Disclaimer: Don't own RWBY. It belongs to whomever now (since RoosterTeeth is gone).

The black bow twitched from the sounds bombarding her ears. Among them was an obnoxious heiress falling behind and shouting, "What did I do to deserve this?"

"She's your partner!" was her own answer, hidden under the swaying trees' shade.

The frustrated groan was a small comfort compared to the other girl she held up. The red cape flapped beside her, and the tiny body attached to it stumbled in her grasp. With silver eyes glancing back, Ruby Rose panted and said, "Wait, where are we going?"

"Still north! The relics shouldn't be far–!"

"Blake!" came from behind. Not Schnee. Pyrrha.

Unlike her partner, eyes ahead, she looked over her shoulder. Her heart pounded from the two pairs of red eyes looming above, both merely far away and not so small. The sunlit rays piercing the trees didn't hide their ever-approaching glares or hisses. Or Ruby and Schnee's respective partners running in front of the looming eyes.

"You said a regular Grimm, not–" the former yelled, panted, then pumped his legs. "NOT A KING TAIJITU!"

A shotgun round flung by one snake head, the thing as large as an Ursa. With smoke leaving her yellow gauntlet, the latter shouted, "Hey, not like I had time–!"

"Blake!" Pyrrha shouted again.

More hissing left another equally large yet pale snake head. Its mouth opened wide, and Schnee's partner grabbed at large fangs about to swallow her whole. The rapid-fire from Ruby's partner ran along the black long neck slithering by him. Connected to the white head as one body, it couldn't move forward.

As Pyrrha's partner, she still tensed. From the hissing to her own heartbeat to Ruby's pants to Schnee's groans to–

"Blake–!"

–that. Seriously, why did Pyrrha keep calling her by–?

"–watch out!"

Also hearing a growl, a reminded Blake pushed Ruby from the Beowolf on the left. Already gathering her Aura, she zipped back from the image it formed in her place. A copy of herself, exact in every detail–black vest and coattails, eye shadow, and of course, bow. The Beowolf's claw scattered them all before Blake threw Gambol Shroud on a long black ribbon.

Skidding many feet away, Blake yanked on the ribbon and fired her weapon mid-air. The hilt's built-in pistol spun it wildly in front of the Beowolf's mask. Pulling it all back, collapsed blade included, Blake grabbed Ruby again and said, "Come on!"

"This," rose from where the Beowolf fell, reminding Blake of Schnee's pale presence. "This makes no sense! Where are all these Grimm coming from?"

"Don't, hrgh, ask me!" cried Schnee's partner, still holding back half of the King Taijitu.

More growls refocused Blake's attention on the younger girl with her. Pyrrha helped, slicing at another Beowolf. Her spear–no, her sword with the long shaft retracted into a red hilt–shone with her words. "Go, we'll handle this!"

Questions about Pyrrha's sanity faded under the rays as Blake brought Ruby past, and then out of the trees. Even in the sun's blinding light, the "temple" laid in the clearing ahead as the headmistress said. Among its gray bricks, any column not lying in pieces held up a broken wall around a circular floor. It and the two boys standing there in armor.

"Come on!" Blake heard one boy, who leaned on his halberd. "Choosing isn't that hard."

Tall and armored like his mace, the other boy said gruffly, "You faced Grimm the entire way here. You can go a few more minutes without complaining."

"I think facing Grimm is a bit harder than deciding what horse you want."

"Hey, that piece decides our team! You wanna get stuck with an animal for four years?"

'Animal?' Blake's bow twitched, but Schnee spoke first once they all touched the stone floor. "Are you quite done?"

The taller boy turned, his head held high. "What's it to you?" he said, arrogance burning like his short orange hair.

"Easy, Cardin. So, what's the rush?" the halberd wielder said, then his lax expression faded from his plain face. "And is she alright?"

The question's subject pushed off Blake with flailing arms. "I'm fi-woah!" Ruby said, steadied herself, and cleared her throat. "I'm fine. See!"

