Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ruby really should have gotten used to rough landings by now. But in her defense, she’d just been standing in their temporary hideout making plans to deal with ironwood—when suddenly, she was eating floor.

Recovering from the daze, she looked up and locked eyes with Yang, who had the same confused expression on her face.

“The hell?” Yang muttered, sitting up and glancing around as other groans filled the room.

Ruby did the same. As she took stock of the area, she came to three quick realizations:

First, all of her friends were here—Team RWBY, Jaune and his team, Oscar, and Penny included.

Second, they were now in some weirdly lavish living room, complete with a massive TV. Ruby honestly just kind of assumed this is what every room in Weiss's house looked like.

And third—and most importantly—Cinder and Emerald were sitting right there , on the other side of the room, also coming to their senses.

Yang locked eyes with Cinder—and before anything else could happen, she got to her feet and rushed across the room, clocking Cinder in the face just as she stood up.

Ruby rushed forward to intervene, but something odd caught her attention: Yang’s aura wasn’t on. And neither was Cinder’s. That punch? It was completely normal.

Both of them froze. Cinder slowly raised a hand to her now-bleeding lip, eyes wide in disbelief.

“What the hell!?” she snapped, clearly just as confused.

Yang looked down at her hand, trying to summon her aura—but nothing happened. It wasn’t working.

“What in the world is going on?” Weiss asked, glancing back and forth between Yang and Cinder.

Yang recovered first, taking another step toward her target. “Doesn’t matter. Aura or not—I’m kicking your ass right now .”

Before she could close the distance, Blake stepped in, blocking her.

Usually, anyone on Team RWBY would’ve kicked their legs up and grabbed some popcorn at the idea of Cinder finally getting her just desserts—but clearly, something else was going on here. If Cinder didn’t have her aura either, this wasn’t just a dream or trap—it was something more.

“Whoa there, Yang,” Blake said, holding her back. “As much as I’d love to see that… let’s figure out what the hell is going on first, okay?”

She dragged Yang back while keeping a close eye on Cinder and Emerald, who looked just about ready to crack Yang’s skull open if no one had stepped in

And before more discussion could be had the only door out of here opened revealing a 17 to 19-year-old girl with warm tan skin and shoulder-length black hair, slightly wavy and parted to one side. She was at least  5'11" with an easygoing, approachable posture—like someone who lives to say hello and make people feel welcome. Definitely no huntress vibes  Her friendly, open expression is paired with bright, expressive eyes and a genuine smile.

She wears a casual but neat outfit: a pastel yellow short-sleeve button-up shirt tucked into high-waisted dark blue jeans, cuffed at the ankles. Over the shirt with a soft beige cardigan, unbuttoned and slightly oversized for a relaxed vibe. Comfortable white sneakers and a slim brown belt complete the look. 

Everything about this girl screamed civilian , which only made it more confusing why she was here—and maybe even the one who brought us all together?

“Oh no, I guess I should’ve gotten here sooner. You already started fighting,” she said with a sigh, stepping deeper into the room.

Everyone instinctively took a step back from the stranger. With no weapons and no aura, stranger danger was in full effect. She noticed the tension and raised an eyebrow, holding her hands up in surrender.

“Hey, I did bring you guys here, but I’m not here to hurt anyone. Promise. So… does someone wanna speak for the group?” she asked, glancing around.

Everyone shared skeptical looks. Eventually, Ruby stepped forward.

“Hello, uh— kidnapper . Why exactly are we here, and who are you?”

“Miss Kidnapper” chuckled at the name, then lowered her hands.

“Well, for who—I’m Suna. And for why… I’ve decided to lend a helping hand. You know, greater good, save the world, all that jazz,” she said with a shrug. Like her having the power to help a bunch of hunters save the world was shrug-worthy .

Ruby gave her a skeptical once-over. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed the others weren’t buying it either.

“Okay… Well, first of all, where are we? And what happened to our weapons and aura? And how are you even doing any of this?”

Suna looked genuinely pleased at the questions. “Well—for where , you’re in my pocket dimension. As for the weapons and aura, that’s just to stop any real fights from breaking out. Like, say, that one almost became. And how? I’m a god.”

Ruby instantly took a step back. God?! Like the Brothers?

Cinder, unsurprisingly, went with a more… direct reaction.

“Hah! Do you think we’re delusional? You expect me to believe that crap?” she snapped.

Honestly? Fair. It was a lot to just ask someone to believe—but also, who the hell taunts a potential god?

Suna just rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. Slowly, the cut on Cinder’s lip vanished, the blood disappearing like it had never been there. Everyone stared, wide-eyed.

“What the…” Cinder mumbled, touching her now-healed lip.

“Is that a good enough demonstration for you?” Suna asked with a smirk. “Or should I snap my fingers and swap your hands with your feet to drive the message home?”

Cinder only scowled in response, but yeah—mental image aside, point made .

“I thought the Brothers were the only gods,” Jaune said, breaking the silence.

Suna sighed like she’d been dreading this part.

“Yeah, not really. When the Brothers left your world, they went into a kind of… ‘testing phase,’” she said, throwing up air quotes. “Basically, they went around creating new worlds, tweaking stuff, trying to build the ‘perfect reality.’ And in some of those worlds, they left people like me to keep an eye on things and track the progress.”

Yang choked on her own spit.

“Wait—so you’re telling me the gods have been doing this shit with other worlds too?! And just left mini gods in charge? Are you fucking kidding me ?”

Totally fair reaction, honestly. Considering what their world looked like, hearing that other versions might have it better—or worse—wasn't exactly comforting.

Suna scratched her head and gave an awkward laugh. “Yeah… They kinda just do whatever they want. They’re gods. And I’m not a mini god , I’m not omnipotent or anything. I’m more like a… demigod? I’m a god in the way humans are gods compared to ants. If that makes sense?”

Ruby’s brain was basically blue-screening trying to process all this.

Emerald, surprisingly, was the next to speak.

“So… wait. What’s this about helping us, exactly?”

Which brought back that same question: how exactly was Suna planning to help us? And more specifically… Why were Cinder and Emerald —of all people—needed to save the world?

Suna just pointed at the screen.
“With that,” she said.

Everyone turned to look at the TV, then back at her. Emerald looked especially confused, like she was trying to figure out if Suna was messing with her.

“That TV is supposed to… save the world?” she asked, clearly not convinced.

Suna smirked at her expression.
“Kinda. See, my goal is to go to worlds like yours and lend a helping hand in different ways. So you don’t all end up in ruin. I’ve tried lots of methods—and this one seems to give the best results.”

She gestured again toward the screen.

“On that TV, you’re going to watch a parallel universe ,” she explained.

I couldn’t help but pinch my eyebrows together. A parallel universe ? Those were real ? And how exactly is watching another world supposed to help ours ?

Ren asked what most of us were probably thinking.

“And how would another world help our world?”

“Oh, it’s more of a… different perspective thing. You get to see how things could’ve gone. Sometimes, you’ll see how things might end up. And occasionally, some secrets carry over one-to-one to your own world. Super helpful.”

“And why can’t we just see our future, huh? I’ve got tons of juicy secrets I’d love to know!” Nora chimed in, which was honestly a fair point. That would save us so much trouble.

“Eh, I’ve tried it a few times,” Suna said with a shrug, walking over and fiddling with the TV. “Usually it doesn't work. Too much info too fast. People start trying to fix everything, and then they cause problems of their own. Stuff that needed to happen never happens. I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but overall—it’s better this way.”

“Okay… and exactly why are we here if this is about saving the world?” Cinder asked, gesturing between herself and Emerald.

And yeah. Fair question. Why were the supervillains invited to the save-the-world party?

Suna just laughed.

“No need to save the world if there are no villains, right? Look, just watch what I show you, and everything will work out. K?” she said, glancing over her shoulder.

Nobody really had a retort to that. I mean… she could probably kill us all if she wanted to. And apparently, she didn’t . So what else could we do?

Yang was the first to plop down on the couch with a sigh.

“Whatever. I needed a break anyway. And it’s not like we have much of a choice, right?” she said, glancing at Ruby.

Ruby hesitated, then nodded and took a seat. One by one, the others followed—though Cinder and Emerald made sure to leave a very generous amount of space between them and everyone else.

“Is this what watching a movie is like? I’ve never seen one before,” Penny asked Ruby.

Ruby shrugged. “Kinda? I don’t really know how this is gonna go.”

Did you know about this? Oscar asked Ozpin internally.

