#i need this girl to be back before rwby ends

[etinceelle]

So when exsacly do you think penny will come back?

So I had two main ideas and moments for her to come back, but I still need to think more about it cause those are just first ideas :

Considering the fact that it was a long time between Volume 4 and Volume 7, Pietro had time to recover her core and rebuild her. So it took most likely 1 or 2 years to make her again. At the end of Volume 9, we see this shot of Vacuo with Amity Collosseum and a lot of ships from every kingdom in Remnant, implying a time skip, but we don't know how many months or even year have passed on Remnant. It surely must need time to take Amity, bring it to Vacuo and repair it, as well for the other Kingdoms to probably go to Atlas, see what happened and go to Vacuo with everyone else (unless somehow they learned about everyone being saved in Vacuo so they went there directly, idk).

I imagine this time skip would be of a few months, I'd say between 6 months and 1 year. Time is different in the Ever After and for the reunion for everyone to be emotional, I guess time must have passed for a bit so it's also impactful for Ren and Nora to reunite with Jaune, for Qrow to reunite with team RWBY, for Winter and the Schnee family to reunite with Weiss, etc. It's also probably be impactful for Ruby to see Winter with the Winter Maiden, and I imagine she won't be able to think about Penny if she sees her using her powers, anyway I digress-

Pietro is probably grieving and mourning Penny since the last time we saw him in Volume 8, and once settled in Vacuo he most likely at least tried to remake Penny. Considering that he needed 1 or 2 years for him to rebuild her, and with the time skip of let's say 1 year, he would be in the middle of the process if he's still trying to create another robot body. Sooo with all of that said, she could definitely come back during the Vacuo arc, I don't know if that would be in V10 cause narratively this would be a big deal, a big climax, and I don't know if that's too soon or too big for the first volume of the Vacuo arc (I mean, if we follow the rules established so far for each arc : 3 volumes per kingdom). Penny could then maybe come back at the end of Volume 12, to parallel the finale of V8, and also it's the same amont of time between V8 finale and V12 than the end of V3 and V7, 4 entiere volumes. I mean I just thought of it when writing it but it would make sense to me. I'm trying to keep a writer state of mind to be logical so my arguments seem valid aha (even if I'm not a pro writer krkr).

My second idea is that she would come back at the end of the RWBY story, at the end of the series. Not necessarily at THE END end, but during the final arc or the final moments of the story. Why that, because I believe V9 plot wasn't just to explain cute little origins for the two Brothers and for Ruby's development, but of course to set up things for later and probably the big finale. Everything's still up in the air and the two Brothers will definitely be involved, as well as maybe the Blacksmith and the Ever After. I don't know how or when because this is big deal and obviously I'm not in the writers mind and I imagine they have ideas for this big end for a long time now, even if this is not precise of course. The most important thing is that the Blacksmith had Penny's sword (yeah I know that some say that it was just an illusion, but I still think it's odd, and again this weird "nothing, no one is ever truly lost" and then poof Penny appears on the sword, idk it just makes me feel like the Blacksmith knows something and might be involved later. The spirits from the Relic could also be involved too as they were created by the the two Brothers. Ambrosius could even meet Pietro at some point too :]

Anyway those are my main ideas, but I would be curious if anyone had other ideas !

(I love the Blacksmith)

[rachetmath]

Weakest link

Cinder: Hello.

Jaune: Cinder.

Ruby: What do want?

Cinder: Salem wants all of you gone so she sent me her strongest agent to take care of all you peasants.

Jaune: Wow really? She sends her weakest agent to deal with us. Pathetic.

Cinder: Um excuse me.

Jaune: I said what I said. I mean come on she could have at least sent a more competent ally.

Cinder: Competent? I am capable to take care of you.

Jaune: Ruby can stare you to stone and we can kill you after. Hell isn't that the reason you had Neo fight alongside you?

Cinder: um.

Jaune: Speaking of Neo, how did she end up falling into the Ever After? You can fly so you could have caught her.

Cinder: Um…

Jaune: Oh no, why? Why did you let her fall?

Cinder: She threatened me!

Jaune: How?

Cinder: You see, we made a deal to kill Ruby together. As long as I get what I wanted.

Jaune: Which was?

Cinder: The relic of course and the maiden powers.

Jaune: I mean that was your fault. You fumbled the bag on maiden powers twice. Regardless, Neo brought you the relic. Twice

Cinder: And?

Jaune: And did you keep your end of the bargain?

Cinder: Well-

Jaune: No. Especially since she fell with the target. Has she ever complained or defied your orders?

Cinder: I mean no- I mean she brought it up but still.

Jaune: You mother- so Neo was being a decent person to you. And you decided to repay her by killing her. For nothing.

Cinder: … …

Jaune: Not to mention you used knowledge and now it's useless to everybody. Meaning Salem, who is in Vale, probably looking for the relic of choice, vigorously. Because somebody, you, used up the last question which would have made it easier to find. Dumbass.

Cinder: I mean… it's not that bad.

*Somewhere else*

Tyrian: My queen. Are you sure?

Salem: Yes, Tyrian, I want you to kill her and make Gillian my new maiden. And if you feel the need to, kill Mercury as well.

Tyrian: But ma’am-

Salem: Tyrian, Watts is dead. Ozpin is still alive and now the relics are useless to me. Both of them are. Because I don't have a scientist to use creation, you know, in order to construct and build new ways to upgrade the Grimm because Cinder left him to die.

Tyrian: … oh.

Salem: Cinder has failed me not once. Not twice. Not thrice. Not four. But five. Five times that girl has failed me.

Tyrian: What is the fifth one for?

Salem: Team Rwby.

Tyrian: Ah.

Salem: I let her side too many times. Six will not be the last. If she makes another mistake, get rid of her.

Tyrian: Yes my queen.

*Back to Cinder and Jaune*

Jaune: You dumb as hell. You are most definitely the weakest link.

Cinder: I-

Jaune: Heaven Academy, you and Raven were working together so how was Yang able to get the relic?

Cinder: Because Raven betrayed me.

Yang: Then how did Vernal die?

Cinder: I killed her.

Jaune: You got to be f***** with me right now. You killed Vernal, why?

Cinder: Maiden powers.

Jaune: … … …

Emerald: I should have probably mentioned this but we had a plan before but she changed it at the last minute.

Cinder: Emerald!

Emerald: I don't work for you now.

Jaune: Y'all had a plan before. Why didn't you use it?

Emerald: Ruby.

Jaune: Of course… of course. Ruby. Ruby is the main reason. And you… … you didn't -*laughs* you still haven't killed her yet. *laughs in harder* You- you had so many opportunities and still didn't kill her. Heaven I can understand but Atlas. Atlas. You didn't even attempt to look for her. You had so much time on your hands and you didn't do shit. Wow. Oh my God. *Laughs even louder*

Cinder: *embarrassed* you still can't beat me though.

Jaune: Oh baby for how many times I topped you, it's only a matter of time before I am fully capable of taking your life. Shit I almost did.

Cinder: Damn it. Well since we're on the topic, you, Jaune Arc, are the-

Jaune: No. I'm far from being the weakest link.

Ruby: Well I mean-

Jaune: Yang and Blake decided to give information to Robyn who before was prepared to start a fight with the military. Which caused us to be deemed traitors.

Ruby: Okay but-

Jaune: Yang loses many of her fights and sometimes she gets an attitude which escalates the situation making it worse than it needs to be.

Ruby: True But-

Jaune: Weiss barely does anything. In fact there were moments she was completely useless. And she has a variety of skills in her reservoir.

Ruby: Well-

Jaune: Qrow is a weaker link than all of us.

Cinder: *laughs*Damn right. You're right Jaune. *laughs louder* Like he saved Amber at the last minute. He should have had a glimpse of who we are. Mercury remembered before he could remembered us. And what so crazy was we infiltrated your school right, which should have cameras. He couldn't even try to identify us. Not that he could though considering he was an alcoholic so he probably forgot about us.

Jaune: Yeah he was. He even started a fight for no reason.

Ruby: Jaune-

Jaune: And then Heaven he was horrible. He was getting whooped more than us except Weiss. She had it worse.

Cinder: In Mistral and Atlas. Speaking of Atlas, Tyrian was under his watch. Tell me, why would he work with one criminal and then Tyrian against another hunter on duty. Then when Tyrain kills them and gets away he turns himself in. For what?

Jaune: Damn. He is an idiot. Worthless ass mother f****.

Ruby: Okay, Cinder I can ignore, but Jaune, that's my uncle and my teacher, please stop insulting him.

Jaune: That explains a lot on how your such a f*** up.

Cinder: Damn! Oh no, how is it possible for the whole family to be filled with weak links? *Laughs* Oh God. Oh God. No wonder their family is messed up.

Yang: *tears falling*

Jaune: Anyways Cinder, you are Salem’s worst ally. You have screwed her and your allies so bad that you might as well be the hero of the story.

Cinder: Huh.

Jaune: I mean a lot of Salem's plans have been compromised because of you. You and Ruby might as well be same because you both are a hindrance to those who work with you.

Cinder: Okay I let some of what you said slide but -

Jaune: Oscar stole your girl.

Cinder: … …

Jaune: He stole your only bitch. He upgraded from loli to hotty. No effort. Neo, who I'm sure isn't dead, will return. With a vengeance. And not just her. You got Raven. You got Winter. And you got myself coming after you. You might as well give up cause you ain't going to make it and what’s crazy about this is you brought this upon yourself. You're done. Give up. You had multiple opportunities but you fumbled all of them because of your damn ego. Better run and make a new life for yourself because if we catch you, you're done. Game over. Finished.

Cinder: Oh shit.

[jaune-submissive-and-breedable]

When Team RWBY found Jaune in the ever after he was nothing more than a mindless beast roaming the fairytale. So they did what any good friends would do and trained him into their obedient pet. Now all they had to do was say the word and he would do whatever they wanted. From eating them out for hours to getting them drinks. All they needed to complete the look was a collar and leash.

Team Rwby stared in awe at the figure, lumbering around the burning marketplace. A rusty and damaged great sword dragged behind it as it lumbered around aimlessly(Think Artorias from dark souls). Trudging a bit closer, they saw what appeared to be a set of white armor, now rusty as it's weapon

"Its the Rusted Knight!" exclaimed Blake, concerned covering her face, "But....what happened to him?"

As they closed in, the rusty knight whipped his head in their direction, seemingly sensing their presence. The group gasped collectively at the revelation of the rusty knight's identity.

"Jaune...." Ruby gasped, a hand covered her mouthing her mouth in shock.

Hearing her voice, he let out a nearly inhuman screech and got into a battle-ready stance. The girls mimicked his acts, saddened that they must fight their old friend.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"AH, Right there" Weiss howled, rolling her hips as she rode Jaune.

Ruby stared at the two with slight guilt and sorrow. After defeating the animalistic Jaune, they tried their best to get him to remember who he once was, however, it was all in vain. they asked the curious cat for help, but he said there was nothing he could do. Though Ruby suspected there was more to this story by how he acted and looked at jaune.

"Gods, I dreamt about this for so long!" Blake moaned, her own hips grinding against his face, his blonde beard slick with her juices. Next to her girlfriend, Yang, knelt grinding her own slick pussy against one of his hands.

