King: Okay, I used a little more direct from the source than I would prefer without saying something. No specifics for anyone that doesn't know what's happening yet. A song is played/sung in this one direct from the source. There's more than two or so lines (it's most of the song...) with a few tweaks here and there. I just couldn't leave it out. It's kind of iconic to what's happening. Anyway, I hope you enjoy as usual.

Inspiration: Steven Universe

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"Why are so many of these sad?" Nora huffed in her chair.

Ironwood took a breath before answering her, "Because sometimes, you don't get to have the happy ending. Or you don't get to see it. Consider how many stories are out there where the hero has to sacrifice themselves to save everyone. Thanks to their efforts, the day is saved, everyone lives on happily. But the hero doesn't get to see that ending. Would they have that happy end?"

As the spirits of many of the students started to fall, Ozpin shook his head. "That's why they do it. They're willing to sacrifice themselves because they have faith in the people they leave behind. That they will reach their happy end. But not all heroes fall, James. Many survive their tales and live their happy ends."

King appeared again, "Well said, headmaster. Now, are we ready for the next round?" After everyone nodded, or affirmed in some way, King disappeared as the screen came to life again.

The scene opened to show a pair of black shoes running across asphalt. The screen panned up to show Ruby running through a beach-front town. As she passed by various residents, she smiled and waved as she made for home. She ran across the boardwalk until she reached the sands. As she approached, she jumped, her shoes flying up. She caught her footwear and ran with their laces tied together and slung over her shoulder. She ran barefoot across the sand and toward an elevated beach house overlooking the waves.

Coco let out an impressed whistle. "Damn. That's a nice place."

Yang turned toward the fashionista, "Are you kidding? That place looks tiny for a house."

"Thing again. Yeah, it's smaller than most homes, but it's basically 24/7 access to the beach. Not to mention it may cut into that mountain holding it up. That place is nice. Trust me on that."

"What, you branching out from fashion into real-estate?"

"The only difference between fashion and real-estate is one is what you wear and the other is where you live."

Weiss interjected, "I… don't think that's quite right, but I see what you're going for."

Ruby threw open the door shouting, "I'm home~!"

Someone in the kitchenette leaned around to face her, "Hey. Welcome back." Stepping back to welcome Ruby, was an older version of Ren (mid 20s-ish). He dressed fairly similarly to the Ren in the audience save for the fact that he only had one sleeve. Said sleeve being replaced by a long glove that came to an end half way up his bicep. A strange green gemstone was embedded in his upper left shoulder, the likely reason he didn't have a sleeve.

Nora shook Ren, "Oh my gosh! You look so cool!"

Sitting at the bar area between the kitchen and the common area was the spitting image of Neo. Similar to Ren, Neo had a pink gemstone embedded at the base of her neck. She waved to Ruby as she entered.

Ruby chuckled for a moment. Then she seemed to think about something, "Hey, Ren?"

Ren kneeled next to Ruby, "Yes?"

"Why doesn't Neo talk?"

Neo was used to the question. It didn't really bother her. She was mute, and most people aren't. When they find out, if they keep it up, then she can kick their ass.

Ren was about to answer but stopped mid-inhale. "I… I'm not sure."

"I mean, I know humans can be mute, but you guys aren't human. So…"

Ruby gasped, "They're not human?"

Blake attempted to make sense of it, "Faunas maybe?"

Weiss shook her head, "I've never seen a faunas with gems embedded in their bodies… At least, not naturally."

Ren and Ruby looked toward each other a moment before turning toward Neo, who just shrugged and continued to eat her snack. Ren sighed, "Who knows…"

A gem-like platform in the back of the room started to glow. A beam of light rose up from the base and shadow formed in the middle. Stepping out of the light was a… woman? It was hard to tell, honestly. It was hard to tell anything more than the most surface level things. The subtle curves denoted she, so we'll use that until we learn otherwise…

She stepped out of the light and onto the hardwood floor. She was dressed in something like a silver shawl over a loose, dark grey top, the shawl making it hard to tell what kind of top. She wore tight pants in a light silver with boots that reached up her calves. Her eyes were covered by a set of visor sunglasses that covered the upper half of her face. Her silk-like, platinum-blonde hair was tied back in a pony tail that reached down her shoulders. She was a beautiful sight to behold, all 7 and a half feet.