Ozpin shook his head—which was weird, considering Oscar could feel him doing it inside his own body .

No. I’m just as clueless as you in all this, came the reply.

Oscar just sighed. Not that he was expecting a different answer.

There attention was taken by the TV flicker to life as Suna floated off to a corner which would probably have been weird a few minutes ago but whatever 

Swish. Swish.
The sharp sound of something slicing through the air echoed again and again as Cinder dodged swing after swing. On the last one, she deftly swatted her opponent’s arm aside mid-strike, then swept a leg out, tripping them and using their momentum against them.

“Seriously? We’re starting with Cinder ?” Yang groaned, which summed up the general vibe in the room.

Cinder just chuckled. “I suppose you need a strong start, yes?” she asked with a smug smile.

Yang rolled her eyes. “Ugh.”

“Shit!” Emerald cursed, rolling into a crouch before launching herself forward again with a flurry of aura-empowered punches and kicks—but they didn’t land.

Cinder dipped under a wide swing, locked Emerald’s arm with her own, then swept her off her feet and slammed her down with a heavy thud .

“Shallow,” Cinder said flatly as Emerald caught her breath, pushing herself into a seated position.

“You did a little better than last time, though,” Cinder added, offering her hand.

Emerald sighed and took it. She didn’t bother getting mad—she never beat Cinder in sparring. No point getting upset over it.

“Keep it up, and you should be ready to come with me on missions,” Cinder said, ruffling her hair casually.

Back in the viewing room, the only sound was the quiet click of a pen being dropped. Everyone stared wide-eyed at the screen—especially Emerald.

“Is that supposed to be Cinder ??” Jaune finally asked, breaking the silence.

Because, really—how was the demon sitting next to them the same person as the woman on screen who just praised Emerald and ruffled her hair?

“Wow,” Weiss muttered. “Parallel universes are way weirder than I imagined.”

Blake nodded beside her. “No kidding.”

Cinder herself stared at her counterpart, eyes narrowed. She looked identical—down to the outfit—but the way she acted was… alien . Affectionate. Warm. It was honestly a little nauseating.

Emerald, meanwhile, sat in stunned silence, eyes locked on the screen. She didn’t know what she felt—shock, for sure… but maybe also a little bit of jealousy.

She wasn’t the best with kids—she’d never claimed to be. But she had learned that Emerald responded best to a bit of criticism followed by praise. That kept her motivated. Kept her pushing herself harder. And that was what she needed to be focused on right now.

Normally, she’d keep them sparring for another hour or two, especially since they’d just started—but something red flickered at the edge of her vision.

A black-and-red portal opened up nearby.

Her eyes narrowed. She recognized that style immediately.

A familiar woman stepped out, expression locked in a familiar scowl. Cinder was pretty sure she saw that face more than most people did—and that was not a brag.

Their eyes met—and somehow, Raven’s scowl deepened even more as she started walking over.

“Okay, seriously— what the fuck is happening? ” Yang blurted, eyes locked on the screen as her mother’s counterpart walked straight up to Cinder of all people.

“Wait,” Ruby said, turning to Yang with wide eyes. “Didn’t Cinder say something earlier about taking Emerald on missions? And if Raven’s there too… Does that mean they work together ?”

Yang visibly paled at that. “Don’t say that. Don’t say that to me. ”

“So then… what’s different in this world?” Jaune asked, brows furrowed. “Is Raven a mega villain now? Or is Cinder … not?”

He looked between the two figures on screen, clearly trying to wrap his head around the fact that someone had to have switched sides for this team-up to make any sense.

On the couch, Cinder’s expression soured. Her scowl deepened the moment Raven appeared. That lingering sting from her defeat wasn’t something she could forget—or forgive—easily.

Whatever this world was, seeing herself standing side-by-side with Raven Branwen made her stomach twist.

“She seems mad,” Emerald whispered to Cinder with a snicker. If Cinder wasn’t already dreading the incoming conversation, she might’ve taken the time to scold Emerald for making fun of her.

“Cinder,” Raven said—not angry, exactly, but with a coldness that made you want to shiver.

“Oh, uh, hey Raven. What’s my favorite bird want from me today?” Cinder offered, trying to defuse the tension with a bit of charm. It definitely didn’t help. Raven only glared.

“You’re late. The meeting was thirty minutes ago. Have you just been training this whole time?” she asked, letting a bit of that buried anger slip into her voice. Cinder winced and tried to play it off, slinging an arm around Raven’s shoulders and pulling her in close.

“Aww, come on, don’t be like that. I was just giving Emerald some pointers. Now, I know a deadbeat wouldn’t know too much about th—OWW!”

Cinder recoiled as Raven clamped her ear in a vice grip with aura-enhanced fingers, dragging her toward another portal as an amused Emerald watched. 

Yang couldn’t help it—she burst out laughing. And not just a little laugh, but a full-on, hands-over-your-stomach kind of laugh.

“Cinder actually called Raven a deadbeat to her face ,” she wheezed between laughs, completely losing it.

Cinder, meanwhile, looked absolutely appalled watching her counterpart. She might’ve given her credit for the insult—sure, Raven deserved that—but letting that stupid bird drag her around by the ear? Completely absurd .

“Wait,” Ruby cut in, eyes wide as she pointed at the screen. “How did Raven portal there? Wouldn’t that mean she’s bonded to Cinder ?”

Yang’s laughter stopped cold. “...Oh shit , you’re right. Damn, this world is fucking weird. It’s starting to make Oscar and Ozpin sharing a body seem normal.”

Oscar groaned, rolling his eyes. “Glad to know that’s the new baseline.”

“So this meeting determines allegiance, right?” Ren chimed in, calm as ever. “When they walk out of that portal, and it’s either Salem or Ozpin waiting, that’ll give us our answer.”

He wasn’t wrong. That would clear up some major questions—and probably raise a dozen more.

Everyone turned their attention back to the screen, anticipation rising.

On the other side, with Cinder grumpily rubbing her ear, they arrived in Ozpin's office where Ozpin, Glynda, and Qrow were already waiting.

“As usual, this idiot was training,” Raven said with a scoff, walking over to her seat. Wow—way to throw someone under the bus. But honestly, Cinder couldn’t expect much different from a grouch like her .

“No fucking way,” Cinder said slowly, staring at where the portal had taken her. And Again—her demeanor. She’s never said the word “grouch” in her whole damn life!

“Okay, so are we seriously watching a ‘good Cinder’ universe? Is this some role-reversal nonsense or something? Is Ruby gonna come swinging in soon, scythe at the ready?” Blake asked, looking at Suna, who was quietly watching in the corner.

Suna just shrugged. “Hey, I hate spoilers. You're just gonna have to watch and see,” she said, pointing at the screen.

Blake only scowled.

“So like… how did we get here, exactly? Was Cinder never evil in this one? Did the tournament never happen? Did she change sides?” Ruby wondered aloud.

Weiss sighed. “I guess we’ll see soon, Ruby,” she said.

“Well, it’s good you could finally join us,” Ozpin said with a small smile, clearly a little amused, as Cinder took her seat.

“Yeah, yeah. This better be important—unlike last time,” Cinder muttered, clearly annoyed at having her time wasted.

Ozpin’s smile faded at that, and he nodded to Glynda, who cleared her throat. “Two days ago, we lost all contact with Theodore.”

That instantly got Cinder’s attention. Did something big happen in Vacuo?

“Unfortunately,” Glynda continued, “we have to be prepared for the worst—that Salem has made a move on Shade Academy, and could already have the Summer Maiden.”

Her words hung heavy in the room. Everyone went quiet as the gravity of the situation settled in. Qrow let out a deep sigh, running his hands over his face.

“Do you want me to go?” he offered, glancing at Ozpin, who paused a few seconds before answering.

“No. We shouldn’t leave Vale without too much protection. And if they really have taken the Summer Maiden, we’d just be sending you to an untimely death.” He turned to Raven, locking eyes with her, his tone serious. “Raven, you and your forces will go.”

“Got it,” she replied with a firm nod, already seeming to prepare herself mentally—if the look on her face was anything to go by.

“And us?” Cinder asked, not liking the idea of sitting on her hands. “Any preparations we should be making here at Beacon, if this is just the calm before the storm?”

Ozpin shook his head. “No. We wouldn’t want to startle the students. For now, just continue as you have been. We’ll recall the Fall Maiden, just in case,” he explained, rising from the table and walking over to his desk.