In the end, all they could do was train him as they did Zwei, her pet corgi. It proved to be somewhat effective, he would listen to their commands, didn't attack unless they gave the order, and retrieved food and drinks for them from time to time. He even lead them to a village of paper stars where they currently live.

"He's cumming! Oh gods, cumming inside me puppy~" Weiss cried, her own climax rapidly approaching.

"Hey Rubes, You wanna get in on this?" Yand called out, practically shoving Weiss of his cock so she could ride it.

Ruby turned her back to her in response. At some point, she couldn't tell when due to time working differently here, her teammates began using Jaune to relieve sexual tension they accumulated over time. It started when she caught Weiss having Jaune eat her out. then she found Blake licking his cock like a lollipop. And finally she caught Yang, her own sister being fucked doggystyle while everyone else slept. Each time, she scolded them, demanding they swear never to take advantage of their friend. But the sight before her shown they clear forgotten their promise. All the whole she, abstained from joining them.

"Jeez, Rubes...Lighten up. we're stuck here for god knows how much longer, You might as well have some fun" Yang called out, refusing to cease her actions

"I'd rather not Violate our friend, thank you" she replied, ignoring the moist and burning from her loins.

"suite yourself, but your missing out on some prime dick"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night, Ruby laid outside with her legs spread wide. Between them was her blonde pet, thrusting deep inside her.

"That's right , Jaune." she panted "just like that"

In truth, Ruby was a bit of a hypocrite, having lost her purity the first night they reunited with Jaune. Since then she slept with him every night, feeling his warmth as he injected her with his seed. She often thought about letting impregnate her, but since he wasn't all there, it would be as perfect as she wanted.

"don't worry Jaune. I'll get you back to normal" she promised,

Though deep in her heart, she knew it would never happen.

[marcmarcmomarc]

I told you I would bring up @pmpknsoup’s post more times.

Feel free to comment or reblog how you think this would have gone.

———————————————————————————-

(In Theodore’s office in Shade Academy at early evening, Team RWBY and Jaune Arc face the main members of the Remnant Alliance, consisting of Team JNPR plus Oscar Pine/Ozpin and Emerald Sustrai, Team STRQ, the Ace-Ops, the Happy Huntresses, Winter Schnee, Team SSSNN, Team CFVY, Whitley Schnee, Willow Schnee, Klein Sieben, Maria Calavera, Dr. Pietro Polendina, Ghira Belladonna, Kali Belladonna, Ilia Amitola, Bartholomew Oobleck, Peter Port, Glynda Goodwitch, Theodore, Xanthe Rumpole, and Zwei.)

RUBY: Listen. Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

RUBY: It took a while to figure out how to tell you, and I know being left in the dark about our whereabouts over the remainder of the winter, the whole spring, and the summer has left you anxious, but now, I’ve decided it’s time to reveal what’s been going on. Robyn, I’ll need your Semblance to prove all of this correct.

ROBYN: Uh, okay.

(Robyn steps away from the group, removes her glove, and joins hands with Ruby. Her Semblance turns on and glows green with every piece of information Ruby gives.)

ROBYN: So, you guys didn’t make it out of the pocket dimension before it collapsed. Where did you guys fall to?

RUBY: Well, after I fell, I regained consciousness on a beach surrounded by giant seashells. I tried to hone in on a giant tree, but just ended up looping in circles. Eventually, I had to stop, then found a mouse trying to pull a plant out of the ground. I pulled the plant, which turned out to be a cheese plant, out for the mouse, and fed it to them. After the mouse revealed that they could talk, I named them Little, and they decided to stay by my side as I tried to get home. Then we found Weiss and Blake captured in vines by a whole village of talking mice. It didn’t take much convincing to get them to let them go. Then we went to look for Yang and found a creepy Grimm-looking creature moving jerkily. And I mean very creepy. (IMITATING JABBERWALKER) “Stalking. Searching. Waiting. Listening.” (NORMAL VOICE) Then Yang came barreling out, already fighting the creature while missing her arm. Then Blake realized we were in our favorite childhood fairy tale, The Girl Who Fell Through the World.

(Confusion and wonder all around. “That fairy tale?” “The Ever After?” “It’s real?”)

OSCAR: That fairy tale actually happened? And the Ever After is real?

RUBY: Which means the creepy Grimm-like creature was the Jabberwalker from that story. Also, Weiss had a very hard time wrapping her head around the Ever After’s absurdities.

(Weiss blushes with embarrassment.)

WEISS: I did not.

RUBY: Our hands are glowing green, Weiss. Robyn’s Semblance never fails. Then we went to the village in the King’s Acre to barter with the Jinxy Peddler, who had stolen Yang’s arm. Well, they don’t “steal”, they just “take things others aren’t looking at”. Fair is fair, right, Little?

ROBYN: Sounds like a legitimate businessperson.

WEISS: Right?

EMERALD: So, what was the Jinxy Peddler like?

VELVET: Was he cute?

WEISS: Cute? He was adorable!

RUBY: And, despite being older than he was in the book, his strategy was the same, selling treasures that are really other items in disguise. If my memory serves me right, he had a yellow scepter, a pink rabbit statue, and a marionette-like doll. Toy soldiers won the scepter, and we only got it back from them because Little tried stealing the marionette, exposing Jinxy’s treasures as fakes. The rabbit statue was another mouse, the scepter was Yang’s arm, and the marionette was one of Penny’s Floating Array swords. The soldiers followed us to arrest us for stealing Yang’s arm, or “royal property”, before I traded Penny’s sword, and told them she was the greatest warrior to ever live. “She was touched by magic, and she gave her life for thousands. She took a message of hope to the stars, and she saw the world through better eyes.”

(The gang gets emotional, especially Winter and Pietro, who are comforted by their loved ones.)

RUBY: The soldiers escorted us to the Crimson Castle for the birthday of who we thought was the Red King, but turned out to be the Red Prince, who was more of a spoiled brat than Weiss was at Beacon.

YANG: (nudging Weiss) Heh-heh.

RUBY: We challenged him to a game of chess, where he shrunk the girls to the size of chess pawns. Not that it hindered their performance against the Prince’s pawns. When we revealed that we’re humans and beat him, he threw a tantrum and wanted us beheaded, and the Curious Cat rescued us.

(More interested chatter. Nora Valkyrie gets giddy.)

NORA: The Curious Cat?!

REN: Were they as chatty as the book made them out to be?

RUBY: Mm-hm. Not to mention easily distracted. Anyway, they took us to look for ingredients for a Growgurt Parfait in the Garden’s Acre, and we told them our life story, but because we kept getting distracted with our internal conflicts, we kept losing them over and over again. After the third time, when they asked me how I’m supposed to save the world now that Salem has two out of four Relics and that Atlas is gone, we met an herbalist, a caterpillar named Herb. He seemed to be asking us questions to figure out what medicine he needed to make to help us. Looking back, he was being reasonable, as too little medicine is useless, but too much medicine is toxic. Eventually, Herb just decided to smoke a hookah for a bit and drugged us with leaves that made us see our past selves tempting us to “go back”. To be free. To be simple. To be whole. To be different. The other girls rejected and had already accepted their failures as something to learn from, but I almost gave in, before the Cat stopped me, then got Herb swallowed by a hole in the ground.

(The gang chatters in moods ranging from confusion to nervousness.)

TAI: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. You guys did drugs?

QROW: Don’t let alcoholism be next, girls.

RUBY: Anyway, the Cat led us to a market to keep looking for the Parfait ingredients. Along the way, they told us about a process that occurs when an Afteran is no longer doing their assigned role, triggered by them losing their ways, wearing out, doubting themselves, or even just finishing their assigned tasks, upon which they are taken to the Great Tree and repurposed into someone or something else with a new identity, personality, and role. Their memories are erased in the process, but the heart very rarely forgets. They don’t die. They ascend.

(Such a concept catches the interest of the gang.)

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Ooh.

EMERALD: Talk about a potential existential crisis.

RUBY: Hence why there was no Red King when we got to the Castle. He lost his game and ascended into the brat we encountered. And the hole that swallowed Herb was him starting his own Ascension. Anyway, after we arrived at the market and got all of the Parfait ingredients, the market was attacked by Jabberwalkers using Neopolitan’s Semblance. Oh, yeah, Neopolitan fell with us, too.

(Nora, Ren, Oscar, and Emerald grow worried.)

REN: Uh-oh.

TAI: Neopolitan? Who’s that?

RUBY: Remember Roman Torchwick, the criminal from Vale? Neo was his partner. She held me responsible for his death at the Fall of Beacon and wanted me dead to avenge him. She expressed herself through gestures and facial expressions because she couldn’t talk.

RAVEN: Was she that chick I saved Yang from on the train on Mountain Glenn?

RUBY: Yep. Then I disposed of her by opening her umbrella on an Atlas airship in the sky during the Fall of Beacon. Apparently she survived that fall without any of those Grimm surrounding us eating her.

OSCAR: Team JNPR and I last fought her right after Ironwood declared us fugitives.

RUBY: Then she fought us in the pocket dimension between here and Solitas. Heck, she was the reason Yang, Blake, and I fell. Anyway, we made the Growgurt Parfait and the girls grew back to normal size just as we got assistance from the Rusted Knight riding his white rabbit.

WHITLEY: Did Weiss go goo-goo eyes the second she laid eyes on him? She had a crush on him when she was younger.

BLAKE: I think everyone had a crush on the Rusted Knight at some point.

RUBY: Well, things didn’t help when he turned out to be a grown-up Jaune with longer hair and a beard, who grabbed a fruit that sent him back in time twenty years right after he landed.

(The gang gasps at the new knowledge of the Rusted Knight being not only Jaune, of all people, but Jaune thrown backwards in time, grown older, and living without his friends for so long.)

NORA: Oh, my Gods!

REN: Jaune, that really happened to you?

JAUNE: I was stuck there isolated from other human contact, too.

YANG: Weiss certainly loved how mature he was.

RUBY: And the white rabbit was a jackalope Jaune named Juniper.

NORA: After his team? Aww!

RUBY: Then Jaune told us his perspective on the Tree, that he believed it was death, that Alyx backstabbed her brother Lewis, the author of the fairy tale, who wrote the story the way he wished it happened, and that the Cat couldn’t be trusted. Before long, we got caught in a “punderstorm”, which creates a physical manifestation of a mental or emotional problem. Jaune, Weiss, Juniper, and I were sent to metaphorical and literal crossroads, while Yang and Blake were sent to two broken, wooden, rickety bridges connected to a giant pillar that they could only make more planks to advance toward if they were honest about their feelings for each other. Yeah, Yang and Blake are girlfriends now.

(As Yang and Blake blush at each other, everyone’s hearts melt, all proud for the Bees.)

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Aww!

NORA: See, Ren? I told you there was more going on!

KALI: Our baby girl found love?

TAI: With my sunny little dragon?

RAVEN: Wow. She really is your daughter, Tai.

TAI: What’s that supposed to mean?

RAVEN: A tall overconfident blonde flinging dad jokes and puns and a brooding dark-haired beauty? A tale as old as time.

RUBY: Then the Cat bailed on us after mistaking us for selfishly using them to get home, and once the storm passed, Jaune let us spend the night in his house in the Origami Acre, then he introduced us the next morning to a village of paper stars called the Paper Pleasers. They seemed very dumb and clumsy at first, because of the daily disasters they were causing, but, at the end of the day, were very hospitable. He also named them after all of us. On his to-do list, I saw Ren, Ruby, Oscar, Nora, Neptune, and Pyrrha.

