred rubble and ongoing fires.

"NOOOOOO!"

In spite of all of her attempts to hype herself up and convince herself that this was what she needed, the horror of actually seeing the city destroyed, and by her own hand no less, was still just as traumatic for Ruby to see.

I hadn't been expecting it to actually…to really…happen!

Destruction of Vale had been a concept in her mind, but now that she'd actually struck the first blow, it was impossible to not be disgusted with herself.

What have I done?! There were people down there!

In spite of the fact that it was her own attack, one that she had been planning on doing, the absence of any true control over how it had happened hit Ruby so hard that she nearly passed out midair and plummeted to her death. Even as it was, she probably lost a good tenth of her altitude above the ground.

It was supposed to have been something she built up to, slowly charging the blast until she finally gained enough power to strike. Then, she would look away, only to slowly peek at the carnage she'd wrought.

Instead, what Ruby got was an accidental massacre. She'd caused it, and she could do it again with but the flick of a finger, and yet Ruby had never felt so powerless.

A fresh wave of shame masked itself as anger, and Ruby, in her rage, shot down another bolt of destructive energy, taking her self-hatred out on the object that had caused her such distress. It collided with the ground after almost ten seconds of flight, exploding upon impact. The damage it created was a circular crater of destruction this time, making an almost lollipop like shape to the wreckage.

She'd thought herself high enough to not hear the screams, and she wasn't, but that didn't mean noises like sirens were beyond her reach. Ruby herself screeched in terror as the realization that she'd killed more people sank in, and she began to fly up in hopes of not having to witness what she'd done.

No matter how high she flew, Vale was still below her, staring at her, judging her the same was she judged herself, so Ruby threw down another explosive ball of fire, and then another, and then ten more, and then a hundred. Many of them scattered so far that they actually struck beyond the city walls, but enough of them didn't.

Stop it! Stop it! Stoppitstoppitstoppit! Stop…Stop being there!

This wasn't what she'd been expecting it to be. Destroying the mega-brix toy fortress she'd built as a child was a fun, cathartic experience, a chance to let loose and inflict as much damage as she wanted, but destroying Vale was a thing of haste. It was like having to walk across hot coals – Ruby just wanted it to be done as quickly as possible. More fire flew out of her hands, along with lightning and even some forms of magic that she couldn't put into words – spiraling purple rays that wobbled to and fro like a slinky as they fell out of the sky onto the defenseless kingdom below.

Only about half of Vale was standing when Ruby stopped because she was hyperventilating too much to go any further. The air this high up probably wasn't safe for her to breathe in, with it being so thin.

This can't be real. I can't have…I-I couldn't have…

This…

This isn't real.

This isn't real. I'm not Ruby Rose. That's not Vale.

It wasn't Ruby's home kingdom. It simply couldn't be. There was no way Ruby could have ever destroyed Vale.

That thought calmed her down a little bit. She'd been racing to get this chore Salem had given her over with as soon as possible, but if she wasn't Ruby and hadn't done this, there was no need to worry.

It's like my toys. I can knock them over. This is just a memory, one from when I was a kid.

Ruby lowered herself down until she was high up enough that she could look down and see the buildings roughly the same size as her feet. They looked so real, but they couldn't have been since Ruby Rose wasn't real either. She shrugged. Still good, though.

Kicking her feet, she summoned a wave of air – well, she called it a wave, but it was more of an explosion from displaced gas – to knock over the building. From her perspective, it looked like the boot was kicking the building and smashing right through it.

Buildings don't just smash like that when you kick them. So that can't be a building.

It was like someone had taken the time to build a huge diorama of Vale that was made of paper mâché and toothpicks, and now Ruby got to destroy all of it, except it wasn't Ruby. Maiden powers were surprisingly receptive to senses, and she could feel the resistance that the buildings and streets put up when she destroyed them.

Alright, time to get serious. I was told by Salem to flatten this place, so that's what I oughtta do. Start at the edges and work my way in? Yeah, that's a good plan. And then I'll go to the model of Beacon and kick that down.

Flying above Vale, the girl that couldn't have been Ruby cracked her knuckles, magic sparking from them.

The students and staff of Beacon were all clustered at the airship landing platform, looking out at the smoke and fire that remained in place of Vale. Basically every single one of them was crying, and a bunch had their hands over their mouths.

Ruby approached them head-on, and they all saw her coming. That broke a bunch out of their trance, but not all.