“You’re all dismissed. You should get prepared for the school year—it seems to be ramping up to be an interesting one,” he added, shuffling through some papers and discussing more technical stuff with glynda cinder couldn't bring herself to care about  as everyone began to leave through various means—portals and bird transformations alike.

“Friend Ruby, I’m a little confused about what just happened,” Penny said, brows knit together—which Ruby could currently relate to.

“Well, that did answer some questions and raise plenty more,” Ren said with a sigh.

“Yep! So, we know old evil Cinder turned hero here, that she’s working with Ozpin, and that Raven is not an asshole in this one—sorry, Yang,” Nora added with a quick glance.

“No offense taken,” Yang said, hands raised.

“And as usual, a bunch of Maiden magic and Salem-related problems are still happening,” Nora finished her rant.

“Yep, that about sums it up. I swear, we can never have any peace—even in another universe,” Weiss muttered.

“I’m starting to think I’m not going to like this universe very much. Also… am I supposed to be the main character of this?” Cinder asked, clearly unimpressed.

That got a round of groans from everyone, much to her annoyance.

“Is she seriously the main character of our viewing?” Jaune pleaded, looking toward Suna, clearly not thrilled at the idea of watching Cinder for however long this took—even if she was nicer.

Suna just waved a hand in a "so-so" gesture. “Kinda?”

Not a definitive yes… but still not comforting.

Cinder, being her usual self, simply walked out the door and made her way through the halls of the school, deep in thought—because wow, she had a lot to think about. Ozpin seemed to want to take a relaxed approach to this, but knowing that guy, he was probably already imagining the worst-case scenario. He said they should wait and see… but is that really the best course of action when dealing with Salem? Then again, he always has something to say whenever she suggests going on the offensive.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Cinder eventually reached the courtyard where Emerald, as usual after meetings, was waiting for her. The moment she spotted her, she speed-walked over.

“Everything okay?” Emerald asked, falling in step beside her.

And, as usual, Cinder lied. “Yep. Just sending some people off to deal with Grimm.”

Emerald wasn’t in the know about Salem, and Cinder preferred to keep it that way for as long as possible—preferably until she was a confident huntress who could handle fighting Grimm before having to worry about the actual big bad.

After chatting for a little while longer, she sent Emerald off to continue her training alone for the day. Taking a glance at the sky, she figured it was about midday. With not much else to do—and unlike people like Glynda, she didn’t have classes to prep for tomorrow—Cinder stretched for a few seconds, then covered herself in aura and launched forward at full speed, the wind slamming into her face as she ran.

Only minutes later, she was soaring over a cliff and crashing through leaves. She pulled out Midnight and began slicing her way down through the canopy, slowing her fall until she planted herself firmly on the forest floor. She paused for a few seconds, senses sharp, scanning her surroundings.

“Wow, you should take some notes, Cinder. That you seems way more tolerable,” Nora snarked, watching how the alternate Cinder treated Emerald.

Cinder only clicked her teeth in annoyance.

“Huh… you know, taking Cinder’s comment about Raven being a deadbeat, and how she’s dealing with Emerald—and just the way they’re acting right now… is Cinder like her adoptive mom or something? Or maybe a role model?” Ruby asked aloud.

Emerald’s jaw practically hit the floor. Seriously? Cinder was already kinda her role model here, but adoptive mom ? That would be… new.

Cinder’s scowl deepened at the suggestion. “Emerald is only a soldier. For my convenience. Not my damn kid,” she muttered.

“How about you keep your theories to yourself, huh?” she said, aiming the comment at Ruby.

Yang didn’t even hesitate—she flipped Cinder off on Ruby’s behalf.

“Well, seeing her beat on some Grimm will be pretty entertaining, I suppose,” Nora said casually. “Even if I kinda hope an Ursa takes a chomp out of her.”

She felt it. A presence. With a smile tugging at her lips, she took off into a clearing—and found exactly what she was looking for: Grimm. This forest was full of them for the students' sake… which also made it an excellent source of punching bags for Cinder.

In front of her stood two decently large Death Stalkers. They might be trouble for students, but not for her. Noticing the surge of aura around her, the Grimm wasted no time and rushed in to do what they do best: kill.

Cinder deflected a stinger and leapt over a rush of pincers, vaulting forward and landing cleanly on one of their backs. She slammed both her dual blades straight through its armored shell like butter. The Death Stalker let out a harsh screech.

The second one, seeing an opening, whipped its stinger forward. Cinder glanced left, released her grip on her blades, and threw out her hand, catching the stinger mid-strike—mere inches from her face.

“Nice try,” she grit out, overpowering the beast with a surge of aura. She yanked the stinger down and drove it straight into the already-stabbed Grimm beneath her. As it let out one last screech and disintegrated, she picked up her swords, spun around, and sliced the second stalker’s tail clean off.

It lunged at her with its pincers, but she ducked under the swing, cut both pincers off at the base, and stabbed her blades deep into its skull. It too dissolved into nothing.

She let out a content sigh. Letting off steam and getting that nice rush of adrenaline from fighting Grimm never got old. Content for now, she started her trek back to the academy—since the last time she killed too many Grimm, Glynda gave her an earful about it.

“Well, my skills seem to be about the same as before I got the Maiden powers—if anything, my sensing abilities are a bit better,” Cinder mused, thankful that at least she wasn’t a weakling too.

“Is it weird if I kinda want to cheer for Cinder killing Grimm? ’Cause that was kinda badass,” Nora asked, glancing over at Ren.

He just shrugged. “Lots of weird things are happening right now.”

“Tch. I could do that too,” Yang grumbled at the display.

But shortly after starting back, she sensed something. This time, it wasn’t Grimm.

Narrowing her eyes in the direction of the disturbance, she realized whatever it was... it was heading straight for the school. Running full speed, she cut it off within a minute. Seeing as it stopped too, they must’ve sensed her as well.

After a few tense seconds, it leapt forward, clearing multiple trees in a single jump and landing on a branch above. Looking up, Cinder saw a strange individual dressed in black and red, wearing a mask with clear faunus horns on his head. If she had to guess, he was sizing her up.

“Hey. The hell are you doing so close to Beacon? You a student or something?” she called out.

Yang and Blake physically recoiled at the sight of Adam.

“Damn, already? And he's probably not magically a good guy either” Yang groaned, while Blake wrung her hands at the sight of him. Yang noticed and gently took one of her hands.

“Well, this wasn’t exactly a fight I ever expected to happen,” Weiss said, eyeing Adam, who looked physically identical to their version—though his mindset was still a mystery.

“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m really rooting for Cinder to win this fight,” Ruby admitted, like the words physically hurt to say.

Cinder, for her part, was equally intrigued. She was fairly confident she’d win—though it wasn’t technically her, so it was still up in the air.

He chose to ignore her, continuing the silent stare-down before glancing toward Beacon and frowning. Without a word, he turned and began to leave.

Yeah, no. That wasn’t happening—not with such a suspicious character skulking around so close to the academy.

Cinder leapt up after him and slashed with Midnight. He weaved out of the way, grabbed her arm, and pulled her in while swinging with his other fist. She caught it—surprised by his strength—before he kicked her back. She landed on a tree branch, eyes narrowing.

I wasn’t holding back just now… but he still reacted to my movements and parried.
This guy’s definitely huntsman level…

“What’s your name?” she asked.

He didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he unsheathed his sword and pointed it directly at her.

“I was just doing some sightseeing. So walk away or die,” he said, voice cold and dripping with disdain.

Which was weird—like he already hated her, somehow. But whatever. Not important right now.

Ignoring the comment, Cinder dashed forward just as he did. They clashed mid-air, exchanging a flurry of blows. She swung her leg up for a kick—he blocked, caught it, and brought his sword down on her. She intercepted with another kick, catching him in the temple and knocking him back as they both free-fell straight toward the ground.

After landing, he took a defensive stance, sword ready. So far, his fighting style revolved heavily around parrying and blocking with that blade of his—and the fact that Cinder still hadn’t seen any obvious signs of what his Semblance was… well, that was troubling.

“Yeah, Cinder, kick his ass!” Nora yelled, earning a couple of stares—which she promptly shrugged off. “Hey, Ruby said it first, not me,” she defended herself.

Blake just sighed. “Considering school is apparently starting soon, he’s probably looking for me,” she said with a grimace.

Cinder, meanwhile, was pleasantly pleased with her on-screen self so far.