Coco whistled, leaning toward team RWBY, "Friend of yours?"

Yang shook her head. "Never seen her before in my life."

Ruby smiled a bit, "She's really pretty though."

Coco chuckled, "No kidding."

Nora saw the woman and was awe struck, "She's so tall!"

She stepped down from the platform and was quickly tackled by Ruby. Well… not really tackled. Ruby swung around the woman's neck in a hug and rested herself on the woman's shoulders like a cape. "Hey Seraph! Welcome back!"

Yang wrapped her arm over Ruby's shoulders, "That's so cute!"

"YANG!" Ruby tried to free herself again, but her sister was much stronger than her.

Seraph chuckled and reached a hand up to pat the head of her living cape, "Good to be back, Ruby. What did I miss?"

Everything started to shake within the home. Everyone looked around in confusion before running to the door. They looked up to the sky in time to see a large green hand in the sky, a Home World drop ship…

"Home World?" Nora went starry eyed again, "They're aliens!"

Weiss felt her eye twitch, "But… but that doesn't… Ships don't…"

Nora frowned toward Weiss, "A-li-ens."

The hand/ship started to float low over the waves and opened with its finger tips on the sand. A panel opened on one finger and a trio of aliens walked down from a descending ramp. All three appeared human, save for the gems embedded in their bodies in various locations. The first was a rather somber looking Blake, with a black gem resembling onyx at the base of her neck, standing on the left. On the right was Emerald, with a gemstone embedded in her navel. Standing tall in the center was Cinder Fall, her burning orange gemstone acting as an eyepatch over her left eye.

There was no mistaking it. They were gems, like Seraph, Ren, and Neo.

"Gems?" No one knew what they were getting at with that.

King paused the screen and appeared again. "I can explain that since we caught this one late in its run, if you want."

After everyone agreed to his offer, he told them. "Okay. 'Gems' in this case refers to their alien species. Technically, the bodies you're seeing are constructs of hard-light."

"Hard-light?" Ruby tilted her head slightly, "What's that?"

"Hard-light is the theoretical system capable of using light rays to solidify into physical form. It's believed that if it could be made real, one would be able to construct anything utilizing said light."

"Cool."

"Anyway, their actual bodies are the gemstones embedded in their bodies, hence the name." Making sure everyone understood him, he disappeared again, and the screening continued.

Cinder glared down at the group before her. "These are the rabble you spoke of, then?"

Blake tried to look away and sneak behind her, but Cinder forced her forward. "Yes… That's them…"

Cinder scowled toward Emerald, "You lost to them?"

Emerald seemed to shrink away a bit, "N-not necessarily. I…"

Cinder turned her eyes back toward the group on the sand. "Pathetic. To lose to these rejects…" The screen showed each member of the group as she listed them off: "An overcooked quartz half the size she should be (Neo), a jade that clearly over estimates its place (Ren), this… disgrace of a display (Seraph), and… whatever the hell that thing is (Ruby)."

"Damn. What's she got against Seraph?" Yang tapped her finger on her chair as she watched.

"What do you think she meant by 'disgrace of a display'?" Weiss crossed her arms. She wasn't sure why, but she felt a bit insulted by Cinder's words.

"Who knows? Maybe she doesn't like Seraph's cloths or something."

Seraph stepped forward, "I'm going to give you one chance to leave Earth before things escalate."

Cinder smirked, "I don't fear the threats made by weaklings like you." Emerald handed her a strange device resembling a tuning fork with pulsing electricity.

Ren cracked his neck and placed a hand on his left shoulder. He slid the hand over his gem and it began to glow.

Ruby couldn't help but feel like something was going to happen.

Ren pulled his hand away and a beam of light followed it. Once it was far enough away, the light formed into a single-edge combat knife.

Ruby was right to pay more attention. The idea of turning light into a weapon! It was so awesome! Sure, there was the lightsaber from before and that was awesome as shit (not that she'd use those exact words in front of Yang) but using light to create any weapon would be so cool~!

Neo followed suit by forming an umbrella from her gem and extending the canvas. Though that would be a bad way to explain it. The canvas was actually a series of folding metal strips, all sharpened to a razor edge.