"You," interrupted a harsh Schnee, "are anything but fine!"

Blake turned from the taller boy–Cardin, whose mace didn't hide his equally big head or grumbles. Something about a "rookie holding everyone back." However, the trouble deep in the forest was Blake's concern. No one else heard the howls or gunfire and slashes, not over Ruby. Somehow, the younger girl had enough energy to stand and say, "... go back and help them!"

"And face all those Grimm in your condition?" Schnee snapped back. "I think not!"

Blake agreed, saying, "We don't have time. They'll be here any minute–"

"Woah, woah, woah, ladies!" said the boy with the halberd. "Who do mean by 'they?'"

The sudden shake answered, rumbling the stone tiles. It almost hid Ruby's fall from Blake, as well as the high-pitched whirl shooting out of the trees. "Watch out!" said Schnee.

Blake blinked at Cardin's mace in front of her. Its black top and ten blades halted the lone Grimm spinning like a buzzsaw. A pair of tusks and equally bony armor still spun repeatedly mid-air. Cardin not only held firm, but his wide swing pushed the Grimm back. With said Grimm on its back, short cloven feet in the air, the mace crushed its dark underbelly and ended any squeals.

"Hah! That's all you got?" shouted Cardin, his mace on his shoulder and boot on the Boarbatusk's swine-like carcass. "I was hoping for more of a challenge!"

After helping Ruby to her feet, Blake said, "Don't get cocky. More are on the way."

"Then, we'll hurry it up. Hey Sky, get the relic!" Cardin once then twice looked over his shoulder, annoyed. "Sky! What are you doing?"

Dark blue hair, long and combed back, popped alongside the halberd. "Uh," said the boy, Sky, "which one is–?"

"Brothers, just grab one!"

"But you said to choose careful–!"

"And you care now?"

"We don't have time for this!" Schnee shouted. "Everyone, grab your relics!"

Listening, Blake went across the "temple." The truth of the relics–rather, big chess pieces–shook on their respective pedestals. Ruby grabbed hers, and so did Schnee. Two pieces, in fact, but Blake couldn't worry after two Beowolves flew out of the forest. She breathed a second later, unlike the Beowolves who crashed before the "temple." Cardin coughing from the dirt flung his way was a bonus, as was Pyrrha atop the dead Grimm.

"Blake! Are you alright?" Pyrrha cried, her sword yanked free.

"We're fine," Blake called back. "Come on, we need to get our relics!"

"Relics?"

"Allow me," said Schnee, who stepped up and held out a white rook. "Here, Pyrrha. I've saved one for you."

Blake let go of Ruby. The rook being identical to Schnee's wasn't lost on her. Neither on Pyrrha after she landed, saying, "Oh! I…"

For both their sakes, Blake cut in and pushed aside the rook. "Later," she said.

"Wait," said Ruby from her pedestal, "where's…?"

The shaking columns drowned Ruby's question and Schnee's cry. Turning, Blake and everyone found the pair's partners leaving the trees. The boy, she didn't know that well. And the blonde's name escaped her–

"Yaaaang!" shouted Ruby.

The blonde panted and waved as she ran. "Hey, Ruby!" she said.

"XIAO-LONG!" screamed Schnee.

The boy in the green vest looked over his shoulder at what followed. "Uh, Ruby?"

"Go, go, go!" Pyrrha then shouted and led everyone away from the "temple."

Running too, Blake realized she didn't grab a chess piece until she saw the several Grimm behind.

AN: This was another in-progress chapter for my now discarded RWBY AU, Malleable Fates. Anyone who had read previous entries in "The Idea Bin" would've noticed other previews/drafts of this fanfic idea, involving my OC Orion arriving at Beacon. While I liked ideas about the fanfic, I couldn't figure out the exact chapter-by-chapter plot and got stuck on how to approach different POVs. Aside from worrying about other stories, I just don't want to write for a franchise that went off the rails and was run by a company (RT) filled with controversy and less than adequate storytelling. Would I still use my fanfic for something else? Well, we'll see.