“It’s definitely going to take a while for rooting for Cinder to not feel weird,” Penny said, which—coming from her—was more than fair. Which Cinder would have taken offense to normally but it was fair enough 

She dashed over to a tree, placing her hand against the bark. Steam began rising as the surface warped and turned to mush, then hardened into sharp crystals under extreme heat. With a flick of her fingers, they levitated into the air and surged forward in a swarm toward the masked man.

Without proper info on him, close range could be dangerous. So range it is.

He held his stance, rapidly blocking and slashing through the onslaught. He handled most of it well, but not all—definitely chipping at his aura. In response, Cinder melted her swords down and reshaped them into a bow, notching three arrow-shaped crystals into place and firing.

He knocked each one into the ground with clean, practiced movements—only for all three to erupt in small explosions, the blast launching him backward and slamming him into a tree.

“Feel like giving your name now?” Cinder taunted, already notching another arrow.

“Shit he's definitely charging up an attack right now” Blake said with a wince already seeing where this was going

The man only clicked his teeth in irritation and raised his sword high above his head. Letting out a sharp yell, he sent a massive wave of red energy surging toward her.

Cinder’s eyes went wide. She quickly reformed her bow back into twin swords and brought them up to block—but the second the energy hit, she realized it was a mistake. The force behind the attack was overwhelming. She could feel it immediately—this wasn’t a basic aura strike. He had been stockpiling energy somehow.

The impact sent her flying, smashing her through three trees before she finally crashed to the ground. Stumbling to her feet, she could definitely feel the hit to her aura—it hurt, but she still had enough left to finish this.

She jumped back toward the man, eyes scanning. But something was off.

He wasn’t there.

Yeah, Cinder definitely didn’t like this universe. Not only did that White Fang scum actually get one over on her—he fucking escaped .

“Bastard,” she growled. Seeing any version of herself show weakness pissed her off to no end.

“You know, normally I’d be happy to see Cinder fail at something,” Weiss started, arms crossed and brow furrowed, “but seeing who ended up succeeding instead…” she trailed off, clearly just as irritated.

Her gaze swept the treetops, the shadows, the forest floor. Nothing. Narrowing her eyes and focusing her senses, she could barely feel him—far off in the distance, moving away from Beacon.

“Shit!” Cinder hissed.

That guy was clearly an enemy—and a skilled one at that. Letting him get away like this could be a problem later, especially if he was with Salem.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she turned and started the trek back to the school… already dreading the conversation she’d have to have with Glynda about letting him escape What an eventful day so far.

“You know, seeing Cinder of all people dreading Glynda’s lecture too is honestly comical,” Jaune admitted, shaking his head. Something about watching her of all people squirm like a guilty student was strangely satisfying.

But before anyone could respond, the screen faded to black—the episode had ended.

“So,” Suna said casually from her floating perch, looking down at them, “what do we think?”

“This is stupid,” Cinder said flatly, arms crossed, scowl firmly in place. No one was particularly surprised.

“Yeah, not shocked at that answer,” Suna muttered. “Anyone else?”

“Well… I definitely got what you meant with the different perspective stuff,” Ruby offered, glancing at Cinder with a furrowed brow. “I mean, it’s still weird, but… interesting.”

“So how long exactly will this take? How many ‘episodes’ ?” Blake asked, air-quoting the word as she turned her eyes toward Suna.

Suna only smirked and shrugged. “Who knows? But no need to worry about time. It doesn’t flow outside this dimension—I'll just drop you guys back off where you were like nothing happened.”

Blake blinked slowly at that, realizing she hadn’t even thought about the time aspect. The ease with which Suna manipulated this space? Yeah, that was starting to get a little unnerving.

“Are we staying here? Like, sleeping?” Penny asked eagerly, her hand shooting up. “Because I call bunking with Ruby!”

Ruby let out a small laugh. “Sure, Penny. That sounds fun.”

“Well, it shouldn’t take weeks or anything,” Suna said, turning to the side and snapping her fingers. “But yeah, you will be staying here. I’ll show you the rooms and everything later.”

Just as she said that, the screen flickered again—signaling the next episode was about to begin.

Chapter Text

Back at Beacon, Glynda was visibly massaging a headache after hearing my report—which, like, it’s not my fault some weirdo showed up. Still, she pulled up her scroll, swiped a few times, and then placed it down on the desk, revealing an image.

Of that same guy I fought.

“What the…?” Cinder muttered, confused about how they already had a picture of the intruder.

“I see. Adam Taurus, huh?” Ozpin said, glancing down at the screen.

“Adam Taurus? Who’s that?” Cinder asked, genuinely confused.

“Adam Taurus is second-in-command of the White Fang,” Glynda explained.

Which was... interesting, to say the least. Why would someone in that position be scoping out Beacon of all places? Was there some history here I didn’t know about?

“And he was here for…?” I asked, directing the question to Ozpin, who hummed in thought for a moment before giving a small shrug.

“On paper, the White Fang is a non-violent activist group for Faunus rights. But people in higher places know not everything they do is exactly legal. The thing is, they’re not sloppy. Nailing them on anything that can’t be brushed off as an individual’s actions is… difficult.”

“Huh, well that’s definitely different from our universe, to say the least,” Weiss muttered at the idea of the White Fang.

“It would make things a lot easier for them if they were publicly still non-violent,” Blake said, imagining the idea of herself still working for the White Fang—unaware of what they truly did behind the scenes. The thought sent shivers down her spine.

Glynda picked it up from there. “Adam Taurus especially. Pinning any one crime on him is nearly impossible since no one ever actually catches him in the act. But from what we do know, he’s definitely no saint—so him showing up here is worrisome.”

She sighed and slumped back in her chair. “And with Theodore... him showing up now? It isn’t out of the question to think he could be working with Salem.”

That pissed me off a little. The idea that I let one of Salem’s lackeys get away—it stung. But there wasn’t anything I could do about it now.

“Would Salem really send someone out to spy on us that blatantly?” I asked. So far, Salem seemed to prefer keeping her attacks quiet until the last second. An obvious spy felt out of character.

Ozpin tapped his fingers idly on his cane. “Who knows. We’ve been doing this song and dance for a while now. A change in strategy wouldn’t be surprising. But we also can’t rule out the possibility that he was here for personal or White Fang business. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”

“Well, him working for Salem directly—and this early—would certainly be a change. But more than likely, he's there for me,” Blake said, her ears flat against her head.

“Ah, I’m sure it’s fine. Beacon seems to have more protection in this universe than normal, and with Team RWBY, Adam won’t get to you,” Yang tried to reassure her, which made Blake smile softly.

I could live with that—for now. Based on everything they said, trying to chase him down and force answers out of him would probably just hurt Beacon’s image. Still… it irked me that, once again, our answer was to sit and wait for our enemies to make the next move.

“So, like usual—sit around and see what happens, right?” I said, letting a little snark slip into the comment.

Glynda rolled her eyes, but Ozpin chuckled slightly. “Yes, Cinder. Will that be a problem?”

He held my stare for a few seconds before I huffed.

“No, sir,” I replied with a mock salute.

“Well, that’s good. On that note, I wouldn’t enjoy getting blindsided,” Ozpin said, already shifting focus. “I’ll contact the rest of Team COWL, see if they can stay in the area for a while.”

It was a sound plan, sure—but I could really do without seeing a certain member of my team again. Still, I guess that choice was already out of my hands.

“Is that all then?” I asked.

Ozpin gave a simple nod.

“Team COWL…?” Cinder said slowly. She wasn’t sure how to feel about that one. Logically, she knew she probably had a team, but having it confirmed was different—and not knowing who the members were, or who this ‘certain member’ was, had her begrudgingly extremely intrigued.

“Team COWL actually kinda fits. Any bets on who the members are gonna be?” Yang asked, glancing around.

Penny raised her hand. “I bet the W is Winter!” she said.

Weiss glanced at Penny. “I would certainly hope not… but this universe has been defying my expectations pretty consistently so far,” she mumbled

I took that as my cue to leave. Two meetings in one day was already pushing it. I didn’t sign up for Beacon’s faculty—I didn’t want to be a teacher, and this right here was exactly why.

I made a hasty exit and, doing exactly what Glynda had told me not to do (multiple times), I jumped out the window and climbed my way up to the roof of Beacon.

Positioning myself at the center, I turned my aura outward and locked in on my senses.

Like this, I could feel every individual aura in the school. I couldn’t identify them— not unless I was personally familiar with them , like Ozpin or Glynda—but this would do. If that Adam guy—or anyone else —came sauntering in uninvited, I’d know.

Simple enough. Time for an all-nighter.