Which gave Neo an idea for something do to later, if she could figure out how to make it work.

Cinder just rolled her eyes. "Let's get this over with." She moved faster than any of them had expected. She directly in front of Seraph in only a second. "Let's start with you." She stabbed the Gem with her device like a knife.

As Seraph cried out in pain, her body seemed to disrupt and turn to static. Within a few seconds, she popped like a balloon with a puff of smoke. Two gems started to fall from the body. One was a brilliant golden stone while the other was an ice white.

Yang leaned forward a bit in shock. She had to remind herself that the gems were the actual body, so Seraph was fine. But something niggled at the back of her mind. Why did Seraph have two gems when everyone else has one? She looked around at the others. Most didn't seem to think anything of it. The only one's other than her that picked up on it were Weiss, Neptune, and Ozpin. This made sense. Contrary to what people think, Yang is actually rather intelligent. She has to keep her pun game at max levels, so she studies up on a lot of stuff. She just hates the classroom setting.

Ruby's eyes went wide. "Seraph!"

Ren charged forward to attack Cinder but was intercepted by Emerald. Emerald grabbed his wrist and twisted him over her shoulder. She slammed Ren into the ground and used another one of the devices to make Ren poof (for lack of a better word) as well.

Neo threw her umbrella with a spin, turning it into a top of death. Cinder raised a fist and slammed the ground beneath her. A wave of sand forced the umbrella to fly upward. Emerald capitalized on this by jumping up to the weapon. She folded the metal plates and threw it like a spear. Neo simply caught the weapon and unfolded the blades again, only to be met with a disruption grenade hidden within. Neo poof-ed soon after.

Ruby charged forward, but not to attack. She grabbed each of the fallen gems and tried to keep them safe. Cinder kicked her square in the jaw, forcing her to drop her charges. Cinder's gem began to glow, a clawed glove flowing into form on her right hand. "One last annoyance."

Before Cinder could strike her or the gems, Ruby created a pink shield of energy. In the center was a beautiful white rose with its thorny vines swirling out from the center mass. Cinder's face turned hostile seeing that. "Summer…"

Ruby, Yang, and Qrow froze. "No way."

Images flashed on the screen of a woman in a white, hooded cloak. She stood before an army of gem warriors with a pink sword pointing to the battle at hand. She had a pink gemstone in the same location as Ruby, almost as if it was her own heart. She smiled, a hopeful grin for a better future.

Seeing Summer again… It was a bitter sweet feeling to the three. Qrow clutched his flask a little tighter seeing Summer's hopeful expression again. Yang and Ruby couldn't help but smile. Summer always taught them to be hopeful and strive forward to be the best, no matter what happens. It was amazing to see her again, but tears would still fall.

The screen returned to Cinder, her eye twitching seeing Ruby's shield. "Oh… Today is my lucky day after all…"

"Um… How?" Nora didn't like the tone in Cinder's voice. Few among them did. (Surprise, surprise, the one that did was Cinder herself.)

Cinder punched the shield, causing it to crack. She leaned into the shield, causing Ruby to fall back. Cinder's smile could only be called psychotic. "So, this is where you've been hiding!"

Mercury and Emerald moved back a bit seeing that. They'd seen terrible things from Cinder. But seeing that… Yikes.

Cinder slammed her fist against the shield, causing more cracks. "Did you really think you could hide AND use this shield?! Did you think I'd forget you SUMMER?!"

"What are you talking about?! I'm not my mom!" Okay, that was a half lie.

This confused all involved.

Ruby was technically half gem. Her mother was a ruby quartz (yes, really), but her dad was human. A child born that way taxed her mother's form. She… she gave up her physical form so Ruby could be born.

Ruby's mind paused. Her mother… She…

Cinder didn't buy it, though. She reared back her fist and shattered the shield. Ruby was knocked out from the force and everything went black.

Nora picked up something, "Hang on. Where's Jaune?"

Yang turned to her, "Hey, yeah! Where's Vomit boy? He's supposed to be in all of these, isn't he?"

"Oh yeah!" Ruby was still caught up on the being her own mother thing in this reality, but she got things back to normal. "Where'd he go?"