"COME NO CLOSER!" roared a pudgy man – oh, it was that professor guy! The one who'd given a lecture for Ruby to join in on.

He had a big old gun on him, and he aimed it at Ruby, but when it fired, nothing even happened. There was no way this was real, and the guns weren't real either. This was just a fake world that was being destroyed, so the fake bullets from the fake guns didn't do jack-diddlysquat.

"That was actually okay," Ruby said aloud. "Knocking down all the things – I'm glad it wasn't real."

Her sister pushed her way to the front of the crowd. "Ruby!"

"Oh, Yang! Look, look, I did it!" Ruby landed on the ground. The students of Beacon all backed away in fear, and even Yang looked a bit skittish.

"Ruby, what have you done?!"

"It's fine, it wasn't really Vale!"

"WHAT?"

"You don't understand. Here, look, I'll show you."

Ruby reached forward with the air, and Yang was pulled towards her. She reacted slow and didn't start squirming until she was in Ruby's clutches.

"Look, this isn't real, see?"

Ruby grabbed Yang's arm with one hand and her shoulder with the other. It took her next to no effort to just…pop! And they came apart.

"See?" Ruby said over the screaming. "It's not real. This is just…fake."

Yang's arm wouldn't really just slip right off the same way chicken meat slipped right off a wing bone. Bullets wouldn't really bounce right off of Ruby's skin without even pinging against her aura. Vale didn't just crumple like it was made of cardboard.

This wasn't real. Ruby wasn't doing this. This was a made-up world of funny little nothings that made noises and lit on fire like they were meant to.

The other people, the ones that had been around Yang before, all jumped Ruby at the same time and began to do all sorts of little attacks against her, but Ruby just snapped her fingers and blasted them away.

Honestly, it was a little too easy like this, sort of like any challenge had been sucked away…but then again, wasn't that what this whole thing was meant to be? It was just a free chance to see what it was like for the kingdom and the academy and all the people to come apart.

Ruby started with the black-haired one. She'd fallen over from Ruby's first attack, so Ruby just stepped on her midriff. The boot went all the way through, connecting with the solid ground on the other side. It was like stepping through a bucket of mud – basically no pushback, not even when the aura flared up.

It felt only right to do the white-haired one, the Schnee, next, if only for the whole black-and-white thing. She tried to attack Ruby with the skinny sword of hers, Ruby but batted it aside and slammed her forehead into the girl's. Before she could fall, Ruby's hand was on her knee. Sliding it down so she could get an optimal grip somewhere around the shin, Ruby lifted her up and them whipped her body into the ground a few times.

"See, Yang." Ruby turned to her sister, who was crawling away from Ruby with one arm. "People don't just die like that so easily. It's not a thing that they do in the real world. It's all fake."

Yang looked over her shoulder in time to see Ruby pulling her last teammate over to her in a vortex of win. For some reason, when Ruby ripped the weapons out of her hand, they didn't stay away – this one was broken, or maybe it was glitching, or maybe it was defective.

Hey, this one looks like the Invincible Girl. Cool.

"No, plllhhhease, Roooby, nhhhooohhhoo!" Yang bawled, turning around. "Donnn' hurt herrrr!"

"That's the neat part – there is no her! None of this is actually happening. It's just…you remember those mega-brix we have back at Patch? It's like those. It's just set up for me to knock over."

"Naaahahahaaaa!" wailed Yang. "Daaadddyyy!"

Some of the other students tried to attack Ruby, but they weren't important to Ruby, so she just cut them all down with a heavy wave of air. Maiden powers were really something else if they could just zip right through aura like that.

Except it's not really aura. It's not really anything, really.

But then why did was she breaking out her maiden powers to…

Ruby looked at her sister, weeping in a pool of her own blood. She looked at Pyrrha Nikos, who was struggling to breathe as Ruby's cyclone slowly asphyxiated her.

This can't be real.

On impulse, Ruby created a small dagger of ice in her right hand and shoved it into her left hand.

"Arghh! Fuck!"

The pain snapped her out of whatever trance she'd been in, dragging Ruby right back into her proper mind. She may have been indestructible relatively, but her own powers still affected her, meaning that this wasn't just some plaything world of no consequences.

But that means…

"NO! YANG!"

Dropping Nikos like a hot potato, Ruby rushed to her sister's side and cradled her head.

"Y-Your arm is – oh my gods, no! O-Okay, we can treat this. W-We can get you to a hospital!"