I hadn’t pulled one of those since my days roaming the wilds of Remnant, but hey… how hard could it be? I thought, shrugging to myself.

The camera panned up toward the sky, the stars overhead slowly giving way to the light of morning.

By the time it panned back down to the rooftop…

Cinder was still there.

Unfortunately… She was asleep.

Yang stifled a laugh at the sight of Cinder slumped over, a little drool escaping her mouth.

“This world is seriously getting on my nerves,” Cinder said, grinding her teeth, and Emerald had to make extra sure she didn’t let a chuckle escape while sitting right next to her.

Although her rest was interrupted by a lot of noise coming from down below, Cinder groggily rose from her cross-legged, slumped-over position. She blinked up at the brightening sky—then her eyes widened.

“Oh shit, I fell asleep. Which means… the students are already here—and I was supposed to be ready to help out at the Emerald Forest!”

Her face paled.

“Oh no. If I’m late, Glynda will never let me hear the end of it,” she muttered, already jumping over the edge of the rooftop and making a beeline toward the forest.

Every year, when the school season starts, Beacon launches the new students straight into a field test—no warm-up, no easing in. Right out the gate, they’re dropped into the Emerald Forest to prove whether their combat schools actually prepared them.

Beacon takes this seriously, she thought. Which, honestly, makes me a little surprised I didn’t get expelled while I was here.

Still, with top-tier students comes high-profile sponsorship—kids with powerful families, money, influence. Her job was to make sure no snot-nosed golden spoon kid got his arm ripped off by a Grimm and caused Beacon a political headache.

Her internal monologue cut short when she spotted Glynda and Ozpin up ahead with a group of other students. She let out a breath of relief—she wasn’t late.

Close, but not late.

As she swooped toward them, her eyes drifted over the students… and she froze.

A very familiar shade of red caught her attention.

The girl in red looked up just as their eyes locked—and for a split second, there was shock on her face.

“Cinder—!” the girl shouted—

Before being immediately vaulted off into the forest along with the rest of the new students.

Cinder stared blankly at the spot Ruby had just occupied.

“...Ruby?”

“Okay, her dreading Glynda’s lectures is still funny to me—but what’s up with Cinder and Ruby apparently knowing each other before coming to Beacon? Did they still meet at the heist or something?” Jaune asked, scratching his head in confusion.

Ruby shrugged her shoulders. “Eh, maybe we lived in the same general area or something?” she weakly offered.

“Took you long enough,” Glynda said sharply, arms crossed.

Cinder avoided eye contact. She was definitely going to hear about this later. At least Glynda wasn’t launching into a full-on lecture right now.

She shuffled over toward Ozpin.

“Okay… was I hallucinating, or was that actually Ruby? Two years early?”

Ozpin smiled. “Yes, that was Ruby. She’s something of a prodigy. She got into a bit of trouble not long ago—ran afoul of some questionable individuals. Glynda and I intervened, and considering her unique eyes… I deemed it appropriate that she start at Beacon early.”

Questionable individuals , huh?

Cinder made a mental note to ask more about that later.

Ruby being good enough to enter early was impressive. Two years early and attending at the same time as Yang? That wasn’t just skill—that was exceptional.

“Yes, she could stand to learn a bit more patience,” Glynda added crisply. “But Ruby has promise. Now—Cinder. I believe it’s time for you to get going, yes?”

Which was Glynda’s polite way of saying go do your job . Anyone else might have thought she didn’t like her much.

Cinder smirked. “Heh. And that’s why you’ve got no friends.”

She turned to bolt off the cliff—just barely dodging the swing of Glynda’s crop.

“Mind your manners!” Glynda snapped after her.

Cinder was already falling, grinning.

Welp. Time to do my job, I guess, she thought as the camera followed her down into the trees—transitioning to the next day, back at Beacon.

“Okay… a lot to unpack there,” Blake said slowly.
“Uh, definitely. With the way Cinder talked about ‘two years early,’ it kinda implies she’s known her for a while and was expecting to see her two years later,” Weiss said, clearly confused.

“Yeah, and she’s protective of Ruby?? Which is insane to even think about—Cinder wanting to protect Ruby in any capacity—but still,” Yang said, gesturing to the screen like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

 “Okay, so was she like my neighbor or something when I was a kid..? Also, Cinder, were you like an evil orphanage instructor in this world or something? ’Cause your alternate seems weirdly good with kids,” Ruby asked, turning toward her.
Cinder practically growled at the remark. “Shut up!” she snapped which Ruby promptly ignored.

Cinder was walking laps around Beacon. If she wasn’t killing Grimm in the forest, running errands for Ozpin, or out in the city, this was her routine—patrolling the school to make sure nothing was out of place.

After nearly an hour of peaceful silence, she heard footsteps coming up behind her. Not unusual. With how many students skipped class or wandered around, this sort of thing happened all the time.

What was unusual, though… was someone jumping on her back.

She froze, looking up in a mix of surprise and irritation—ready to light up whoever thought this was a funny prank. But what she saw staring down at her made her blink.

“Hey, Cin-Cin,” said the girl on her shoulders.

It was a rather small girl—maybe 5’3” on a very confident day. Her hair was split right down the middle: one half platinum blonde, the other jet black. Her eyes matched—one gold, one aqua—and her outfit was a chaotic mix of colors, patterns, and paint splatters. Cropped bomber jacket. Loud cargo pants. The whole look practically screamed "look at me!"

Cinder let out a long sigh.

“You’re here sooner than I thought.”

“Oh, well, you know,” Opal chirped, still perched on her shoulders. “Ozpin’s lucky I just happened to be in Vale when he called. It sounded serious, so I figured I’d drop by.”

She leaned in a little, grinning devilishly.

“And also because I couldn't miss seeing my little Cinder again. Or your reunion with a certain someone .” Her cackle echoed through the hallway. “Ohhh, I just know that’s going to be hilarious.”

“Wow, okay, first of all, I love her outfit. Second, Cin-Cin is an absolutely hilarious nickname that I am going to make a point of calling you more than once. Third, I’m assuming she’s one of Team COWL’s members if Cinder is letting her ride on her shoulders,” Nora said in delight—which Cinder did not share.

“If you refer to me as that, I will burn you to ash,” she snarked to which Nora very maturely stuck her tongue out at her.

Cinder resumed her walk through Beacon’s halls, sighing again.

“Figures. First thing you’d do is come here to bother me instead of checking in with Ozpin. Typical, short stack.”

That earned her a very loud smack—an open palm right to the forehead.

“ Ack! You brat!” Cinder growled, immediately grabbing for the girl and trying to wrestle her off. Opal clung on tight, laughing uncontrollably and clearly having the time of her life.

The two of them stumbled through the hallway like that, a blur of chaos, snark, and mismatched color.

Maybe thirty seconds into their very unprofessional wrestling match, Cinder froze at the sound of a loud gasp from down the hall. Her blood ran cold. Please don’t be Glynda—how the hell would she explain this if it was ? Worse yet, what if it was a student?

“Wow, okay, if they didn’t look so different, I would assume they’re siblings, judging by the way they act around each other,” Oscar said, watching their antics as they tried to rip each other’s hair out.
Cinder only stared at the screen with hatred, watching her counterpart roll around on the ground like an idiot in front of her enemies. This was humiliating!

Still holding a fistful of Opal’s hair, she turned slowly and locked eyes with four students. Unfortunately, she recognized three of them.

One of them—Yang—was already biting back laughter, Blake stood with a curious expression, and then there was Ruby, already sprinting at her like a red blur before she had time to process it. Cinder braced herself as Ruby crashed into her chest with a shout of, “Cinder!” They rolled a few feet before Cinder groaned and sat up, Ruby still clinging to her.

“Nice to see you too, sis,” Cinder said dryly, ruffling Ruby’s hair as they stood. Ruby beamed. “Bet you didn’t expect me here, huh?”

Their jaws dropped as silence echoed across the room.

“No fucking way,” Yang muttered, watching the scene in front of her.

“Damn, that’s definitely a plot twist if I’ve ever seen one,” Blake said.

“Oh, so that’s how it all changed,” Ruby muttered with wide eyes, glancing at their Cinder at the same time.

“This is absolutely absurd!” Cinder exclaimed in anger—the last thing she ever wanted was to have sisters again!

“Well, since Cinder doesn’t look like Raven or Summer, I guess Summer adopted her, and that’s why she’s a good guy?” Weiss offered, still trying to wrap her mind around the bizarre situation.