(Not a word is spoken as everyone exchanges concerned and uncomfortable looks with each other.)

RUBY: Anyway, a Paper Pleaser told us they kept causing disasters because they wanted to ascend, because their purpose was long since finished, but Jaune was stopping them because of his belief that the tree was death. They told us that the Tree isn’t death, but resurrection, rebuilding, and rebirth.

JAUNE: That must have been our waiter, the Blake Paper Pleaser.

RUBY: Then Neo’s Jabberwalkers attacked, and while we were distracted, the Paper Pleasers finally managed to off themselves by destroying the koi pond dam and drowning in the flood, then when the girls asked me to help comfort Jaune, I blew up at them for caring more about everyone else’s feelings or getting home, taking my mental health for granted and ignoring my problems…

(Everyone leans in anxiously. Things are getting even more interesting, but not in a good way.)

(Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune exchange looks of guilt.)

RUBY: …then I ran away, came across the Abandoned Acre, and entered a mansion, where Neo had made clone illusions of Roman Torchwick, Penny, Pyrrha, Professor Lionheart, Clover, Ozpin, and Ironwood, and used them to physically and psychologically abuse me, beating me up ruthlessly and blaming me for their deaths, and when the chaos was over, I felt no will to live or be myself anymore, not helped by Torchwick’s question: “Do you really think you can stand to watch more of your friends fall? Or are you ready to admit the truth, that the world would just be better off without you?”

(The gang regards Ruby with sorrow over her being trampled by her trauma. Ozpin can be heard sniffling.)

RUBY: Then Neo offered me tea made from leaves from the Tree intended to wipe me from existence. The Cat blasted her away, but then turned out to be evil and tried to possess me, while revealing that they had been trying to wear me down the whole time, then Neo fought them off and stomped Little to death, then I finally gave in, drank the tea, offing myself, and got swallowed by the Tree.

YANG: (tearing up) Oh, Rubes.

RUBY: Then I met a Blacksmith, who I also found at the market, or, rather, she found me, and then she presented me with a choice to either change my identity or be myself. I saw my mom’s weapon and was treated to a vision of the night she left with Raven on another one of Ozpin’s secret missions and never came back.

(Tai turns accusingly at Raven.)

TAI: Raven?

YANG: She lied? She left with you?

RAVEN: Yeah… Hey, like I said to her, “First time for everything.”

(The gang gives her a look.)

RAVEN: Really? Sheesh. Tough crowd.

HARE: (to Ruby) Wait. What did you say your mother’s name was again?

RUBY: Summer.

HARE: (muttering) So, her uncle is Qrow, her father is Taiyang, and her sister’s mother is Raven. All are members of Team STRQ. Summer, Summer, Summer… (out loud) Summer Rose, the leader of Team STRQ, was your mother?

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Summer?…Summer Rose?…The previous silver-eyed Huntress?…That’s Summer Rose’s daughter?

RUBY: And then, I remembered my mom’s words, “I love you just the way you are,” chose to be myself, and came back to help the girls fight the Cat. And we won.

(Cheers and applause all around.)

RUBY: And then Neo killed the Cat by using the Jabberwalkers to eat them. By the way, Jabberwalkers are the only creatures to prevent Ascension if they eat Afterans.

BLAKE: On my count, there were a whopping five of them.

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Five?…Five of them?…Five Jabberwalkers?

SUN: Talk about overkill.

ELM: (after doing the multiplication math in her head) That’s gotta be over ninety teeth!

RUBY: And, according to the girls, Neo was possessed by the Cat, and she chose to accept Torchwick’s death and undergo her own Ascension. Oh, and Little ascended, too, into who we called Somewhat, and succeeded Jaune as the protector of the Ever After. By then, we had made it to the Tree by coming to terms with the truth, we’ll never be perfect, that even the most skilled Huntsmen and Huntresses have failed, and we walked through the door back home, landed inside the plane of the Tree, and met the Blacksmith again at her workshop. When we noticed two statues of the Brother Gods, she told us their backstory. That the Ever After was overfilled with plants and dangerous wildlife in its primordial years, but the Brothers were created to clear it out. Then they created the Afterans as well as the different acres for them to live in. They designed new creations that would replace them in maintaining the Ever After. This was how the Cat was created. They later created the Jabberwalker as a form of destruction. However, the two disagreed on whether it disrupted the balance or not and began to wage war.

OSCAR AND OZPIN: (both scoff) What else is new?

RUBY: The Blacksmith told us how balance isn’t supposed to be two opposing forces locked in battle; balance is an ecosystem, an organism, and a living thing, thus balance isn’t restored with force or manipulation, it’s restored naturally, requiring love and patience to see it through to the end. The Gods got to Remnant because the Ever After created a door to a “greater beyond” for them, so they can leave and experiment in creating new worlds as much as they like.

REN: Huh. So the Ever After existed before Remnant.

NORA: (snickering) So the Tree basically said, “You think you have life sorted out? Then get out of my house”?

RUBY: Pretty much.

(Everyone laughs at the Brother Gods basically being “kicked out of the house” by their “mom”. Some Gods they are.)

YANG: Oh, my Gods, that’s such a hilarious way of looking at it. Thanks, Nora.

RUBY: Anyway, the Blacksmith told us that we impacted the Ever After significantly, just like Somewhat, Alyx, and Lewis, and that the Cat caused a bad impact. Then she de-aged Jaune, but let him keep his memories, which explains the white streak in his hair, and made us a portal in the desert on the outskirts of the city, and now you’re all caught up.

(Ruby lets go of Robyn’s hand. The freedom fighter rejoins the rest of the Alliance.)

RUBY: So, I’m happy to announce that I’m not giving up the fight to save the world anytime soon! Between Academies and Kingdoms going down and our friends’ lives being forced to abruptly end, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the past two years, but we always pulled ourselves back together at the end of the day, and we won’t stop now! With global unity right at our fingertips and the ability to keep moving forward and accept our failures as things to learn from, things the villains would never even fathom, we can stand up to Salem and her forces! And no longer will we be putting the entire burden of the world’s safety on one individual! My name is Ruby Rose, and I am a Huntress!

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Yes!…Great!…Alright!…Thank goodness!…Welcome back, Ruby!…Good to have you back, kid!…Way to go, Ruby!…That’s my girl!

YANG: We’re so proud of you, Ruby.

RUBY: Thanks, guys. You and your support mean the world to me. And I’m just as proud to call you guys family. All of you.

(Everyone looks at Ruby with warmed hearts.)

———————————————————————————-

Starring the voices of:

Lindsay Jones as Ruby Rose

Cristina Vee as Robyn Hill

Aaron Dismuke as Oscar Pine

Kara Eberle as Weiss Schnee

Katie Newville as Emerald Sustrai

Caiti Ward as Velvet Scarlatina

Barbara Dunkelman as Yang Xiao Long

Samantha Ireland as Nora Valkyrie

Neath Oum as Lie Ren

Burnie Burns as Taiyang Xiao Long

Jason Liebrecht as Qrow Branwen

Anna Hullum as Raven Branwen

Howard Wang as Whitley Schnee

Arryn Zech as Blake Belladonna

Miles Luna as Jaune Arc

Tara Platt as Kali Belladonna

Anairis Quiñones as Harriet Bree

Michael Jones as Sun Wukong

Dawn M. Bennett as Elm Ederne

Shannon McCormick as Professor Ozpin

Additional Voices (no individual lines, but can be heard chattering, sobbing, gasping, cheering, laughing, and exclaiming, “Ooh,” and “Aww”):

Sena Bryer as May Marigold

Ashley Burns as Coco Adel

Tiana Camacho as Glynda Goodwitch

Cam Clarke as Bartholomew Oobleck

Michele Everheart as Fiona Thyme

Dave Fennoy as Dr. Pietro Polendina

Gavin Free as Scarlet David

Caitlin Glass as Willow Schnee

Mick Lauer as Marrow Amin

Cherami Leigh as Ilia Amitola

Marissa Lenti as Joanna Greenleaf

Joe MacDonald as Yatsuhashi Daichi

Aaron Marquis as Nolan Porfirio

Elizabeth Maxwell as Winter Schnee

Max Mittelman as Fox Alistair

Josh Ornelas as Sage Ayana

Anthony Sardinha as Peter Port

Kerry Shawcross as Neptune Vasilias

Keith Silverstein as Professor Theodore

Melissa Sternenberg as Maria Calavera

J. Michael Tatum as Klein Sieben

Kent Williams as Ghira Belladonna

Anne Yatco as Xanthe Rumpole

[rwbyrg]

If it's alright, I'm just curious, do you have any thoughts of your own or theories about Oscar or Ruby or both of them in terms of v10? To add, do you have any theories for the merge and how it will end up for both Oscar and Ozpin? Like will it be a good or bad thing? Sorry if these questions seem vague lol

Of course it's alright to ask! I do have many thoughts and a handful of theories. I'll admit most of them are wishful thinking since there's truly no way to tell where the story will go until it actually happens. But if I were to distill it to the ones I'm most expecting and why, then I'd probably say:

Expansion on Ruby's solo arc that kicked off in V9

Acknowledging the setups (plural) between Ruby and Oscar's arcs

The merge-curse is eventually broken (blame the allusions)

I'll elaborate a bit below.

1. Expanding on Ruby's Arc

What we saw Ruby go through in V9 is very much not the end of that particular plot line, imo. We saw a bit of this in Justice League: Part 2 and the final ep of RWBY Beyond where she talks to Clark and Yang about her struggles a bit. Ruby needs to learn how to both ask for and accept help from those around her so the weight of everything she's carrying doesn't crush her. Especially now when they're down to the wire and she's come back as a resurrected martyr who's face has been used at the centre of the resistance movement she's now helping to lead. How will she live up to the expectations and pressures of that impossible pedestal when she's only a human girl with very normal knees who's barely keeping it together? Also, while I don't know exactly how they're going to address everything she experienced, and I struggle to imagine her speaking about Neo's Horror House to anyone directly... that sort of trauma doesn't just go away once it's over. So I would be very surprised if the effects of it didn't ripple throughout the remaining chapters of the show. Especially when every other member of RWBY has seemingly had the bulk of their main character arcs already. It's long overdue for Ruby to get that time in the spotlight. Which does sort of lead into my next point...

2. Acknowledging the Setups in Ruby and Oscar's Dynamic

For starters, we've got the merge and ascension parallels to address. Ruby and Oscar have always mirrored each other's issues around identity, choice, fear, responsibility, leadership, etc., and this buildup seems to be coming to a head following V9. From Oscar's "I'm just going to be another one of his lives, aren't I?" to Ruby's "What if you could be anyone?", and how the two of them will relate to each other in light of those contrasting - but similar - experiences. Especially with Ruby having just come back from the tree to find Oscar fighting against the merge harder than ever before. But we also have their attachments to each other to sort out as well. Ruby and Oscar have been watching each other's backs in different ways since V5, their reunion hug in V8 was interrupted where no other "pairing's" was, and they were the only "pairing" still to be split up between the Ever After and Remnant. Not to mention that, while they were separated, Ruby was pushed to a breaking point after being shown an illusion of losing Oscar, while Oscar was back in the real world eulogizing about how he lost Ruby. CRWBY doesn't setup relationship parallels and focuses as intensely and intentionally as this without pay off at some point.