Ruby had lifted Yang up and was in the process of draping her remaining arm over her shoulder to lift her up when she finally saw the state of Vale. The entire city was gone.

Dust, I did that! I did!

No Vale meant no hospitals. No hospitals meant no Yang.

"Your aura," Ruby croaked, her voice cracking. "C-Can you flare your aura and heal it? Yang?"

"Mmmmnnnn…broke," Yang just barely managed to bite out. "Ruby…w-why?"

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I thought it wasn't…I'm sorry, Yang, I'm sorry!"

Vale had a population of three million. Yang's team had been actual people, not puppets. Her own sister's arm…Ruby could have screamed.

"P-Patch," Yang howled, gasping in pain.

"Patch? Patch! That's it!" Ruby kissed Yang on the forehead. "They're close and they have doctors! Thank you, Yang, thank you!"

There was no taking back what Ruby had done today, but she could at least save her sister. Shifting Yang so that she could carry her in both of her arms, Ruby lifted off the ground and into the sky.

Something grabbed her foot, but Ruby just kicked her off and kept –

It was Yang's last teammate. Rather, it had been Yang's last teammate. The kick had been a powerful one, enhanced in strength by Ruby's triple maidenhood.

"P-Pyrrha," Yang whimpered.

"I'm sorry," Ruby could only whisper, as though it were her mantra. "I didn't mean to…b-but we need to go."

There was no more time to waste, not with Yang rapidly losing blood as she was. Ruby tore off her own hood and wrapped it onto Yang's stump to stem the bleeding, but she knew that the only thing that could save her sister was a doctor.

I'll be okay, though, Ruby thought as she rose high enough to see the ocean. Plenty of people on Remnant have survived amputations. General Ironwood of Atlas lost half of his body, and he's still hunting. Yang will be okay. I just need to get her to Patch.

Ruby knew the way in spite of the great distance between her current location and her home island – having grown up navigating these waters regularly on the ferryboat between the two land masses, she had the directions inside her heart like they were a part of her.

"Just hold on, Yang," Ruby said, gripping her sister tighter as she sped up faster and faster. "I can fly faster than the sound barrier – you'll be home in no time."

"R-Ru…"

Her eyes scanned the horizon for the island, and it came up roughly around the time she began to expect it to. Patch was a long distance away from Sanus, but to a maiden it may as well have been a stone's throw.

"Okay, we're gonna get you to –"

Ruby looked down at her sister.

Yang's eyes were red. They'd done that plenty of times before, brought on by her semblance's physical changes to her pupils, but this time it was her sclera that were red. It looked like a blood vessel had ruptured, but in both eyes.

"Yang?"

Ruby shook her sister a little. Yang's head lulled forward, and her limbs dangled down freely.

"Yang? Yang, are you –"

Panic overtook Ruby, and she immediately tilted Yang to get ahold of her with one hand. Using her freed up hand, she frantically pressed her fingers into Yang's throat to check for a pulse.

What? How come there isn't…?

Ruby checked again and found nothing. Desperate to be wrong, she lifted up Yang's right arm and held her fingers down against the inside of her wrist to feel for signs of a heartbeat there.

W-What?

How could she have…? I got her to Patch as fast as possible! We were probably flying at thousands of miles per hour!

Thousand of miles per hour…from zero miles per hour. And Ruby had accelerated that fast in a few seconds, maybe just two or three.

Oh my gods, I must've been moving her at 20 G's! That's more than a human body without aura can handle! She was already weak from the shock and the blood loss, and I…I…

There was no doubt about it. The lifeless body in her arms was proof.

Ruby had killed her sister.

There was no point in going to a hospital, so Ruby slowly flew Yang's corpse home instead. She couldn't bring herself to reach the same breakneck speeds as before, not when they had been the cause of…of…so Ruby flew at a slow pace. Leisurely, one might have called it, if they hadn't known that Ruby was carrying the weight of her sins in her arms.

"Dad," she weakly sobbed when she landed at the gate of the property, but her voice was too frail to be heard, and no one came out. "D-Da…Dad…"

Knocking would force Ruby to put Yang down, and Ruby wasn't ready to let go of her sister just yet. Using to maiden powers to generate noise, the very same abilities that had inflicted so much devastation upon the world (and upon Yang) felt akin to spitting on the graves of the dead.

Ruby forced herself to cough and clear her throat. She needed to find her voice again.