“No, not really. You definitely caught me off guard yesterday,” Cinder replied, and when Yang approached, she opened an arm for a side hug. “Yeesh, you two have gotten big since I last saw you.”

Yang rolled her eyes. “You saw us last year. Don’t talk like that—you sound like you’re forty,” she said, jabbing Cinder in the arm. Cinder laughed and turned her attention to the other two, stepping toward Weiss first.

“Hello, Weiss.”

Weiss immediately straightened up and extended a hand. “Hello, Cinder. It’s good to see you again.”

Cinder smirked, ignoring the handshake and pulling her into a brief hug. “Why so formal? I’m not a teacher or anything, and you already know me.” Weiss blinked but allowed the hug, then glanced over at Ruby with narrowed eyes.

“Okay, me being chummy with Cinder is seriously freaking me out, but I at least get why. But why did she suddenly hug Weiss? How do they know each other?” Yang said, a cringe on her face.

Weiss thought she had an idea—but she was hoping it wasn’t true.

“And you didn’t tell me your sister was Cinder because…?” she whispered in that dangerous, sharp tone of hers.

Ruby gave her a sheepish look and rubbed the back of her head as Weiss launched into a quiet, furious lecture. Cinder tuned it out and turned to the last girl.

“And you are…?” she asked, offering her hand.

“Blake,” the girl replied after a quick look up and down, shaking Cinder’s hand with a quiet nod.

“Well, as you’ve probably gathered, I’m Yang and Ruby’s older sister, and Weiss’s older sister used to be my teammate. Hope you treat them right—they’re good teammates. Worthy ones,” she added with a smile. Blake nodded again, polite but clearly still taking everything in.

“Hey, I called it!” Penny exclaimed with a smile, while Weiss just grimaced.

Of course, she was somehow positively tangled up with this other Cinder—which she was really hoping wasn’t true.

Meanwhile, Cinder wore a glare on her face. She really had no goodwill toward a Schnee, much less Winter—so once again, this universe was making her want to smash the TV.

Behind her, Cinder could already hear the sounds of trouble brewing. She turned and, in the maybe ten seconds she hadn’t been paying attention, Yang and Opal had somehow started wrestling again. Sighing, Cinder walked over and lifted Opal clean off the ground by the back of her jacket.

“I told you you’d never defeat me, blondie!” Opal declared victoriously from midair, pointing at Yang like she’d just bested her in a duel to the death.

Yang, still on the ground, groaned. “She’s a demon or something,” she muttered to Ruby, who stifled a giggle. Weiss looked less than thrilled by the whole scene.

“And that is…?” Blake asked, pointing at the girl in the technicolor outfit that looked like she’d exploded out of a paint store.

“Ah, that’s Opal. She was also on my team. Yang and Ruby already know her very well,” Cinder explained with a small shake of her head as she set the girl down.

Opal immediately extended a hand toward Blake with a grin. “Yep! I’m Opal, I’m awesome and whatever, and I basically taught Cinder and Yang everything they know.” She gave an exaggerated bow, absolutely laying it on with dramatic flair.

Blake stared for a moment before cautiously shaking her hand.

Cinder clapped her hands, gathering attention. “Well, I’m sure I’ll be seeing a lot of you guys around now, but I’m guessing you have classes or something—and me and shorty have somewhere to be,” she explained, leaning on Opal’s head as Opal kicked her in the leg.

“I called it! I really like Opal—she seems like so much fun, and seeing her best Yang is a plus!” Nora exclaimed, while Yang just grumbled at the sight.

 “Hey, Suna,” Blake called out to the woman, who looked over at her.
“I’ve never heard of or met this Opal person. Where are they in our world?” she asked, which was a pretty fair question.

 Suna smirked. “Ah, she doesn’t exist in your world—she’s completely exclusive to this reality.”
Blake hummed thoughtfully. That was interesting, to say the least. Seeing people who didn’t even exist on the screen would be intriguing, and a lot of unexpected things would probably happen because of it.

“Alright! I’ll make sure to impress you with my amazing skills later, Cinder!” Ruby exclaimed, waving as Team RWBY walked down the hall.

“Those girls are gonna be fine Huntresses in my book,” Opal said as they turned and headed toward Ozpin’s office.

“Oh, let me guess—it’s because you taught Yang and Ruby everything they know,” Cinder remarked with a smug smile.

“Obviously,” Opal replied as they glided through the halls.

When they reached Ozpin’s office and opened the door, their cheerful conversation died instantly at the sight that awaited them. Raven was sitting in a chair, her body covered in heavy bandages and wrappings, clearly having needed help beyond just aura.

“Shit,” Yang hissed. She didn’t have much goodwill toward her ‘mother,’ but seeing her like that definitely had her feeling a certain way—especially thinking about what could have left her looking so injured.

“Wow, did she fight Salem herself or something to get that roughed up?” Ruby asked worriedly.

“I’m going to guess there isn’t much good news?” Cinder said quietly, looking at Glynda, Ozpin, and Raven’s faces—though they already told her the answer without a word.

Glynda sighed heavily. “Raven, if you would explain exactly what happened to everyone present, please.”

Raven sat up a bit straighter, wincing as she did.

“Alright… Well, we got to the academy. But it wasn’t pretty,” she began, her voice shifting as the story transitioned into a flashback of the event. 

“Here,” Raven said, flashing a Huntress badge to the local authorities. They inspected it for a few seconds before giving her the all-clear.

“Alright, me and my men are going to take a look, so keep doing what you're doing and don’t let anyone get near the academy,” Raven said. The officer nodded and walked over to speak with some of the others as Raven and her men moved out.

It was a few hours’ trek before they finally saw the academy. Raven turned to look at Lucien.

“You take fifteen guys and circle around back. Break a way in if you have to. Understood?” Raven asked.

Lucien nodded before breaking off with half their forces. Raven turned to address the rest of her team.

“Alright, the rest of you—we’re going straight through the front. Based on the visible damage, be prepared for the worst.”

Her men took that to heart. But in truth, none of them were prepared for what they saw when they went inside.

It was a massacre.

The walls and floor were covered in blood, with clear signs of battle—presumably against Grimm, unless the student body had suddenly started killing each other. Raven wasn’t squeamish—she’d done and seen her fair share of fucked-up shit—but the sight of bodies stacked on top of bodies, people who couldn’t be older than twenty-three and as young as seventeen… it made her want to vomit. A few of her soldiers actually did.

But she kept herself in check.

Ruby instantly gagged and had to put her hands over her mouth at the sight, while many others turned green at the scene. Even Cinder and Emerald felt a little queasy looking at something so gruesome.
“Holy shit, what the fuck happened?” Yang mumbled, staring at the massacre.

After fanning out and searching for survivors for thirty minutes, Raven regrouped with Lucien’s squad inside the building. They’d found no one.

Raven made her way to Theodore’s office. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t there—but that wasn’t why she came.

Walking over to his desk, she pushed it over and placed her hand on the floor. After a few seconds, the floor began to move, parting to reveal a staircase. This particular vault was designed to open only to the fingerprints of a select few individuals—including Raven.

She descended into a vast cavern. Nearing the vault, she could see the Relic of Destruction was still safely secured. Letting out a sigh of relief at the one piece of good news, she exited the vault, sealed it behind her, and began the grueling, nauseating task of moving the bodies—students, teachers, Huntsmen alike—outside to be collected by the police.

“Huh, I’ve never seen this vault or the sword before,” Ruby mumbled, trying to do anything to take her mind off what she had just seen.
“Do we even know what the sword does exactly?” Weiss asked, looking around as everyone just shrugged. She sighed of course.

She took a short break to speak with Lucien.

“Do you think destruction like this is really possible without Salem being here personally?” Lucien asked.

It was a good question.

If Salem had swarmed the place with wyverns or something, then maybe—but considering the building was still standing, and with all the bodies…

“She was probably here,” Raven said, “and helped overrun the place with smaller Grimm—like an endless wave of Beowolves.”

She paused, voice tightening.

“Although what I’m most worried about… is where the Summer Maiden is.”

If the Relic was still in the vault, then they probably didn’t have the Maiden yet. But with Vacuo still untouched and the academy abandoned, they could be chasing her right now—which would be a major problem.

“Shit, this would be so much easier if I actually knew the Summer Maiden personally,” Raven muttered, running her bloodied hands over her face in frustration, “and could just teleport to them.”

But what’s done is done.

Ready to continue their current grueling task, Raven was interrupted when something in the sky caught her eye. She looked up and squinted, still unable to make it out—until it started diving toward them. Her eyes widened in alarm.