Again, while the specifics are nearly impossible to predict, I'm expecting a bit of a Dojo Scene Reprise, heart-to-heart of sorts, and/or, something that puts those attachments to the test. My immediate thought is that this test will finally push Oscar to unlocking his semblance since getting shot, falling from Atlas, being kidnapped, and tortured were all not enough to make it happen. (Although my wishful thinking is that it unlocks in a happier moment, I think that's much less likely.)

If I were to engage in pure speculation on this, my easiest bet is that it will come at the hands of Tyrian. When our Little Prince was first introduced, it was almost as if he was waking from a nightmare of that villain laughing with glee at the opportunity to hunt down a certain rose. And with this being the Vacuo arc with Ruby and Oscar getting a lot of focus, and Tyrian already on the prowl within the kingdom, it would make a lot of sense. The little prince fated to have a confrontation with a venomous antagonist in the desert over his attachment to a rose is about as textbook as it gets. (I could also see it go to Cinder or being delayed until they follow through on the threat of Ruby being kidnapped by Salem, if that's the route they decide to take. But again we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.)

3. Oscar and the Merge

I'm not entirely sure where they're headed with this one between now and the resolution... but I do think the resolution itself will otherwise be a happy one, if not bittersweet. RWBY is a story about breaking cycles, and Oz has been part of one of the longest on Remnant since the very beginning. Pairing that with this show being, ultimately, a happy story, as well as a looking at two of Oscar and Oz's shared allusions, I can only imagine they will be separated by the end.

The first allusions to mention are from The Marvelous Land of Oz. Princess Ozma (aka Oscar) is the rightful heir to the kingdom and next in line to take over when it's time for the wizard to retire. It's very clear that - however this plays out - Oscar is the final incarnation. Typically, when one ruler leaves the throne that's it. They're gone. Oz has fiddled with Remnant's history for countless millennia now in his endless fight against Salem. When the dust settles and it's time for Remnant to rebuild, it should be up to the new generation to take charge without his influence from "the old world" in the mix.

From a Little Prince lens - for those unfamiliar with the book - the aviator (aka Oz) spends much of the story waffling about the little prince he is stranded with in the desert... only to be very sad when his new friend leaves him behind to go home to the stars. RWBY is already subverting this story a bit with Oscar being the one wanting to be rid of his pilot instead of the other way around. If I were to guess how the show will carry this further, it would be that Oz moves on, but perhaps with some lingering attachment on either (or both) sides. Maybe a bit of a "all this time I wanted it to end, but now that it's finally happening, I wish I (you) didn't have to go".

At least that's what seems to make sense to me, thematically speaking. Oscar will be irreversibly changed by these events even if he is freed from the curse, however. There is no question about it. Because that is what the Hero's Journey is all about.

The hero leaves their farm and they fall through a new world. It is both horrifying and exciting in equal measure. And throughout it all they are changed by the experiences they have and the people they meet - both good and bad, within their control and outside of it. And when the quest is finally over, there is grief. Because you are not the same person you were when you left home, and you can never truly return to what you had and who you were before it all happened.

This is also, coincidentally, just what it means to grow up. Which - while not the only one, and certainly not unique to Oscar's arc alone - has always been one of the loudest allegories hiding within the merge to me. We meet and know people, we don't always have a say in how long they can stay and how they change us... and then one day they are gone, but their influence and our memories of them stay with us. And then, as RWBY has taught us since the very beginning, we keep moving forward despite it all.

( @creatoriamari tagging you here just in case to make sure you get the notif because I don't know if it still works if I saved the ask as a draft. 🙇‍♀️)

[howlingday]

So who would rank as the best fighters in Rwby that don't have magic? So no Maidens,Salem,Brother Gods, the Tree or Opzin. Anyone else including the Curious Cat is a choice. (I'm saying the cat counts for this list because even though it's magic we at least have a clear understanding of how his powers work.)

The best fighters? Hoof... That's a tall order, especially since I'd have to look over all the candidates I can remember. But I'll narrow it down to TEN characters, in order to appease the [tumblr] gif limit.

General James Ironwood: Simply put, you don't become the headmaster of a huntsman academy by being weak or stupid, because this commanding officer is definitely neither... relatively speaking. Granted, one could argue against his battle tactics as a military general, but I think when compared to other huntsmen, there's not a lot of characters you can say that require an ambush by almost a dozen people to take down! So yeah, General Ironwood is definitely an intimidating character to start off with.

Ruby Rose: Yeah, I know, I know. Ruby's the main character, so of course she's gonna be on this list! But to be fair (to be fair), she's EARNED her place as a main character. The series starts off with her easily thrashing goons, followed by her heading off to Beacon Academy two years early for her skill against such an impressive foe. And she's only grown ever since. Given time, I can totally see Ruby being the hero who saves Remnant and looks good while doing it.

Neopolitan: Barring magic is one thing, but some characters never needed magic to be overpowered. One such character started off as a generic sidekick villain who bailed Torchwick out. Then she comes back later that same Volume to style and beat down on RWBY's heaviest hitter. Heck, Neo would've ended Yang if it wasn't for Raven showing up! And while Neo doesn't have magic, she does have an overpowered semblance that makes her a nuisance at first and a crisis by the end! Tell me, dear reader; what happens when you put a girl whose semblance called, "Overactive Imagination" inside of a FAIRY TALE?! I'll tell you what you get- YOU GET A NIGHTMARE.

Pyrrha Nikos: Ooh, boy, now this is where things get sad. Pyrrha was the best fighter in Volume 1-3 solely for the fact that she was the one fighter EVERYONE knew about. Pyrrha was getting wins BEFORE the series started and she started racking up wins afterwards against Grimm and other students, too. Sadly, this poor, young Achilles was not truly invincible, for her tender heart was what got her killed... And also an arrow to said tender heart.

Cinder Fall: And speaking of arrows to tender hearts, I should give credit where credit is due, and it's overdue for Cinder Fall. First up, let's look at Cinder WITHOUT her magic. Her semblance, Caress, increases the temperature of things she touches, burning and even melting them. Heck, she was even throwing fireballs BEFORE the Maiden powers were hers! Not to mention she was throwing down with Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon and definitely the oldest man on the planet! She managed to outwit and outpace a man with centuries of experience. She then went on to kill the best fighter of the roster at Beacon Academy and steal her powers, only becoming wounded by Ruby's silver eyes. And this was all BEFORE she became the Fall Maiden.

Tyrian Callows: I want to admit something. I have a certain bias both towards and against Tyrian. Towards him, he's one of my favorite villains simply for the sheer lengths he'll go to in order to please his goddess, regardless of who he has to kill and how many. Against him, while I will admit he has some of the best fights in the series, his best fight is also the worst in the entire series. Story-wise, that is, because for some reason the other two combatants got way stupider than they should have.

Qrow Branwen: And speaking of fighters getting dumber than they should, here comes one now! Qrow was our introduction to what a REAL huntsman was like. And he did not disappoint! ...At least, when he first showed up. When Team RWBY were struggling against Tyrian, Qrow came in and fought him to a standstill. If Ruby didn't put herself in danger trying to help, Qrow could have won the battle and even been a big help later. Then again, for as skilled as Qrow may be, he's also got some personal issues that make him more of a hinderance than a boon.

Blake Belladonna: Thinking on it, Blake might be the best fighter of Team RWBY, besides Ruby. She has probably the most versatile weapon of the group, neither limited by range nor function, and watching her fight is always entertaining because, well, she's an agile-build fighter who uses airborne attacks to both maintain distance and to build momentum for closing in with killing blows. While Weiss and Yang also have their uses as support and tank builds, Blake feels like the only other fighter who actually has experience fighting.

Jaune Arc: Big surprise, we have the big man himself, Jaune Arc on my list. To the surprise of no one. No, but seriously, Jaune is someone to be praised for his combat skill, especially since his story is about how he literally showed up with 0 skill. I've seen people meme him as "Dark Souls style" and I can't argue. Where everyone else is over the top with their combat, Jaune manages to stay relatively grounded by comparison. No jumping or magic; just pure human strength, and what strength he has! Though, I will say that his usual style is more akin to tank/wall tactics. He's strong enough to take hits from heavy hitters, protecting his allies from heavy, crippling blows, and his semblance keeps himself and others in the fight.

Now, who else do we talk about... Oh, right! Since you brought them up...

The Curious Cat: For this, let's explain how their power works. Simply put, the Curious Cat's power mostly resides in their ability to possess creatures in a weakened state. Ruby was the intended target of this possession, having been forced by the Cat to avoid ascension while becoming physically and emotionally weaker over time. In the end, however, Ruby did ascend, and the Cat was forced to change their plans to possess Neo, who had also recently become emotionally vulnerable. Tactically speaking, the Cat is dangerous simply for their ability to take over and use the powers of another which, as stated previously, is overpowered to MAXIMUM. Once Neo had outlived her use, the Cat then made themselves more powerful by changing their body into something more combative. Combative enough to push Team WBY and Jaune to their limits. It wasn't until Ruby, who found new purpose and strength within herself that she was able to overcome the "Furious Cat" with the aid of her team.

So... yeah.

[deadbeatbirdmom]

I think I've recovered enough from watching the episode to actually say something about it, or at least more than I managed right afterwards.

I loved it.

It's great to see chibi-ish!Ruby used for comedic effect again, for the first time since Volume 1 I think. First acting playfully mad with Yang, and then in her excitement at the boba.

On that note, it's great to see and hear Ruby excited again. It's impressive how high her voice can go without breaking, especially considering Ruby's VA's normal voice seems to be lower pitched than Yang's voice.

I'm not surprised Ruby's uncomfortable with the cult that has sprung up around her message to Remnant. She always wanted to be a normal girl, if one who became a huntress, which is a fairly normal thing in Remnant. Especially for someone born to a family of them.

It's good to see that refugees from Patch can set up their business in Vacuo, and even better that it lets Yang and Ruby carry on the tradition they had before Beacon. That it was something they did with Tai also ended up revealing why he isn't there with them: he's on assignment, according to Qrow. What is more important than being in Vacuo, where the majority of Remnant's population is gathered? And more important than being with his daughters, who he might have heard were presumed dead and miraculously reappeared.

I've seen the suggestion that Tai's guarding the Crown aka Relic of Choice, but I've also seen the great point that if that's the case and Salem finds him, there's not much he can do to stop her, no matter what his Semblance is. Although I guess Raven might feel that he's in danger and open a portal for him to escape through. It's not confirmed that's how her Semblance works, but it explains how she knew when Yang needed saving in Volume 2.

Anyway, back to Yang and Ruby! I love that Yang brought up what happened in the Ever After. That she's understands, or at least understands enough after what Yang herself has been through, and the important thing she gets across to Ruby is that she's not alone. That she's not going to carry the weight of leading them alone. Not anymore.

It's also important that they've figured out a code word to signal that Ruby needs help, because she doesn't always know how to reach out. I figure that they will tell Blake and Weiss about that, or it could confuse them:

Ruby: "Boba!"

Weiss: ...

Blake: :3 ???

Yang: Hugs Ruby. "I'm here for you."

Weiss: "Is. Is this another weird Xiao Long-Rose thing?"

