Knox: Come along with me...

King: And the butterflies and bees...

Knox: I miss that show.

King: Had to end eventually.

Knox: Yeah... I still say he should have been Finn.

King: If this were by personality, he would be. But it's not.

Inspiration: Adventure Time

/\

This time, the screen played the world at random for the first time in a while. And… woah boy… It was a heck of one…

The city that appeared on the screen was a destroyed one. It was the devastated ruins of an old, dead civilization. Buildings were crumbling. Cars were broken and flipped. The bombs that dropped during the war destroyed the city and turned it into a ghost town.

Ruby fell into her chair. "That doesn't look good…"

Oobleck sighed, "It reminds me too much of Mountain Glenn."

They could hear a young girl crying amongst the rubble and broken glass. There shouldn't be any living beings still in the city. Yet that was clearly the cry of a young girl. The camera panned along the destruction, eventually stopping at a young girl sitting amidst the rubble. She was a younger Weiss, her head buried in her arms. Her mother died during the war. Her father long abandoned her. She was… alone.

This… hurt to see. Some knew the feeling far too well, to be alone in the world and without a family. Some felt sympathy for the young girl, alone in a dead city. The only truly unaffected were Cinder and Raven.

Who are both total bitches, by the way.

Knox…

Am I wrong?

No… But you're taking up time.

As she cried, she lifted her head a moment, her hair falling back to show her pointed ears.

Nora's head tilted, "Why does she have pointy ears?"

Knox appeared for a second, but paused, "Does that come up in this?"

King followed soon after. "Nope. Go ahead."

"Cool. In this world, Weiss's father is the lord of a realm known as the Night-o-sphere and rules as its demon lord. In this world, Weiss Schnee is half human, half demon."

"That's a thing?!" Nora jumped in her seat.

"In this world, yeah."

Weiss tried to wipe away her tears, but it was difficult.

"Oh dear…"

She jumped at the voice and looked up toward the sound.

Standing before her was a man dressed in a dark brown suit. His black vest beneath matched his dress shoes. His appearance was ragged, a side effect of living in this dead world. His hair was long and a full beard formed on his face, paled by age… or something else… His bright blue eyes were filled with concern for this child, sitting alone.

Pyrrha smiled seeing this. It was Jaune. Though older, and greyer, it was still Jaune, and one that reminded her of the Jaune from her reality.

At his side, a golden crown with brilliant red gemstones hung on his belt. "Are you okay?"

Weiss sniffled and looked up to the man. She didn't say anything, still unsure of him for the moment.

Jaune looked around before going to a nearby broken window. When he returned, he handed Weiss a stuffed… bear? It was hard to tell. "It's not much, but it's something, right? It's not all bad."

Weiss took the plush and held it closer. It was just comforting to hold something that wasn't cold and hard. "Thank you…"

Jaune kneeled in front of her, careful not to get too close. "I'm Doctor Jaune Arc. What's your name?"

Nora gasped again, "He's a doctor?"

Ruby asked to the group, "Medical doctor or like Doctor Oobleck?"

Bart crossed his arms, "Based on his attire, I'd deduce an academic Doctor."

Weiss wiped away a tear again, "Weiss…"

"It's nice to meet you. How about we see if we can find anyone else?"

"Okay…"

It was there that a young girl found what would be her first friend in the man that would help to save her from the broken world.

Yang chuckled and leaned toward Weiss, "So, Papa Arc, then?"

Weiss groaned, fully expecting Yang to use this to tease her.

The screen faded to a few months later. The two had grown close in the bombed out city, searching for anyone or anything that could help them. Jaune tensed up when he heard something in the distance. "Oh no…" He picked Weiss up off the ground and started to run.

"What's going on?!" Weiss was in shock, uncertain of what was happening.

Then, she heard their groans. Beings of blackened bodies and glowing green blood shambled out of the shadows. Zombies reanimated by the Mushroom Bomb that tore the world apart.

Oscar's face fell a bit, "One of those nuclear bombs?"

Knox appeared again for a moment, "Kind of…"

"Kind of?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Define kind of."

"The Mushroom Bomb in this world was a bit more… unnerving. Yes, there is a nuclear blast, but it also has a magical element in this world. It broke off a chunk of the world itself." He purposefully avoided the big Lich-shaped elephant in that room. Another time.

Salem winced a bit, "Well… that's unnerving."

Weiss screamed and dug her head into Jaune's shoulder as he ran. Jaune tried to run off and away but found more of those creatures. There was no way to truly escape at this rate. Jaune ran to the side and placed Weiss into an old car. "Weiss. Stay here and don't look."

"What's going on?" This felt rather like an abandonment for a moment, but she trusted Jaune at this point. He wouldn't do something like that. "What are you going to do?!"

Yang was a little tense, hoping that she was right.

Tai, however, comforted her. "She's a young girl… He's thinking about what she'll end up going through if she sees something like that."