"Dad…Dad…D-Dad…"

It wasn't nearly enough. Ruby might have been mistaken for a nearby squirrel chirping for how soft she was. Night had nearly fallen, meaning that her just being spotted by the cabin's sole occupant was unlikely. She needed to get his attention, or she'd stay rooted at the edge of her childhood garden like the vegetable stalks popping out of the ground.

Speak up, girl. If you don't, Dad won't get to know…

"Dad."

It wasn't a shout, but it was finally firm enough for Ruby's voice to carry, and she repeated it once more.

"Dad."

A few moments later, she heard the front door unlocking. It opened up, revealing her father standing there in a bathrobe.

"Ruby! Oh, thank the gods! I was so worried about you!"

What is he…oh. Right. I'd almost forgotten that we ran into each other just this morning, back when I was still chasing Raven.

"Ruby, come inside. I don't care what happened, it's starting to get dark, and I won't have my baby girl catching a –"

Ruby inched closer to him, step by step, closer and closer to the house's porch light. Dad stopped talking when she got within range of the light, which illuminated the corpse in her arms.

"N-No…gods, no…"

"M'sorry," Ruby said. It was all she could say, even though it didn't nearly do justice to the immense thunderstorm of guilt that was raging within her soul. Sorry should have been reserved for breaking a dish or accidentally elbowing someone, not murdering their eldest daughter.

"Get her inside!" Dad cried, running back inside. "Put her on the table! I have a first aid kit with auric boosters, we can –"

"Dad," Ruby said, in the same firm but not loud voice as before.

"No," he sobbed. "No. She can't be. Not our Yang."

"She is," Ruby admitted. "I checked her pulse. She's gone, Dad."

Ruby fell to her knees in the doorway of her childhood home, shaking up and down as tears silently poured down her face. It was agony, to have to be alive when it was Yang who'd died. It should have been Ruby, the monster that destroyed Vale, who perished, not Yang, the huntress who'd tried to stop her.

"Ruby. Oh, sweet Ruby." Dad's arms were wrapped around Ruby. "Come inside. Please."

She couldn't move by her own volition, but Dad wrapped the hug even tighter and pulled her upwards to her feet. He briefly tried to take Yang out of Ruby's arms but stopped the second Ruby shook her head.

Dad's voice cracked when he spoke. "Are yo-uu okay?"

Ruby wasn't. She had a feeling she never would be again.

But Dad wanted to know if she was hurt, and aside from a small self-inflicted gash on her hand, she was unharmed, so Ruby nodded.

"C'mere, Ruby. Come to me. I've got you."

This time, when Dad lifted Yang out of Ruby's arms, she left him. He gently set her down on the couch, and Ruby started to wail when she saw her sister's full body just limply lying there, eyes still open and staring out like nothing was bothering her.

"I've got you, Ruby."

Ruby let her daddy grab her tight and pull all of her fears and worries into himself. She was here, she was real, she was safe. This was her home in Patch, the one place she could be okay.

"Dad…"

"It's okay, Ruby."

"Dad, I –"

"Not yet. I'm…it's too soon. I'm not ready to know just yet."

"It's not that."

Ruby let herself just be swallowed whole in her father's loving arms for a few minutes longer, stretching out the wholesome feeling for as long as possible. Things would never be the same after today, and she needed to savor this love while she still had it.

After probably a good three minutes of just holding one another, Ruby finally separated from her father.

"Dad…I've been working for Salem."

Dad just nodded. Ruby knew he already knew, and he'd probably had some time to come to terms with it.

"It was all for…for the maidens, but even though I now have the power, I…there's nothing I can do."

There was too much to explain with words. Goodwitch, Ruby's only lifeline back to civilization, was gone, and with her any hope Ruby could have of a future in the kingdoms.

"I still love you, baby," said Dad, tears in his eyes. "I'll always love you."

He'll always love me.

Hold onto that feeling, Ruby.

Love.

"I'll always love you too." Ruby rubbed her face, sniffling from all of the crying she'd been doing. "Always, Daddy."

It couldn't last forever, though. Nothing ever would when Ruby was around.

"She's trying to destroy the world, Dad," Ruby confessed. "She's gathering maidens and relics."

Dad just nodded.

Here comes the hard part.

"I'm going to help her," Ruby said. "Help her to destroy the world. There's no other way anymore. The only option is Salem."