What I particularly appreciate about it is that Yang acknowledged her mistake but didn't actually apologise for it, and Ruby didn't mind that. Because the important thing isn't saying sorry, it's changing things so that Ruby never feels that alone again. Actions speak louder than words.

It's also equally important that Ruby recognised she still has issues saying when she needs help. They're a team and they need to work together.

It just reinforces RWBY's message of hope, and to keep moving forward, and that no one is perfect but that they learn from their mistakes.

Asjhgsdkjghfdkshjkakjhdhlsj FEELS AUGH

Also that last line kinda hints that Ruby likes to go shopping with Yang, but they haven't got around to it. Shopping for new outfits, perhaps?

[novankenn]

Theoretical Concept

(A/N: I need a better title...)

Jaune to put it simply was pissed. He was more mad at himself than anyone in particular... even though what he had unloaded to Pyrrha about him not "earning" his spot at Beacon was slightly skewed, and somehow was now general knowledge among the entire student population of Beacon. He knew he shouldn't have let his frustration with his lack of progress out on Pyrrha.

So it didn't really surprise him that someone had somehow overheard. So stewing in his own juices he was alone in JNPR's dorm. Pyrrha having giving him a wide berth these last couple of days. Which hurt but he also understood. With a snort Jaune tried to calm his emotions while pulling a brief case out from under his bed.

Jaune had come to Beacon to learn. To broaden his knowledge in aspects he was completely in the dark about. While the Arc's had a storied history, and Jaune "used" that as justification for his attendance... he had really come to test himself physically. He popped the biometrically secured lock and opened the foam lined case. Inside sat a futuristic looking helmet, a thin body suit, a set of arm and shin guards, plus two... sticks, each about a foot long.

Jaune had not spent his youth training to be a huntsman. He had spent it buried in books, learning theory, and programing. Jaune was a prodigy when it came to Light Dust Applications... and before him in that simple metal briefcase was the end result of years of study, research and testing. All of it backed by his family's company, Industrial Light Applications or ILA.

Stripping down he proceeded to pull on the Kevlar and graphene body glove. It covered him from the soles of his feet to the base of his neck. Fixing the arm and shin guards on he muttered to himself and all his screw ups and mistakes. He had to figure out a way to explain everything properly... especially to Pyrrha. Taking out the two "sticks" he slid them both into a set of wide loops on his right thigh, before extracting the helmet from it's foam cradle.

/==/

It was no secret to Pyrrha that Weiss for all of her posturing, was more than a little smitten with the four time champion, and normally that would be driving Pyrrha batty... but after Jaune's admissions. After Jaune's explosion upon the roof, Pyrrha didn't want to be alone, and while Ren and Nora were trying to sort themselves out, she found that Weiss had latched on to her.

Though it wasn't completely bad... per se. Weiss was being considerate enough to not harangue Pyrrha with questions or mindless banter. She was just there, and as odd as it sounded Pyrrha was grateful for having someone close by. She was on her way back to the dorms, biting her lip as she waffled about how to open a discussion about what had happened on the roof with Jaune.

Of course with her limited exposure to unscripted social interactions, she was having a hard time coming up with... anything.

/==/

Weiss wanted to be happy. She wanted to rejoice in finally spending alone time with Pyrrha. Her idol, and crush. But she couldn't. Her time with the girls of RWBY had educated her to a point. There were times when her overbearing persona was useful... and other times when it was a detriment. This was one of those times. So she chose to reign it all in and just be present. If Pyrrha wanted to talk she was ready... if not... well Weiss was more than happy to just be around.

"What is Jaune doing?" Weiss asked in a half whisper as she stopped dead in the center of the hallway just to the side of the equally confused Pyrrha.

Before them was Jaune in the process of leaving JNPR's dorm, wearing a skin tight body suit... that left little to the imagination, and carrying a strange helmet.

"I don't... know." Pyrrha replied as they watched Jaune walk off. With heads overfilling with questions the pair of huntresses-to-be picked up the pace to follow Jaune... or as some of the student population was calling him "the Faker".

So they followed him without a word, and unknowing if Jaune was aware of them. They stopped just outside the main doors of Beacon perhaps a dozen or so feet behind Jaune. Who had turned his head to look at them over his shoulder.

"I'm... I need some time. I'll talk about it all when I get back... if that's okay with you?" Jaune spoke in his trademark soft voice.

"I'll be waiting." Pyrrha replied in an equally soft voice.

Pulling on the helmet, Jaune then yanked a black stick from its resting place against his right thigh. The pair of young ladies were a little more than stunned when Jaune then started to run while pulling the stick apart into halves, just as he jumped forward into the air.

Weiss' eyes grew wide in utter astonishment, as a hard light construct formed about Jaune... a complex hard light construct... that appeared to be some type of futuristic motor-cycle.

"That's... that's not possible..." Weiss muttered as Jaune tore off racing along Beacon's grounds. "That's not possible. It's only ever been a theory... an untested theorical concept."

"Weiss? Do you know something about that?"

"How does he have... it's not possible...."

"Weiss?"

[kanohirren]

rwby fans really are a different breed huh

imply the show could be improved in any way and they'll get on your case telling you that you're actually a hater if you don't just swallow whole the hot garbage mess that shawcross and luna pull out of their butts when writing a season because they didn't plan out the show from the start and just make it up as they go.

and to all the people who say "whaaat of course they planned it out from the start you just don't understand their vision" you're right about one thing, I don't understand their vision but I don't think they do either. In the Volume 3 Commentary video, it's said that Monty only came up with the Maidens after Volume 2. The Maidens that proceeded to become the driving plot point for the rest of the series to this day didn't exist in anyone's plans when writing the show at the start. Not satisfied? How about the fact that Neo wasn't written in until volume 2 because Monty decided that Torchwick needed a henchman. Neo had like ten minutes of screentime pre-volume 6 but became one of the most popular characters so they decided to make her a major antagonist, even the main antagonist of volume 9. That DEFINITELY wasn't planned before the show started.

I think the show could have been so much better if the plot was planned out from the start and honestly a reboot feels like the way to go to me. Too many times, the writers feel like they're not writing to actually tell a good story but instead they're writing to try and get a reaction out of people. Looking at you, bumblebee. Blake and Yang had one (1) interaction in Volume 2. In Volume 3, Blake runs away at the end as isn't reunited with team rwby until the end of volume 5... but somehow by volume 6 they've somehow become a thing? Literally just shawcross and luna seeing bumblebee being a popular ship in the fndm and going "here you go guys! enjoy!"

It seems like their goal when writing is just to make the audience do this meme

"Whoa, bumblebee! These two characters are canon now and they totally interacted beforehand!"

or alternatively, "Whoa, Neo/Penny is back!"

I could make an entire other post about all the lost potential they had with the plot points that had been set up. Penny the robot girl is killed in volume 3 but surprise she's back in volume 7! That's not an issue per se but imagine the juicy angst steak if Penny's memory had to be wiped or rebooted because they essentially made a new Penny (being a destroyed robot and all) and so she'd forgotted Ruby, her only friend and Ruby thinks she knows Penny but this Penny is essentially a different person. But nope, Penny remembers everything and is a superhero now or something.

Oh and don't even get me started on World of Remnant. If your show can't explain your own lore in a way that isn't making separate lore videos to try and make your world make sense, there's a problem there.

I think this post is long enough though so I'm just gonna leave it at this: I used to really enjoy the show but as it went on the bad writing became harder and harder to ignore and I think the show would greatly benefit from a reboot because nothing of great value would be lost if they never finished the current series. The show had some really good ingredients but the cooks tried too hard to make something unique and ended up with something "technically edible" but not really all that tasty (and fans will insist it was perfect how dare you say anything bad about it but oops there I go looping back round)

[kitkatopinions]

The RWBY writers: *Writes five seasons of Blake being stubborn, feisty, active, and passionate, standing up for herself, calling out Weiss when she's anti-faunus, speaking her mind, doing what she wants and only changing her mind if she's been given a good argument, being willing to call out others, trying to take a more realistic approach, has broken away from a toxic and controlling person she's stood up to repeatedly since then, yells "he's mine" while attacking someone she thinks is actively hurting her people, has opened up about her feelings repeatedly, doesn't back down from a challenge, acts openly exasperated when her friends or acquaintances are being stupid, is mature enough to recognize that even when her friend is reminding her of Adam that it doesn't mean that she is Adam and calmly explains her initial hesitance and explains what reassurance she needs before deciding to believe her friend anyway, saw her horrible ex trying to kill people and jumped into a fight with him while proclaiming she wouldn't run away, and then when her friend got hurt gave him this look

And only ran away when it was Yang's life on the line after tricking him and saving Yang despite having been suffering from a stab wound, etcetera, etcetera.

The RWBY writers: *Writes Weiss to say she'd been used to Blake being 'the quiet one' at the end of V5, implying that the writers want us to think that Blake's behavior in the early seasons had been muted and that now that she'd had a growth arc in V4 and V5 (badly done or not) that she would be more feisty, more outspoken, more self-assured, more passionate, and even more action driven than ever. Which would make sense considering that we saw her take Sun's words to heart concerning the personal growth she needed to do, and seemed to start moving in the direction of shedding her self-hate and blaming herself and start learning to accept love and care instead of pushing people away. And the writers also seemed to want us to believe that she was becoming more of a leader and V5 seemed to mark her finally fully moving on from what had happened with Adam.*

Also the RWBY writers: *Proceeds to write Blake to randomly turn into a meek wallflower who doesn't usually stand up for herself, needs frequent help in fights, gets insecure when she thinks people are unjustly mad at her, plays peacekeeper with her friends while trying to manage their angry moods with soft tones like a mother attempting to corral toddlers in the middle of temper tantrums, doesn't fight or argue when people make anti-faunus cracks at her or call her cat ignorantly or otherwise, flinches and grimaces when Yang gets angry, hides behind Yang when she feels threatened, doesn't really talk things through, is no longer active and is content to wait for her friends to tell her what they should do, the closest she's gotten to active has been in V9 where she was telling her friends about a story they all already knew, hasn't called out or even casually argued with her friends on anything iirc since V6, doesn't care to attend rallies against Jacques Schnee, is characterized like a sweet, caring, shy girl who needs reassurance when her romantic interest goes on a different mission than her, has no problem at all with Yang going red-eyed at the mere suggestion that they should ever take missions apart, acts like she thinks she's going to be hit all the time and wouldn't be able to do anything if she was hit.*

Some RWBY fans: "I am just so happy that Blake is healthy now and gets to be her true self now."

Like, Blake prior to the end of V5 was not "the quiet one" who was so so so super not confident and wasn't her true self. Her relationship with Yang didn't "fix" her and make her confident. The writers haven't actually shown her to be better and healthier and stronger and more sure of herself than before. If anything, they've given us the exact opposite.

How the hell am I meant to think Blake has gotten better when the writers specifically now write her to act this way ever since the beginning of V6? How am I meant to take their 'you used to be the quiet one' seriously when it isn't true? When the opposite is true and she becomes the quiet one in V6? It really just feels like they and a lot of their fans literally forgot who Blake was and replaced her with a whole new person and I'm sitting here like

How is she now "Not the quiet one" and before she was "the quiet one" when she was five times more outspoken and acted more confident and passionate and feisty before? I do not get it, I do not understand how I'm supposed to think she's more healthy now. I do not know how I'm supposed to think that she's done all her growing and is now much better when she actively seems worse off than she did in V freaking 1.