“Grimm!” she shouted to her men, drawing Omen and activating the Fire Dust. Her team reacted instantly, doing the same and scattering for cover. A few feet in front of them, a massive wyvern crashed to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust. Black droplets hit the earth, and from them, more Grimm began to spawn.

But the biggest concern wasn’t the Grimm—it was the woman who stepped off the back of the wyvern with a huge grin on her face.

“Wow, I could’ve done without ever seeing another Wyvern again,” Nora said at the sight of Grimm spawning from it.

Luckily for them, Ruby had frozen their Wyvern, so they didn’t have to fight it—but it seemed Raven might not be so lucky. “Who in the world is riding on a Wyvern with a smile?” Ren said, squinting at the individual on its back.

She wore a white cloak with wide, open sleeves and golden embroidery along the edges. The inside was lined with a soft orange, giving it a faint glow. Beneath it was a sleeveless white tunic, tight around the chest and patterned with geometric gold designs. A red sash wrapped around her waist, held in place with metal rings and a thin gold chain that dangled at her side. A black-and-gold half-skirt hung over one hip, layered over dark leggings, and her legs were protected by black thigh-high boots with gold-trimmed knee guards—built for movement. The entire outfit blended ceremonial flair with lightweight combat gear, sharp and deliberate in its design.

And, completely unfitting for the situation, she waved.

“Hey! You like the wardrobe? I thought it fit the occasion!” she called, hopping down from the wyvern and giving a little twirl.

Raven narrowed her eyes. Past the playful demeanor, she could already tell the girl was trouble.

“Handle the Grimm!” she barked to Lucien, then charged straight at the girl. Raising her hand, Raven fired an air blast. The girl lifted her palm to block, and the force sent her flying back into the second story of the building.

Raven flew in after her.

By the time she landed, the girl had already recovered, now holding some kind of whip and still smiling.

“Okay, I’m getting the feeling this girl is supposed to be like Cinder’s replacement—if Salem was willing to give her a Wyvern and send her in alone,” Weiss said, fearing the worst.

“Yeah, and her personality and mannerisms are weird. It’s almost like looking at a child,” Blake said, watching the screen. This person definitely seemed strong… but also extremely weird, somehow.

“That was cool! What’s your name?” she asked with a manic grin.

Raven gave her a cold stare. “It’s Raven.”

She lunged forward, slicing the air with her blade and sending arcs of fire toward the girl. Selene vaulted over them with ease.

“Cool! My name’s Selene. So, how about we have some fun?” she laughed, swinging her whip.

Raven ducked as the whip cracked overhead, slicing clean through the wall behind her. It was definitely strange—on closer inspection, it looked like it was made entirely of knives. And the girl was fast, already whipping it back and forth to shred the hallway and keep Raven at bay.

Raven had enough. She pulled her arm back and unleashed a monstrous gust of wind down the corridor, blasting Selene backward.

“Huh, Selene is an interesting name. Is she also a universe original?” Blake asked, to which Suna nodded.
“Man, seeing Maiden powers is always so trippy and terrifying! She just filled that whole hallway with wind like—whoosh!” Nora exclaimed at the sight.

But then—Selene started floating.

Raven’s eyes widened. A flight-based Semblance?

Before she could finish the thought, Selene fired lightning from her palm. Raven cursed and raised the floor as a shield just in time.

“Shit!” she hissed. It clicked too late.

She was the Summer Maiden.

Raven’s eyes darted around, spotting a window. She bolted toward it and dove through. Fighting in tight quarters would usually work in her favor—her wide-range abilities could tear through most opponents.

But not if the other one was also a Maiden.

“And it goes from bad to worse… is Beacon just cursed or something? We didn’t even get to see the Summer Maiden before Salem already got her hands on the power,” Weiss muttered at the sight—since, as usual, nothing was going right for them. “I’m assuming it’s just universal for you guys to be unlucky,” Emerald muttered.

 “Yep, and the fact that Selene doesn’t seem like a pushover means this fight is probably going to be brutal,” Nora said with a groan, flopping back onto the couch.

She used air to start floating, turning around and glaring at the window she had just dove through. The Maidens were split into four people for a reason—but Raven could already tell: letting this girl keep the power was not on the table.

She was going to have to give it her all—and end her.

Raven raised her sword high above her head, ready. Selene shot up from the window, flying toward her with a wide grin.

“Haa!” Raven shouted, swinging her blade and unleashing a massive wave of fire enhanced by her Maiden powers.

Selene threw up a towering wall of air, blocking the flames before rushing forward. Raven met her head-on, and the two clashed violently in mid-air, trading blasts of lightning and wind back and forth. The skies echoed with the chaos.

Suddenly, Selene snapped her whip, launching its knife-like segments toward Raven like a storm of throwing daggers. Raven twisted and weaved through them, but with her right hand, Selene was already blasting fireballs at her too. As the blades returned, Selene sent them out again, and again—it was an endless volley.

Ruby had to physically restrain herself from geeking out at the weapon—because seriously, it was awesome, and she never got to admire weapons anymore before someone was already swinging them at her.

 “Yeah, definitely skilled, alright. And she doesn’t seem to be lacking when it comes to the Maiden power either,” Blake said, watching the scene unfold.

“Dammit!” Raven shouted, flying high into the sky to gain some distance. She sheathed her sword and brought both hands together, crackling lightning beginning to form and condense in her palms.

Selene was right behind her.

“Come back! I was just starting to have fun!” she yelled, chasing after her as they rose higher into the clouds.

At the peak, Raven suddenly turned around and thrust both hands forward.

“Die!”

She released a storm of lightning arcs that streaked toward Selene. The girl whipped at the air, trying to swat them away, but she wasn’t fast enough. One struck her—then another—then another. Electricity surged through her, and she was sent plummeting toward the ground.

“Awesome! Raven is totally kicking her butt!” Nora exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air—which, for once, Yang could share the sentiment. Rooting for Raven didn’t feel so bad right now.

Cinder, on the other hand, wasn’t exactly cheering. She could at least appreciate the display of Maiden powers—she might even steal a few of those moves here and there. But she was definitely waiting for Raven to fall flat on her ass.

Raven dove after her, ready to finish it—until Selene suddenly recovered mid-fall, throwing her hands up in front of her face, fingers spread wide.

“Solar Flare!”

A blinding white light burst outward.

“ACK!” Raven cried, slamming her eyes shut as a burning pain seared through them. She clutched her face, momentarily blinded.

“What the fuck!?”

Selene's whip crashed into her side, sending her flying through the air.

“Hehe! I stole that one from my favorite show. You like it?” Selene laughed, now floating in front of Raven, whose one open eye was bloodshot and burning red.

“What the hell was that? How did you produce that light?” Raven hissed, stalling—her vision still recovering.

As expected, Selene grinned and started talking.

“Oh, that? Well, Salem told me we can control five elements, but five sounded boring. So I tried some stuff and figured some things out. I call it ‘Light Magic.’”

Raven stared, dumbfounded. Light magic?

Plenty of Maidens had tried inventing new forms of magic or variations of existing ones, but the difficulty was always too high. The best most of them could do was wield multiple elements at once.

And this girl—who’d had her powers for less than a week—had already pulled it off. And she was doing it while playing around !?

This isn’t talent. This is something else.

She’s a monster.

I can’t let her live. I have to kill her—even if it means taking her down with me.

And now, all of a sudden, Cinder really wanted Raven to kill this girl—because light magic !?

Are you telling me this girl was really that talented? Talented enough to pull off something no Maiden has ever been able to do—and that fast?

To say she was furious was an understatement. It was almost like Selene was standing right in front of her, taunting her skills.

“Okay, well that’s seriously not good. I’ve seen talent before—I mean, I’ve trained with Ruby—but that is fucking monstrous,” Yang said at the sight, a visible shiver running down her spine.Ruby could agree.

Getting into Beacon two years early had earned her plenty of praise, some even calling her a prodigy. But she’d never seen anything like this Selene girl in her whole life. Not even Pyrrha was like this.

Raven stood tall, raising her arms.

“Okay then… show me some more of those tricks,” she said, waving her hand back and forth in a taunt.

Selene just smiled.

Raising her hand, a white light formed in Selene’s palm before it shot forward at high speed. Raven barely dodged to the left, feeling the intense heat pass by her face.

“I call this one Light Ray! ” Selene exclaimed, rushing forward and firing more beams in rapid succession.