Lightning flew out of Ruby's fingertips and into Dad's torso before he could even react. It wasn't out of fear that he would try to stop her, nor was it some sort of tactic to hit him when he was distracted; Ruby just couldn't bear the idea of him responding to her, but the idea of her father dying without knowing his last daughter's truth was just too much.

The electric current would have been enough to stop his heart instantly, and Ruby imagined it would be a painless way to go. Dad just dropped to the floor, smoke coming off of the points where the lighting had made contact with his body and clothing.

To be sure that he was gone, Ruby twisted his neck a full 360 degrees. It would be a torture worse than death to let him live to see what she was going to do to the world.

Vale was gone, and that would mean that the other kingdoms would be falling apart. The instantaneous obliteration of almost a quarter of humanity would no doubt be amplifying feelings of fear and despair around the world. It might be merciful just to put them out of their misery by raining down the same fire from above rather than watching them scramble like rats while Salem threw Grimm after Grimm at their gates.

Truth be told, though, it wasn't about mercy. Ruby just didn't want the world to be around any longer.

I have no idea what happens at the end – perhaps Salem will kill me too, or perhaps I'll endure for the rest of my natural life as her top general, but it doesn't matter either way. I now see things as she does. It doesn't matter how long someone lives or how joyous their life is. They could die as an infant with no comprehension of the world around them, or they could die screaming during a Grimm attack, or they could live to be 100 and be happily surrounded by family and friends on their deathbed. They still die just the same.

All that Salem is doing is what's inevitably bound to happen. And I live to serve her.

Without the hope Goodwitch provided or the light Yang brought to her life, Ruby had no more hang-ups or reservations. She would be Salem's, wholly and completely, and she would do as her queen commanded.

Patch was a part of Vale according to the maps, so Ruby waited until dawn broke for her powers to fully regenerate. She wasn't the same Ruby Rose that had grown up in this cabin, so she chose not to sleep in her bed. Instead, she lay down on the floor, only a few meters away from the fresh corpses of her family. It wasn't a pleasant sleep, and Ruby found herself waking up from nightmares several times over the course of the night, but when dawn broke, her powers were back up to 100%.

As an island, Patch would be the easiest to correct. Ruby just started a few fires in the densest parts of the trees.

She had grown up in these parts, so she knew exactly where the fire department and ferries for evacuation were. Once those were both destroyed, she just hovered in the sky overhead to watch her work and make sure nothing or no one got away.

Watching the island burn to the ground felt like turning the page and coming upon a new chapter. Her mind was made up about joining Salem, but by doing this, she was proving her conviction. Vale was gone, and with Patch in the process of joining it, Ruby would have nothing left to run back to if she so chose.

Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo, and Menagerie remained, but those places were no more meaningful to Ruby than the moon. Patch had been her childhood home, and Vale had been her playground as a kid and a youth. With those two gone, her final ties to Ozpin's side were severed.

Ozpin…hmmm. I wonder what's become of him. He was supposed to reincarnate, but I didn't see him in Beacon, and I heard nothing about him on the news. I would think the resurrection of a dead headmaster would be front page news, so it's probably safe to assume he hasn't returned…at least to the world stage.

He's probably out there somewhere, hiding so that I could complete my mission. If that's so, that means Salem's goal of tormenting him is complete. Vale is gone, and when he finds out, he'll obviously recognize the damage as coming from a maiden. I wonder how long it will take for it to click in his mind that his maiden thief has become Salem's maiden host.

There was some good left to feel in Ruby's life, evidently. Ozpin had set her on this path with nothing but a vague explanation and a guilt-trip, and knowing that it had backfired on him so spectacularly was slightly pleasant, in a gruesome way. He had caused Ruby so much pain over this past year, and she was paying it back in full.

I mean, I technically did complete my mission to him. The Spring maiden was taken and brought back to Beacon. Not my fault his deputy couldn't keep her head.

I owe that man nothing, not anymore. I did my part, so what I choose to do now with my life is my own prerogative. And I choose this.

Ruby threw down another fireball into the inferno, stoking the flames.

Author's Notes

This is Disc B of the alternate endings. Disc A is Remnant's Greatest Hero (Origin Story was the Remnant's Greatest Ruby ending). Villain will be posting on Sundays, and Hero will be posting on Wednesdays.

Ruby could never intentionally kill Yang, but unintentionally killing her would almost certainly be the spark that lights the flame, and now that flame is going to burn it all down.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!