[clfixationstation]

ships that make me go absolutely insane

Ranked from most insane to least

EREMIN (AoT: Eren x Armin)

the entire time I'm watching them my brain is "they're just like me fr" they make me feel as if I'm tearing apart. Oh the shared dream, the ruin, the raw honesty cutting through layers of deception, the way they end - it's too much. I saw myself so much in their dynamic something about queer childhood friends to lovers. something about living in that in-between...also aspec Eren real. You have NO IDEA how much analysis I've written about them. The slow corruption of their shared dream, the way Armin knew Eren best, the way Eren looks at Armin :( "And in the corner of your eye / I saw a dream that never died" - Aurora

Catradora (SPoP: Catra x Adora)

First canon queer ship I watched <3 both healing and painful at the same time, it tapped into something deep I had forgotten long ago. The sort of relationship where you're really close but there's a gap you both feel and won't address for fear of your own feelings and about losing each other (both eremin & catradora) but then they're able to actually close it!! To see each other as they are! Do you understand how much hope that offers?! To be seen and be told your fate is not tragic? I have also written so much analysis about them. "You're the only friend I need / Sharing beds like little kids / And laughing 'til our ribs get tough / But that will never be enough" - Lorde

Cassunzel (TTS: Cass x Rapunzel)

*gasp* a ship that isn't queer childhood besties to lovers? But bro the YEARNING. Oh it hurts so bad. Also the aesthetic is simply divine. I'm ranking it here because it was very impactful for me some years ago, though I'm not into it enough right now to deliver a thorough explanation. Also I'm pretty sure Cass is a canon lesbian? Massive W. idk, something about shipping noncanon queer ships that gets me. "I'm sick of the sun / Can't trust anyone" - Poppy

Nuts n Dolts (RWBY: Penny x Ruby)

Idk they just cared for each other so tenderly and then Penny died twice and Ruby couldn't save her either time. Ow ow ow. THE doomed yuri. I love to hc both of them as aspec, & both are very neurodivergent-coded (because that is what I am). I'm drawn to the comfort, security, warmth, and the angst. There's also just something very bright in their relationship that draws me in, similarly to eremin. seeing each other in such a golden light while resenting themselves perhaps? the way they look at each other & hold each other so dear? "A chance to share the world / To be a girl who finally felt alive" - Friend, RWBY

Bumbleby (RWBY: Blake x Yang)

Holy shit the yearning! Blake abandoning Yang AND THEN COMING BACK AND STAYING. Protecting each other :') Healing together. It's just so sweet and powerful I can't help but adore it. I remember watching the first 2 seasons when I was little before I knew gay people existed, and shipping them even then. ngl I really want to go rewatch earlier seasons through a sapphic angst/yearning lens. "I made a vow, I'm not alone / Not dying now, we're protecting our own" - Nevermore, RWBY

[littlemisssquiggles]

Oscar's Undisclosed Birthday

So…m’good friend @jealouscartoonist just shared with me this new cameo from Miles talking about Oscar’s birthday and this squiggly Pinehead is just all smiles now.

Listening to Miles describe with such pure joy an ideal birthday for Oscar was the big kick of serotonin that I didn’t know I needed until I listened to the whole thing. Shoutout to whoever this Sarah person who sent in this cameo is. Thank you for doing the Pinehead community another solid.

This just makes me more salty that Oscar was NEVER EVER added to RWBY Chibi since Miles’ description of “Oscar’s Undisclosed Birthday” is just perfect for as a concept for another wholesome episode of the series that’s Oscar-worthy. Even calling the episode “Oscar’s Undisclosed Birthday” seems perfect as an appropriate title.

Miles made my night with this cameo. It’s everything I wanted for how Oscar would spent his special day (minus actually GIVING US HIS CANON birthday) and I love how Miles dropped more cute tidbits about Oscar as a character too.

Oscar’s favourite breakfast is waffles (and how his big sis Nora would actually make a big pile for him).

Apparently Oscar has trouble sleeping sometimes because of Oz being in his head so Ren gifting him a pair of headphones to drown out the voice of the old headmaster would be useful. Miles basically admitted that Oz is a chatterbox. Makes me think of that “Brain Before Sleep” meme only replace the brain with Oz XD  That’s the first thing that popped into my head. Thanks for that imagery Miles.

Oscar loves going to the movies especially Spruce Lee (LOL) films which he shares in common with Jaune and that’s how they bond.

Yang would take Oscar on a fun day at the amusement park where they’d ride all the rides that he’s now tall enough to ride (another LOL from me because they always gotta poke fun that my little prince is a short king)---that would be a thing Yang would do and I cannot picture Oscar turning that down since, in the words of Ruby, Oscar is braver than he thinks and we have seen moments of Oscar being more daring than he looks so he totally would not pass up an opportunity to ride all the rides especially if Yang is the one pushing him to do it.

So the “Girl Who Fell Through the World” is confirmed to be Oscar’s favourite childhood fairytale---and Blake getting him a second edition of it is cute being the book-worm that she is.

I also love the bit with Weiss panicking about not knowing what to get Oscar so she just gives him a lumpsome of money and Oscar being floored by it since he’s never had that amount of money in his life---that fits beautifully.

And of course, gotta love how Miles saved the best gift for last. Ruby gifting Oscar a new co-op videogame that they both end up spending the rest of his birthday playing til they both crash the morning after (Oscar first) is more than a perfect way to conclude Oscar’s birthday in my Rosegarden-shipping books.

*chef’s kiss*

Didn’t even realize that Oscar liked playing videogames. Didn’t know he had them back on the farm. This just makes me think back to his reaction to Ruby’s videogame comment back in V6. Puts the whole moment in a new context for me XD

All in all, Miles made me a happy Pinehead tonight.

~LMS (2023)

[bestworstcase]

anyways. enough spitballing

i was so right abt fun parent tai

YANG: Do you… wonder why he’s not here? With everybody else? I know Qrow said he’s on assignment, but what’s more important than here? RUBY: Maybe we don’t have the full picture. YANG: I don’t know. Some things you just need to be there for.

first. there are two possibilities: if qrow knows what this “assignment” is, he hasn’t filled in his nieces and the old guard backslid HARD after team rwby fell—the exclusion of ren and nora from the secret meeting in B1 also points in that direction, so it feels quite plausible; on the other hand, if raven knows where tai is and what he’s doing, it seems strange that ruby and yang would not also know, unless the girls haven’t asked her about summer at all (in which case i’d believe that they’re just not really on speaking terms).

like if raven had a conversation with ruby about summer, i can’t see her hiding ‘the full picture’ with regard to tai if she knew about it, even if qrow wanted her to. maiden of knowledge, begrudging oz his secrets, and all.

on the other hand. if the girls know everything qrow does, that would imply that tai’s “assignment” is either an ozpin secret (and oz hasn’t been keeping his promise to be honest, which feels incongruous with him actively fighting his curse now) or a taiyang secret, in which case i am one hundred percent sure it isn’t to do with the crown of choice.

“maybe we don’t have the full picture,” says ruby, thinking about what the blacksmith showed her and what the blacksmith said. that’s the big lesson she learned in the tree, not to jump to conclusions on incomplete information. so that narratively links tai’s mysterious “assignment” to summer’s mysterious “last mission,” which was a “summer secret.” if tai stayed behind in vale to deal with a taiyang secret that not even oz knows about… it’s summer. lol. it can only be summer. if it were the crown, oz would know because ozpin would have given him that assignment in the first place; if it were defending people hiding in mountain glenn, there’s no reason for it to be secret.

but if he knows summer is alive and well and with salem, and he’s trying to, i don’t know, turn her against salem (or ‘save’ her)… well. maybe we don’t have the full picture indeed.

second. oouuugh the weight of what yang doesn’t say. back in v4 she forced herself to put on the prosthetic before she was ready and white-knuckled her way back to functional so she could go find ruby because her dad said he hadn’t gone after ruby because he had “some stuff to look after” at home, and yang thought he meant her; that the only reason he wasn’t out there with ruby was because he had to be here with her.

so she removed herself from the situation—left to find ruby herself—and tai… stayed at home. it’s been months, now. atlas fell and everyone is regrouping in vacuo, trying to prepare for an attack they know will come sooner or later, except tai, who is “on assignment.” what’s more important than here? what’s more important than being here with both his daughters, at the end of the world? if qrow knows, what’s so important that he has to keep them in the dark? if qrow doesn’t know, then it can’t reasonably be to do with the relic at beacon—which is the only thing that could arguably be more important than joining the vacuo coalition.

“some things you just need to be there for,” says yang. my dad just kind of… shut down. and then dad was always busy with school and ruby couldn’t even talk yet; i had to pick up the pieces. i had to keep things together, alone. ruby starts to reminisce about coming to this place with tai when they were kids, and it’s a fond memory for yang too…but one undercut with all of this. the outings were fun—they slowly increased from once a month treats to twice-a-week because ruby got so excited—(ruby is over the moon when she sees the boba shop; yang spends half the walk there second-guessing herself and downplaying the surprise; both reactions speak to their experiences of these outings in childhood)—and why isn’t he here now? why is it, once again, yang trying to pick up the pieces alone while he’s busy with something else more important?—and this time it isn’t even that he’s going to work to put food on the table and make sure bills get paid, he’s just “on assignment” doing… something. that qrow either won’t tell or doesn’t know.

and that feeling is what incites her to talk to ruby about her own failings, and the first thing she says is i don’t need an explanation, because she doesn’t want to make ruby’s crisis about herself but also because she’s about to apologize for not being attentive enough or present enough or aware enough to Be There when ruby needed her.

which is not untrue (surprise! parentified children don’t make good parents for their two-years-younger siblings!) but also. back in v5 when she confronted raven, yang compared herself to raven (you’ll give me the relic and run because you’re afraid of salem; i’m afraid of salem too but i’ll be here waiting for her when she comes after me).

and that’s what yang is doing here with tai (he was physically there and provided for their needs and took them on fun outings sure, but he wasn’t there, when yang looks back on her childhood what she remembers is a sense of overwhelming responsibility and isolation because her dad wasn’t present, and now he’s not even here; she let ruby down in a similar way, being around without really seeing what ruby was going through, but she sees now how she failed and knows what she needs to do to make up for it and she will, she promises, she already is.)

[marcmarcmomarc]

If there’s one thing I don’t like about RWBY: Beyond, it was the choice to make it fully voice-acted. While I do absolutely love what we were given, it’s really obvious that CRWBY was working with whatever resources they had left, and were unable to get many of the show’s voice actors back before Rooster Teeth shut down, so they couldn’t make many stories for the miniseries.

So, what I think would have made for a good RWBY: Beyond episode is @pmpknsoup’s post featuring Ruby and Robyn that I’ve brought up too many times on this blog.

This will be the third time I touch on that post, but I can’t promise that it will be the last.

Feel free to comment or reblog how you think this would have gone.

———————————————————————————-

(In Theodore’s office in Shade Academy at early evening, Team RWBY and Jaune Arc face the main members of the Remnant Alliance, consisting of Team JNPR plus Oscar Pine/Ozpin and Emerald Sustrai, Team STRQ, the Ace-Ops, the Happy Huntresses, Winter Schnee, Team SSSNN, Team CFVY, Whitley Schnee, Willow Schnee, Klein Sieben, Maria Calavera, Dr. Pietro Polendina, Ghira Belladonna, Kali Belladonna, Ilia Amitola, Bartholomew Oobleck, Peter Port, Glynda Goodwitch, Theodore, Xanthe Rumpole, and Zwei.)