When Ruby came to, she was in a cell of some kind. The entrance was sealed by an anti-gem laser field. She groaned a bit seeing that. "Great… Now what?" She tried to find some kind of way out, but her cell was fairly stable. She sighed and leaned against the wall to the side. "Okay, Ruby. Think. How do I get out of this…" She leaned to the side a little too far and fell into the field. To her surprise, she was fine. It fell really weird, but not painful.

She scrambled up and out of the field. Maybe it was because she was half human… She shook her head. Think about that later. Find the others now. She ran off through the cells, checking each to find whoever she could. She passed by one in a hurry, not recognizing the person inside. Wait… She back peddled and looked back into the cell.

A young man was in the cell punching the wall on the other side. She looked to the side to find he had, somehow, punched his way through the cell wall next to him. Ruby turned back to him. He was a blonde man wearing a simple golden tunic with gold pants and black boots. He slammed his fist into the wall and recoiled in pain, tears starting to flow. "I'll find you…"

Nora smiled, recognizing her team leader, "There he is!"

"But how did he get there?"

Ruby cleared her throat. "Um… are you okay?"

Jaune didn't turn toward her and punched the wall again, "Who cares about me! I have to…" He froze, finally registering what had just happened. He turned toward her, a look of shock on his face. "How did you get out?"

"Oh… um… I think it's because I'm half human. The field doesn't really hurt me." She placed her hand into the field and stepped in with her arms spread out. The laser grid was disrupted and created an opening for Jaune to get out.

Jaune quickly ducked through and looked around. After a moment, he turned to Ruby, "Did you find anyone else yet?!"

"No. I just escaped a while ago."

Jaune was in a mini-panic. "Okay… She's got to be around here somewhere!"

"Who should?"

A faint song echoed through the cells. Jaune's head snapped to the side.

Some could recognize the song. To some, it rather familiar. To one, it was life. To an heiress in the audience, who had taken up musical performance and excelled, it was clear who was the voice singing out through the prison. It was her. Weiss was confused a moment, but it was easy enough to understand. Jaune's actions made it clear he was searching for the source of that song. He was looking for her.

Jaune's breathing showed he was panicking, "That's Weiss! She's close!"

Ruby turned toward Jaune, "Who?" Before she got an answer, he was running off through the halls, leaving her alone. "Never mind then…" Ruby moved at a slower pace, following the singing echo as best as she could without going around in circles. After a while, she turned a corner to find Blake in one of the cells. "Blake?!"

"Why is she in the cell? I thought she was working with that chick." Yang wasn't happy about any of that, but now she was just confused. She was used to the idea of her friends possibly being villains in these, she's seen more than enough Jaunes being just that.

Blake shook her head. "I doubt it was by choice. The way she was acting, its likely I'm a captive in this in some way."

Blake was sitting against the back wall, hugging her knees. She looked toward Ruby in surprise. "Ruby? But… how did you get out?"

She placed her arms out to allow Blake out of her cell to show her how, "Come on, Blake. It doesn't hurt, but it feels really weird."

"Ruby… I'm not leaving…"

"What?" Ruby stepped back in surprise, causing the grid to return to normal.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't… They caught me once, they'll do it again. I'm not going…"

Blake wasn't sure how to take what she was seeing. Whatever they had done to her in that reality, it must have been horrible to scar her like that.

Ruby wanted to say something, but the ship lurched. "All hands, process for warp commencing. T-minus 5 minutes."

Ruby looked up to the intercom, "Crap." She turned back to Blake with a determined look, "Blake, listen to me, you don't have to be afraid of them. You don't have to help them. I respect your decision to stay out of this, but I'm stopping this ship and saving my friends. You included…"

After a moment without a response, Ruby turned and ran off down the hall. Blake sighed and leaned her head back onto the wall. She just wasn't strong enough for any of this…

Ruby slid across a section of floor to find another gem behind a laser grid. Technically she found two gems. Jaune was trying to find the mechanism to get inside while the gem in the cell watched on, unable to support him. She was a beauty in white with hair like a snowdrift. Her attire reminded Ruby of a princess attending a gala, complete with dress that reached to the floor.

Nora grinned seeing that, "There's Weiss! That's so cool!"

"Nora…" Weiss sighed, "I've appeared in other versions. What makes this any different?"