Raven weaved and twisted through the air, dodging the onslaught as Selene sent her knives flying again. But Raven was adapting now. Seeing them coming, she raised her hand and shot a stream of ice, freezing the knives mid-air and sending them clattering to the ground.

“Okay, to be honest, this light magic stuff is honestly terrifying—but at least Raven seems to be adjusting to Selene’s fighting style?” Jaune offered.

“Hey, Ozpin… you didn’t know about this light magic stuff, right?” Oscar asked internally.

No, I’ve never seen anything like this either. It’s fascinating, Ozpin responded.

“Hey! Don’t do that to Whisperfang! ” Selene gasped, pouting as she stowed the remaining portion of her whip.

Placing one hand on the opposite wrist, light began to swirl in her palm again. “Okay, let’s try this— Light Arc! ”

Multiple beams of light curved out from her hand in all directions. They were slower than the previous ones, and Raven dodged them cleanly—until she turned around.

A beam was inches from her face.

She leaned all the way back, twisting her body into a dive as the beams pursued her mid-air. “Shit!” she yelled, batting one away with her sword. It sizzled as it struck the blade—before another shot slammed into her back, then another into her face.

She crashed into the ground hard.

Raven shook off the daze, only to see the remaining beams headed straight for her. She rolled aside just in time as they exploded against the dirt. Selene followed close behind, forming a glowing light lance in her hand.

“Hey! You can keep going, right? Don’t end our game so soon I was having fun!” she teased, hurling the lance.

“Okay, then maybe not adjusting too well…” Jaune mumbled.

“Seriously, what’s up with this chick? I swear she’s like 25 and 7 at the same time, and this combat genius shtick is getting old fast. Is she seriously coming up with these moves on the fly right now??” Yang asked no one in particular.

“Man, Beacon would’ve been a breeze if I was that talented,” Nora said about Selene—which, honestly, was a fair wish after seeing her in action.

Raven sprang to the side and launched back into the air, with Selene chasing after. Forming massive chunks of ice in both hands, Raven hurled them one after another, forcing Selene to counter with massive fireballs. In the chaos, Raven dove through the cover of the ice and grabbed hold of her.

“Huh?” Selene blinked, confused by the sudden close proximity.

Raven punched her square in the face, then sent a fireball into her stomach, launching her backward. With Selene staggered, Raven floated higher, holding both hands overhead as she began forming a massive swirling fireball, crackling with lightning inside.

But then—

Half her vision disappeared.

The attack began to flicker and collapse as Raven clutched her face in confusion. Her right eye… she couldn’t see. Then came the pain.

“Fuck!” she screamed, gripping her now profusely bleeding eye.

Selene slowly floated back up, a smug grin on her face. Raven glared at her, breathing heavily.

“How…?” she muttered.

Selene lifted one finger, a tiny concentrated beam of light glowing at its tip.

“With this,” she said cheerfully. “It’s my fastest and also hottest version—but it seems to take a little while to charge. I’ll remember that for next time.”

Raven stared, stunned. Did she really burn through my aura at my eye that fast? So fast the rest of my body didn’t have time to respond and reinforce it? Is that even possible!?

Her thoughts cut off as Selene suddenly lunged at her, manic grin returning. Raven raised a trembling hand, flames forming in her palm—

“Is… is that actually possible?” Weiss asked, glancing around at her friends’ faces—just as shocked as hers. Seeing Selene in action was honestly terrifying, and watching a Huntress as strong as Raven, boosted with Maiden powers, get that injured only intensified the feeling.

Meanwhile, Cinder’s rage only mounted at the sight, and Yang was slowly starting to feel actually sick. If you’d asked her how she’d feel about this before seeing it, her response and actual feelings would have been very different—seeing Raven get injured like that was something else entirely.

And then the camera cut.

It returned moments later.

Raven slammed into the ground with a heavy thud, her aura completely gone. She gasped for breath, barely able to move. Selene landed beside her, light already forming in her hand again.

“Welp. It’s been fun. Have fun on the other side,” she said, charging a beam and aiming it at Raven’s face.

“Shit!!” Yang exclaimed, fighting with herself to stay in her seat and not rush at the TV—because holy fucking shit, did she not want to see her mom with a goddamn hole in her skull right now.

Raven stared up, panting, vision spinning.

Then—Lucien burst onto the scene, slamming his fist into Selene’s face and sending her skidding back.

“NOW!” he shouted.

Raven didn’t hesitate.

She summoned the largest gust of wind she could muster, launching it directly into Selene and blasting her back through the air. Without wasting a moment, Raven opened a portal. Her forces dove through one after another as Selene began to recover, trying to rush forward.

A fireball launched in her path held her off just long enough.

Raven stumbled backward through the portal and collapsed on the other side.

As the scene transition to the meeting room

Yang deflated, slumping into the couch and letting out a heavy sigh. Wow—she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to scrape the image of her mom with a burning hole in her skull from her mind if she actually saw that. It honestly made her a little upset that she cared this much about her well-being, but maybe this is how normal kids feel about their moms.

“You okay..?” Blake asked softly, rubbing Yang’s arm with her hand. Yang sighed again, bringing her hand up to hold Blake’s.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks,” Yang said, giving her a smile.

“Cough cough gay cough cough,” Nora mumbled next to Yang, who shot her a quick glare while Blake turned red and quickly retracted her hand.

“Okay then! We’re on a pretty good track so far. Any opinions someone wants to voice?” Suna asked down at them.

“I think this is stupid, idiotic, and a waste of time,” Cinder said, counting them off on her fingers as Suna rolled her eyes.

“Right, and anyone else besides Cinder?” she asked.

Ruby spoke up. “I think us being sisters is interesting… it’s definitely weird to think about with everything that’s happened,” Ruby said, glancing at Penny. “But I guess that’s probably a better outcome than the one we have right now, right?” she offered to Suna, who smirked at her.

“Ah, see, she gets it. Now, onto the next one,” Suna said, snapping her fingers.

Suddenly, the room started to shake, and Suna’s smile faded.

“What the hell? Do pocket dimensions get earthquakes??” Emerald asked, trying to stabilize herself.

Suna quickly walked over to a wall, ripped it open like a door, and stuck her head outside for a few seconds before quickly pulling it back in. The ‘earthquake’ stopped, and everyone looked at her as she coughed into her hand.

“Well, we have the bad news and the worse news. Which do you guys want first?” she offered.

Ruby frowned. “The worse news?” she elected—usually better to get the worst stuff out of the way first.

“Well, long story short: kinda like how there’s a Light and Darkness brother, there is me, and a kind of not-so-good god called Leviathan. He’s poking around my time-space, trying to kill us,” she said with way too much calm in her voice for what she just uttered.

“Oh, how wonderful. And the bad news?” Weiss asked, clearly irritated.

“Oh, well, to avoid having my version of the Darkness god try to erase us, we’re gonna have to stay in here a while longer—until he gets bored and leaves to destroy something else,” Suna said with a half smile, which got a groan from Yang.

“Awesome. Just awesome. So how long are we talking here?” Yang asked.

Suna shrugged. “Not really sure. He usually gets bored in a day, but sometimes it takes up to a month.”

Ruby blanched. A month?!? I have to live with Cinder and Emerald for a month??

“Seriously?” she asked.

“Seriously,” Suna responded.

Blake dragged a hand down her face. “Didn’t you say it wasn’t going to take weeks to get this done? Are we just supposed to sit around here all day if it does take a month for him to leave?” Blake asked, clearly not wanting to have to ‘chill’ with Cinder if she could help it—not even really knowing how much living space was beyond this one room.

“Ah, don’t worry about that. The main universe I’m having you react to is really the only one you need, but we can watch some others in between the main one to make sure we don’t get done with it all too fast, and you might still learn some useful things,” Suna said, almost voicing it like a question at the end—but honestly, that was enough for Blake.

“Okay, so then what kinda universes are we talking about here? More switching stuff like Cinder being a good guy? ’Cause I’m not sure I can handle watching evil Ruby if that’s what you mean,” Jaune said, clearly seeing how messed up this viewing could quickly turn.

Suna just chuckled. “Hey, you’ll just have to see, but I can say a lot of the worlds will be more interesting than simply slight changes that snowball, like the one you’re watching. In some, you live on completely different worlds with completely different lives. Here, sit down and I’ll show you one of my favorites,” she said with an evil grin—which wasn’t inspiring much confidence in anyone right now.

But they took their seats again, watching the TV as Suna snapped her fingers.