RUBY: Listen. Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

RUBY: It took a while to figure out how to tell you, and I know being left in the dark about our whereabouts over the remainder of the winter, the whole spring, and the summer has left you anxious, but now, I’ve decided it’s time to reveal what’s been going on. Robyn, I’ll need your Semblance to prove all of this correct.

ROBYN: Uh, okay.

(Robyn steps away from the group, removes her glove, and joins hands with Ruby. Her Semblance turns on and glows green with every piece of information Ruby gives.)

ROBYN: So, you guys didn’t make it out of the pocket dimension before it collapsed. Where did you guys fall to?

RUBY: Well, after I fell, I regained consciousness on a beach surrounded by giant seashells. I tried to hone in on a giant tree, but just ended up looping in circles. Eventually, I had to stop, then found a mouse trying to pull a plant out of the ground. I pulled the plant, which turned out to be a cheese plant, out for the mouse, and fed it to them. After the mouse revealed that they could talk, I named them Little, and they decided to stay by my side as I tried to get home. Then we found Weiss and Blake captured in vines by a whole village of talking mice. It didn’t take much convincing to get them to let them go. Then we went to look for Yang and found a creepy Grimm-looking creature moving jerkily. And I mean very creepy. (IMITATING JABBERWALKER) “Stalking. Searching. Waiting. Listening.” (NORMAL VOICE) Then Yang came barreling out, already fighting the creature while missing her arm. Then Blake realized we were in our favorite childhood fairy tale, The Girl Who Fell Through the World.

(Confusion and wonder all around. “That fairy tale?” “The Ever After?” “It’s real?”)

OSCAR: That fairy tale actually happened? And the Ever After is real?

RUBY: Which meant the creepy Grimm-like creature was the Jabberwalker from that story. Also, Weiss had a very hard time wrapping her head around the Ever After’s absurdities.

(Weiss blushes with embarrassment.)

WEISS: I did not.

RUBY: Our hands are glowing green, Weiss. Robyn’s Semblance never fails. Then we went to the village in the King’s Acre to barter with the Jinxy Peddler, who had stolen Yang’s arm. Well, they don’t “steal”, they just “take things others aren’t looking at”. Fair is fair, right, Little?

ROBYN: Sounds like a legitimate businessperson.

WEISS: Right?

EMERALD: Wait, you guys met the Jinxy Peddler?

VELVET: Was he cute?

WEISS: Cute? He was adorable!

RUBY: And, despite being older than he was in the book, his strategy was the same, selling treasures that are really other items in disguise. If my memory serves me right, he had a yellow scepter, a pink rabbit statue, and a marionette-like doll. Toy soldiers won the scepter, and we only got it back from them because Little tried stealing the marionette, exposing Jinxy’s treasures as fakes. The rabbit statue was another mouse, the scepter was Yang’s arm, and the marionette was one of Penny’s Floating Array swords. The soldiers followed us to arrest us for stealing Yang’s arm, or “royal property”, before I traded Penny’s sword, and told them she was the greatest warrior to ever live. “She was touched by magic, and she gave her life for thousands. She took a message of hope to the stars, and she saw the world through better eyes.”

(The gang gets emotional, especially Winter and Pietro, who are comforted by their loved ones.)

RUBY: The soldiers escorted us to the Crimson Castle for the birthday of who we thought was the Red King, but turned out to be the Red Prince, who was more of a spoiled brat than Weiss was at Beacon.

YANG: (nudging Weiss) Heh-heh.

RUBY: We challenged him to a game of chess, where he shrunk the girls to the size of chess pawns. Not that it hindered their performance against the Prince’s pawns. When we revealed that we’re humans and beat him, he threw a tantrum and wanted us beheaded, and the Curious Cat rescued us.

(More interested chatter. Nora Valkyrie gets giddy.)

NORA: The Curious Cat?!

REN: Were they as chatty as the book made them out to be?

RUBY: Mm-hm. Not to mention easily distracted. Anyway, they took us to look for ingredients for a Growgurt Parfait in the Garden’s Acre, and we told them our life story, but because we kept getting distracted with our internal conflicts, we kept losing them over and over again. After the third time, when they asked me how I’m supposed to save the world now that Salem has two out of four Relics and that Atlas is gone, we met an herbalist, a caterpillar named Herb who seemed to be asking us questions to figure out what medicine he needed to make to help us. Looking back, he was being reasonable, as too little medicine is useless, but too much medicine is toxic. Eventually, Herb just decided to smoke a hookah for a bit and drugged us with leaves that made us see our past selves tempting us to “go back”. To be free. To be simple. To be whole. To be different. The other girls rejected and had already accepted their failures as something to learn from, but I almost gave in, before the Cat stopped me, then got Herb swallowed by a hole in the ground.

(The gang chatters in moods ranging from confusion to nervousness.)

TAI: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. You guys did drugs?

QROW: Don’t let alcoholism be next, girls.

RUBY: Anyway, the Cat led us to a market to keep looking for the Parfait ingredients. Along the way, they told us about a process that occurs when an Afteran is no longer doing their assigned role, triggered by them losing their ways, wearing out, doubting themselves, or even just finishing their assigned tasks, upon which they are taken to the Great Tree and repurposed into someone or something else with a new identity, personality, and role. Their memories are erased in the process, but the heart very rarely forgets. They don’t die. They ascend.

(Such a concept catches the interest of the gang.)

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Ooh.

EMERALD: Talk about a potential existential crisis.

RUBY: Hence why there was no Red King when we got to the Castle. He lost his game and ascended into the brat we encountered. And the hole that swallowed Herb was him starting his own Ascension. Anyway, after we arrived at the market and got all of the Parfait ingredients, the market was attacked by Jabberwalkers using Neopolitan’s Semblance. Yeah, Neopolitan fell with us, too.

(Nora, Ren, Oscar, and Emerald grow worried.)

REN: Uh-oh.

TAI: Neopolitan? Who’s that?

RUBY: Remember Roman Torchwick, the criminal from Vale? Neo was his partner. She held me responsible for his death at the Fall of Beacon and wanted me dead to avenge him. She expressed herself through gestures and facial expressions because she couldn’t talk.

RAVEN: Was she that chick I saved Yang from on the train on Mountain Glenn?

RUBY: Yep. Then I disposed of her by opening her umbrella on an Atlas airship in the sky during the Fall of Beacon. Apparently she survived that fall without any of those Grimm surrounding us eating her.

OSCAR: Team JNPR and I last fought her right after Ironwood declared us fugitives.

RUBY: Then she fought us in the pocket dimension between here and Solitas. Heck, she was the reason Yang, Blake, and I fell. Anyway, we made the Growgurt Parfait and the girls grew back to normal size just as we got assistance from the Rusted Knight riding his white rabbit.

WHITLEY: Did Weiss go goo-goo eyes the second she laid eyes on him? She had a crush on him when she was younger.

BLAKE: I think everyone had a crush on the Rusted Knight at some point.

RUBY: Well, things didn’t help when he turned out to be a grown-up Jaune with longer hair and a beard, who grabbed a fruit that sent him back in time twenty years right after he landed.

(The gang gasps at the new knowledge of the Rusted Knight being not only Jaune, of all people, but Jaune thrown backwards in time, grown older, and living without his friends for so long.)

NORA: Oh, my Gods! Jaune!

JAUNE: I was stuck there isolated from other human contact, too.

YANG: Weiss certainly loved how mature he was.

RUBY: And the white rabbit was a jackalope Jaune named Juniper.

NORA: After his team? Aww!

RUBY: Then Jaune told us his perspective on the Tree, that he believed it was death, that Alyx backstabbed her brother Lewis, the author of the fairy tale, who wrote the story the way he wished it happened, and that the Cat couldn’t be trusted. Before long, we got caught in a “punderstorm”, which creates a physical manifestation of a mental or emotional problem. Jaune, Weiss, Juniper, and I were sent to metaphorical and literal crossroads, while Yang and Blake were sent to two broken, wooden, rickety bridges connected to a giant pillar that they could only make more planks to advance toward if they were honest about their feelings for each other. Yeah, Yang and Blake are girlfriends now.

(As Yang and Blake blush at each other, everyone’s hearts melt, all proud for the Bees.)

REMNANT ALLIANCE: Aww!

NORA: See, Ren? I told you there was more going on!

KALI: Our baby girl found love?

TAI: With my sunny little dragon?

RAVEN: Wow. She really is your daughter, Tai.

TAI: What’s that supposed to mean?

RAVEN: A tall, muscular, boisterous blonde who tells bad jokes pining after a brooding dark-haired beauty? A tale as old as time.

RUBY: Then the Cat bailed on us after mistaking us for selfishly using them to get home, and once the storm passed, Jaune let us spend the night in his house in the Origami Acre, then he introduced us the next morning to a village of paper stars called the Paper Pleasers. They seemed very dumb and clumsy at first, because of the daily disasters they were causing, but, at the end of the day, were very hospitable. He also named them after all of us. On Jaune’s to-do list, I saw Ren, Ruby, Oscar, Nora, Neptune, and Pyrrha.

(Not a word is spoken as everyone exchanges concerned and uncomfortable looks with each other.)

RUBY: Anyway, a Paper Pleaser told us they kept causing disasters because they wanted to ascend, because their purpose was long since finished, but Jaune was stopping them because of his belief that the tree was death. They told us that the Tree isn’t death, but resurrection, rebuilding, and rebirth. Then Neo’s Jabberwalkers attacked, and while we were distracted, the Paper Pleasers finally managed to off themselves by destroying the koi pond dam and drowning in the flood, then when the girls asked me to help comfort Jaune, I blew up at them for caring more about everyone else’s feelings or getting home, taking my mental health for granted and ignoring my problems…

(Everyone leans in anxiously. Things are getting even more interesting, but not in a good way.)

(Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune exchange looks of guilt.)

RUBY: …then I ran away, came across the Abandoned Acre, and entered a mansion, where Neo had made clone illusions of Roman Torchwick, Penny, Pyrrha, Professor Lionheart, Clover, Ozpin, and Ironwood, and used them to physically and psychologically abuse me, beating me up ruthlessly and blaming me for their deaths, and when the chaos was over, I felt no will to live or be myself anymore, not helped by Torchwick’s question: “Do you really think you can stand to watch more of your friends fall? Or are you ready to admit the truth, that the world would just be better off without you?”

(The gang regards Ruby with sorrow over her being trampled by her trauma. Ozpin can be heard sniffling.)

RUBY: Then Neo offered me tea made from leaves from the Tree intended to wipe me from existence. The Cat blasted her away, but then turned out to be evil and tried to possess me, while revealing that they had been trying to wear me down the whole time, then Neo fought them off and stomped Little to death, then I finally gave in, drank the tea, offing myself, and got swallowed by the Tree.

YANG: (tearing up) Oh, Rubes.

RUBY: Then I met a Blacksmith, who I also found at the market, or, rather, she found me, and then she presented me with a choice to either change my identity or be myself. I saw my mom’s weapon and was treated to a vision of the night she left with Raven on another one of Ozpin’s secret missions and never came back.

(Tai turns accusingly at Raven.)