"Don't look!" Jaune took a deep breath and unhooked the crown at his side. It was a magical artifact that granted him power over ice, frost, and chilling winds.

Yang snickered a bit, "So, our mini Ice Princess met… an Ice King~?"

Weiss felt her eye twitch and was about to say something.

Jaune placed the crown on his head and took a breath. Stay calm. He raised his arm and a column of the zombies were frozen solid. Stay calm… He slammed his other arm to the side to cause an icy wind filled by snow to rip through the undead. Stay calm! He swung up, floating into the sky, and brought his arms down to create a hail storm, ripping the rest apart.

Nora grinned from ear to ear, "Look at him go! Go fearless leader!"

But all magic comes with a price. Jaune's breathing hitched for a moment, his pale blonde hair greying further into a silver. His breathing hitched, and he had to take a deep breath. The last of those zombies were all gone. Jaune started to chuckle lightly.

Ruby chuckled a bit to. "Nice! Jaune totally owned those things!"

Yang pumped her fist into the air, "Yeah! Have to admit, Vomit Boy was pretty awesome in this one."

Knox appeared for a second, "It's… not exactly done. We're only about half way."

"Seriously?"

Jaune's laughter started to pick up as the hail continued to fall from the sky. His pale golden hair started to fade further into silver. Soon, he was cackling out loud. All he felt was cold. All he saw was ice. All he heard… was his crown. It spoke to him. Told him the secrets of ice and frost. This was the price of the crown's magic. For as long as the crown remained, his mind was no longer his own.

Everyone was chilled to the bone hearing that.

Ozpin felt especially bad. In his world, magic had no such consequences. It could be trained, but it cost nothing more than time to master.

Then, he turned back to her. Before anything could register, Weiss jumped forward, sitting up. She looked around 18-ish now. She took several deep breathes before bringing her hand to her head. "Living that again…" She kicked off her blanket… as it fell onto the bed that never touched her. Weiss was floating through the air. When she was 18, she was turned by the King of the Vampires as she killed him. Effectively making her, Weiss Schnee, the Vampire Queen.

Yang froze up a bit. "So… Ice Queen and Vampire Queen? That's just not fair."

Weiss felt rather proud of that, actually.

But it also meant that she was now one thousand years old and most of her friends were long dead.

And… Weiss felt bad again.

Weiss floated off screen and it transitioned outside. Weiss left her house in a blue and white striped shirt paired with tight jeans and sneakers. It was a bit of a signature for the time being. She grabbed a large umbrella to avoid the sunlight and flew off from the cave to the world outside.

After a while, she landed in a large field of grass. She smirked seeing Ruby and her shapeshifting dog brother Zwei squaring down against the Ice King like old times. Ruby was dressed in a red t-shirt and hat with black leggings and boots. Zwei was easily the size of a small person and, being a dog, was effectively gifted with an adult mind and experience despite being a similar age to Ruby. Ruby drew her golden sword and swung at an ice column formed by a man dressed in a blue robe and golden crown. That crown corrupted anyone that wore it, so it wasn't a surprise that the man was positively bonkers.

Tai blinked for a moment. "Is… is that supposed to be who I think it is?"

Port chuckled, "Don't be ridiculous. If it really was a thousand years of time passed, Mr. Arc would no doubt have passed away. It's likely whoever found that crown next." His laughter turned nervous. The size of the man based on the robe made him believe it was likely him under that crown.

Weiss had a somber smile. One that hurt to see more than a frown. She wiped away a tear from her cheek. As she watched them, an old song popped into her mind.

Weiss… Is it just you and me in the wreckage of the world?

Velvet took a breath to calm down a bit. "Is that Jaune singing?"

Pyrrha nodded. "It's rare to hear it, but he can sing."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. Could've fooled me. She remembered the incident with the guitar.

That must be so confusing for a little girl. And I know you're going to need me here with you. But I'm losing myself and I'm afraid you're going to lose me too…

This magic keeps me alive, but it's making me crazy. And I need to save you. But who's going to save me? Please forgive me… for whatever I do… when I don't remember you.

The fight played out as always. Ruby and Zwei beat the Ice King easily. Zwei extended his arm to wrap around the King. Ruby was berating the frosty monarch, but they couldn't hear her through the music.

Weiss… I can feel myself slipping away. I can't remember what it made me say. I remember when I saw you frown. I swear it wasn't me, it was the crown.

This magic keeps me alive. But it's making me crazy! And I need to save you. But who's going to save me? Please forgive me… for whatever I do… when I don't remember you…

The song in her head ended and she floated over to the gang. "Hey Ruby. Zwei." She turned to the Ice King, her heart pained at the sight of the man she called her friend. "Hi Jaune…"

Ruby frowned, "So it was Jaune…"

Yang's gaze fell. The Ice King remark had come back to bite her.

In a way, Jaune Arc was gone. Leaving the Ice King in his place He didn't remember her, or his own name. But to her, he was still Jaune.