"Well, this version is an alien gemstone, for one."

Weiss paused, not expecting that kind of answer, "True… But that doesn't really mean much at this point. We've seen plenty of different forms of Jaune."

"That's not the point!"

Ren tapped Nora's shoulder to remind her they were watching something in a theater. No one ever really seemed to miss anything when they did react like that, but best not to have too much of an outburst.

Ruby walked over and tapped Jaune's shoulder, "Can I help?"

Jaune turned to her in shock, not noticing her approach. Weiss just chuckled seeing that. Jaune nodded and stepped to the side. Ruby stretched her arms before creating a path for Weiss to escape. Weiss ducked under Ruby's arms, pausing half way through, "Thank you, Ruby." Once she was out of the way, Ruby stepped back with a smile.

"Hang on…" Ruby was about to ask a question, but her counterpart beat her to it.

"How did you know my name?" Ruby blinked in surprise.

Weiss as about to explain when a pair of arms wrapped around her and lifted her up. Jaune was smiling behind her with tears of joy, finally reunited.

"Woah!" Yang grinned from ear to ear, "And here I thought you'd just be friends or something."

Weiss groaned a bit, her head in her hand. "Desperate enough to punch through whatever that stuff is to find me?"

Yang shrugged, "He seems like the kind of guy that would for any of us."

"But remember, this is a different world. We shouldn't hold him to the same standard."

Ruby smiled seeing the two. Even if her question was forgotten, it was nice to see a couple so happy. They were easily the most affectionate duo she'd ever seen. It was clear they truly loved one another.

Pyrrha was used to the idea of alternate Jaune's having alternate love interests. She's seem him paired alongside Nora (which was a trip and a half) and Velvet already, after all. But this one scared her a little. She knew Weiss was interested in Neptune, but the idea of it was unsettling, given Jaune's feelings.

Jaune spun her around and kissed her cheeks, happy to have her back in his arms.

"Aw~! That's so cute!" Yang grinned.

"Wouldn't have taken you for the romantic." Blake smirked toward her partner.

"I'm not. Doesn't mean it's not adorable."

"Fair enough."

Weiss giggled, "Jaune! Come on, now. Not in front of Ruby."

"Okay, seriously! How does she know who I am if we just met in this world?!" Ruby was getting impatient for an answer.

And an answer she would get. Jaune started to twirl with Weiss lifted slightly. Both with wide smiles, they practically seemed to glow. Hang on a sec. They are glowing! Both started to glow and turned into silhouettes of light.

This caught everyone off guard. Ruby's impatience gave way to confusion, "What's going on?"

They lost form, leaving only their gems visible. Jaune's was a brilliant golden gem while Weiss's was a chilling ice-white. Their colors seemed to blend together into a beautiful silver. The glowing bodies started to morph together into an orb of light. The orb started to shrink before bursting like a bubble. Inside was not the two gems from before, but a single being formed from the two. A beautiful, platinum blonde woman with familiar attire. She looked like an angel as the light from the orb fell around her. She landed on the ground before the young Ruby with grace and poise. "Hello, Ruby. What did I miss?"

Everyone went into a silent shock. Not only was Seraph standing before them again, but it was revealed that she wasn't one gem, she was two gems in a single form. Seraph was a fusion of Jaune and Weiss. To some, it started to make sense. That's why she was named Seraph, she was the snow angel…

Ruby's eyes had stars in them. "Seraph?! You're a Fusion?!"

Seraph chuckled, "We were going to tell you on your birthday. For now, we have to get this thing out of the sky and back to Earth. Ruby, I need you to find the others and have Ren land the ship."

The stars disappeared, and Ruby's eyes returned to normal, "What are you going to do?"

Seraph smirked and tousled Ruby's hair, "I have some unfinished business with a certain someone."

Ruby smiled back to Seraph, "Kick her butt into next week!"

"That's the idea."

As Ruby ran off, Seraph turned down the hallway. She started to wall the hall toward the main entry. This bitch Cinder came to her planet. Attacked her family! Separated her! This was personal.

Yang slammed her fists together, "Yes! Kick her ass, Seraph!"

Seraph reared back a fist and broke something that looked important. A small alarm went off, causing Cinder to march into the room with a glare, "How did you both get out?"

Seraph glared back. Her sky-blue eyes both burning with fury and cold with anger. "Doesn't matter. All that matters is we're together. And we want a rematch."

"Why bother? It'll end the same way."

A faint tune started to play, slowly picking up volume as they went.

"I've seen what your made of."

Seraph chuckled a bit. "No… you haven't."

Then Seraph started to sing.

"Hang on." Yang crossed her arms. "Why is she singing?"

Neptune leaned slightly toward her, "It's likely non-diegetic." Seeing a few confused looks, even from some adults, he explained, "It's the idea that the characters are unaware its happening. We see them sing, but, to them, it might not actually be happening."

"Huh…"

"This is Seraph, back together. And I'm never gonna lose to the likes of you. Because I'm so much better. And every part of me is saying go get her."

The gemstone embedded into her hands started to glow. Two swords beginning to form. When the light faded, she was holding a single-edged dueling sword toward Cinder. Cinder formed her glove at the same time and pulled out the device from before.

"That's bad." Ruby was a little scared, after seeing what that thing did to Seraph and the others before.

"The two of us ain't gonna follow your rules. So, come at us without any of your fancy tools. Let's go just me and you."

Seraph placed a hand over her forehead and simulated bringing down a visor, forming her sunglasses from before.

"Let's go, just one on two!"

Cinder tried to charge Seraph, only to met with a blade slicing through her device. Now that she had her sword and knew what she was up against, she was more than ready for Cinder's attack.

"Go ahead and hit me if you're able! Can't you see my relationship is stable? I can tell you hate the way we intermingle, but I think you're just mad that you're single."

Coco whistled, "Damn! This Seraph chick is something else."

"Two somethings…" Weiss added.

Cinder growled and tried to punch at Seraph, but she moved like a chilling wind. She was grace on her feet, like a pure snowflake falling from the skies. She slashed at Cinder after one particular dodge and made a nasty cut into her arm. Granted the arm healed immediately, but the energy it takes to do that was limited.

"You're not about to stop what we've made together. We will stay like this forever! If you break us apart we'll just come newer, and we'll always be twice the gem that you are!"

Nora chuckled, "Literally."

"I am made oh-oh-oh-of lo-oh-oh-oh-ove. Oh-oh-oh-oh-ove!"

Each time Cinder tried to attack, Seraph dodged, even if barely. Counterattacks followed soon after, but Cinder was starting to counter back. Cinder pushed Seraph back into a wall, cracking the surface. But she just stood back up.

"This is who we are… This is who I am. And if you think you can stop me, then you'd better think again! Cause I am a feeling, and I will never end. And I won't let you hurt my planet! And I won't let you hurt my friends!"

"Yeah!" Ruby, Yang, and Nora shared the sentiment sung by Seraph.

"So go ahead and hit me if you're able! Can't you see my relationship is stable? I know you think I'm not something you're afraid of, cause you think you've seen what I'm made of! Well, I am more than the two of them. Everything they care about is what I am."

The camera focused on Seraph's right hand, glowing a faint gold.

"I am their courage!"

Then to her left hand, glowing white.

"I'm their ambition!"

The camera pulled back to show her full body, glowing silver.

"I am a conversation!"

"I am made oh-oh-oh-oh-of lo-oh-oh-oh-oh-ove! And it's stronger than you!"

As she sang the song's ending, Seraph created a glyph of energy around them. She moved like a streak of silver death. She sliced through Cinder's form in one direction before she suddenly struck from another side. This continued for about 20 strikes in two seconds.

When the onslaught, and song, was over, Cinder was run through with Searph's sword and subsequently poofed. The fusion stood there a moment and kneeled down with an outstretched hand. A pink bubble formed around the fallen gemstone as she smiled. Seraph stood as Ruby came in over the intercom, "This ship is under new management! Next stop, Earth!"

Seraph smiled to herself. "We'll never be apart…" How can she ever truly be lost? She was made of love.

The screen blacked out, leaving the audience to their wrap up thoughts before the next reality played. Everyone felt better about this one. No psycho versions of Jaune, no over the top violence, nothing too crazy, awesome action, even the song was enjoyable. Everyone found something to enjoy.