TAI: Raven?

YANG: She lied? She left with you?

RAVEN: Yeah… Hey, like I said to her, “First time for everything.”

(The gang gives her a look.)

RAVEN: Really? Sheesh. Tough crowd.

HARE: (to Ruby) Wait. What did you say your mother’s name was again?

RUBY: Summer.

HARE: (muttering) So, her uncle is Qrow, her father is Taiyang, and her sister’s mother is Raven. All are members of Team STRQ. Summer, Summer, Summer… (out loud) Summer Rose, the leader of Team STRQ, was your mother?

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Summer?…Summer Rose?…The previous silver-eyed Huntress?…That’s Summer Rose’s daughter?

RUBY: Yeah. And then, I finally remembered my mom’s words, “I love you just the way you are,” chose to be myself, and came back to help the girls fight the Cat. And we won.

(Cheers and applause all around.)

RUBY: And then Neo killed the Cat by using the Jabberwalkers to eat them. By the way, Jabberwalkers are the only creatures to prevent Ascension if they eat Afterans.

BLAKE: On my count, there were a whopping five of them.

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Five?…Five of them?…Five Jabberwalkers?

SUN: Talk about overkill.

ELM: (after doing the multiplication math in her head) That’s gotta be over ninety teeth!

RUBY: And, according to the girls, Neo was possessed by the Cat, and she chose to accept Torchwick’s death and undergo her own Ascension. Oh, and Little ascended, too, into who we called Somewhat, and succeeded Jaune as the protector of the Ever After. By then, we had made it to the Tree by coming to terms with the truth, we’ll never be perfect, that even the most skilled Huntsmen and Huntresses have failed, and we walked through the door back home, landed inside the plane of the Tree, and met the Blacksmith again at her workshop. When we noticed two statues of the Brother Gods, she told us their backstory. That the Ever After was overfilled with plants and dangerous wildlife in its primordial years, but the Brothers were created to clear it out. Then they created the Afterans as well as the different acres for them to live in. They designed new creations that would replace them in maintaining the Ever After. This was how the Cat was created. They later created the Jabberwalker as a form of destruction. However, the two disagreed on whether it disrupted the balance or not and began to wage war.

OSCAR AND OZPIN: (both scoff) What else is new?

RUBY: The Blacksmith told us how balance isn’t supposed to be two opposing forces locked in battle; balance is an ecosystem, an organism, and a living thing, thus balance isn’t restored with force or manipulation, it’s restored naturally, requiring love and patience to see it through to the end. The Gods got to Remnant because the Ever After created a door to a “greater beyond” for them, so they can leave and experiment in creating new worlds as much as they like.

NORA: (snickering) So the Tree basically said, “You think you have life sorted out? Then get out of my house”?

RUBY: Pretty much.

(Everyone laughs at the Brother Gods basically being “kicked out of the house” by their “mom”. Some Gods they are.)

YANG: Oh, my Gods, that’s such a hilarious way of looking at it. Thanks, Nora.

RUBY: Anyway, the Blacksmith told us that we impacted the Ever After significantly, just like Somewhat, Alyx, and Lewis, and that the Cat caused a bad impact. Then she de-aged Jaune, but let him keep his memories, which explains the white streak in his hair, and made us a portal in the desert on the outskirts of the city, and now you’re all caught up.

(Ruby lets go of Robyn’s hand. The freedom fighter rejoins the rest of the Alliance.)

RUBY: So, I’m happy to announce that I’m not giving up the fight to save the world anytime soon. No longer will we be putting the entire burden of the world’s safety on one individual, for we are Team Remnant, led by us, Team RWBY!

REMNANT ALLIANCE: (walla) Yes!…Great!…Alright!…Thank goodness!…Welcome back, Ruby!…Good to have you back, kid!…Way to go, Ruby!…That’s my girl!

YANG: We’re so proud of you, Ruby.

RUBY: Thanks, guys. You and your support mean the world to me. And I’m just as proud to call you guys family. All of you.

(Everyone looks at Ruby with warmed hearts.)

———————————————————————————-

Starring the voices of:

Lindsay Jones as Ruby Rose

Cristina Vee as Robyn Hill

Aaron Dismuke as Oscar Pine

Kara Eberle as Weiss Schnee

Katie Newville as Emerald Sustrai

Caiti Ward as Velvet Scarlatina

Barbara Dunkelman as Yang Xiao Long

Samantha Ireland as Nora Valkyrie

Neath Oum as Lie Ren

Burnie Burns as Taiyang Xiao Long

Jason Liebrecht as Qrow Branwen

Anna Hullum as Raven Branwen

Howard Wang as Whitley Schnee

Arryn Zech as Blake Belladonna

Miles Luna as Jaune Arc

Tara Platt as Kali Belladonna

Anairis Quiñones as Harriet Bree

Michael Jones as Sun Wukong

Dawn M. Bennett as Elm Ederne

Shannon McCormick as Professor Ozpin

Additional Voices:

Sena Bryer as May Marigold

Ashley Burns as Coco Adel

Tiana Camacho as Glynda Goodwitch

Cam Clarke as Bartholomew Oobleck

Michele Everheart as Fiona Thyme

Dave Fennoy as Dr. Pietro Polendina

Gavin Free as Scarlet David

Caitlin Glass as Willow Schnee

Mick Lauer as Marrow Amin

Cherami Leigh as Ilia Amitola

Marissa Lenti as Joanna Greenleaf

Joe MacDonald as Yatsuhashi Daichi

Aaron Marquis as Nolan Porfirio

Elizabeth Maxwell as Winter Schnee

Max Mittelman as Fox Alistair

Josh Ornelas as Sage Ayana

Anthony Sardinha as Peter Port

Kerry Shawcross as Neptune Vasilias

Keith Silverstein as Professor Theodore

Melissa Sternenberg as Maria Calavera

J. Michael Tatum as Klein Sieben

Kent Williams as Ghira Belladonna

Anne Yatco as Xanthe Rumpole

“One Day More” section here.

Moodboard index here.

[zaph-kiel]

Keep in mind this request idea is long detailed I hope that’s ok aslo let me know if u have any questions about this idea dm me I happy to help as I can

Kinda based of rwby vol 8-9 between those seasons of rwby .May I request crossover fic Dan heng x Reader where reader is from remnant is huntress has abilities like Weiss and Ruby semblance mix together and her sliver eyes ablities like Ruby using weapon like scythe similar to Ruby crescent rose maybe she fighting during Altas end vol 8 but ends up in different universe and not familar with so she has adapt but she gets in trouble with express crew thinking the Reader is stellaron Hunter spy but find out she not associated with the bad guys and at first when they met reader very wary of her sinve reader is closed off due to have trauma of her losing loved ones and reader just wants to go home until she Mets Dan heng who she grows close bond with

But Dan heng notices reader is struggling and tries to connect to her get close but she pushes them away maybe she training battle she shows of her skills using glyphs and petal burst and weapons and maybe some creatures grim from her world Salem come to express and they don’t know how to handle and maybe reader has flashbacks and so using eyes abilities she saves others and the crew is shocked but mostly Dan heng of how powerful the Reader is maybe she just breaks down holding all guilt since she effect their universe put everyone danger and wants to leave but maybe Dan heng comfort her reassurance giving the love she needed just fluff ending romance if this makes sense if unable to do this request idea due to complex of it I understand agin dm if u have any questions have good day

I Need You

Dan heng x RWBY!reader

Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, isekai?

A/n: I hope you don't mind that I changed some things up, I haven't gotten past Jarilo VI yet. Also, gonna make Stelle and 7th date in this bc yes. Sorry for the amount of shit that's ooc. Hope you enjoy :]

Readers semblance is called snowfall. They turn themself into snow in the same way Ruby turns herself into a cloud of rose petals, can also add more people to it. But they can also make frozen platforms and such the same way Weiss uses her glyphs. They can't use the snow to change/affect anyone though, like time dilation, nor can they mix any dust in with it(aside from ice to make it more affective). They can't summon in the same way Weiss can either, just small inanimate objects like shards of ice.

_______________

"RUBY!" Y/n yelled out as they used their semblance to pull Neo away from their friend, and towards themself. They used their sickle and tried to cut her, but it was just another of Neo's illusions. They looked back at Ruby as the illusion shattered like glass and they saw her trying to push Neo off of herself. "GODDAMMIT! NEOPOLITAN!" They yelled out in a rage, using their semblance to burst forward and landed on her back, hooking their two sickles over the closed parasol to lock it under Neo's chin and leaned back, pulling Neo off of their friend.

Neopolitan wasn't able to keep her balance up, with them on her back and choking her with her own weapon, so she fell backwards and landed near the edge of the platform that was surrounded by nothingness. It made Y/n lose their grip on the girl and fall off completely. But not before taking Hush, Neo's weapon, down with them. Hopefully, they had helped their friends, even if just a little..

-

Cold. That was all they felt. The chill of winter. Were they in the Tundra of Solitas?.. how did they get there.. what were they doing..? Everything was fuzzy after the broadcast was sent..

Even with their closed eyelids, everything was so bright. They could still feel their two sickles in their hands, something was connecting the two."I need to get out.. before my aura depletes completely.." They thought and tried to stand, letting go of a sickle to cover their eyes from the harsh brightness. Finally they opened their eyes to look down and saw they sickles still connected to Hush. "Oh.. right.. me and Ruby were fighting Neo.. Ruby! Where- wait.."

"Where am I..?" They asked aloud as they looked around. It definitely felt like Solitas, but something was different.. it wasn't as cold as the tundra should have been.. and where is Atlas? It should be right infront of them in ruins. They looked up to the sky, still shading their eyes and saw the moon. It was whole.

A loud yell was heard from behind them. Their eyes still hadn't adjusted to the brightness. Maybe they should have taken Coco's advice a year back and invested in some sunglasses. Oh well, no use in thinking about that now. They turned around to look back and saw a blonde man in armor. That definitely wasn't Atlesian armor. Just where the fuck were they? And where was Yang. She has to have been here aswell. I mean she fell down before they did! The man started to speak. No, more like interrogate them, but they couldn't understand a single word.

"What's going on? And where am I? I was supposed to help with the evacuation from Atlas!" Y/n started to explain, but the man just seemed to grow more confused. He spoke up again, this time in a softer tone, but it just sounded like jibberish to Y/n. He was speaking another language, that's for sure, but it wasn't one of the four from the kingdoms. Was this some native language from people who lived out here?.. But that should be impossible, Solitas is almost completely uninhabitable. Then again, they've seen the proof that this wasnt Remnant. Just who was this man?

Y/n tried once again to speak, this time in Mistralian, "Hello..? Do you know where I am..?" While it hadn't been that long since they last spoke it, it still felt weird. But atleast it got results. The man seemed to understand what they were saying. "My name is Y/n.. I don't know where I am or how I got here.. could you help me..?"

The man nodded before clearing his throat. "Yes. Here, come with me back to the city. We will get everything sorted after. It is.. dangerous out here." He spoke, choppy and not quite all there. Almost like it was a new language he was still learning.

He just stood there expectantly, waiting for them to move. And so they did. But not before picking up the sickle they had dropped and placing the two back in their designated sheaths. Then followed the blonde man.

-

Y/n had been living in Belabog long enough to have learnt the native language. They had learnt about the fragmentum and the monsters it brought. And while they were an upgrade of the typical grimm they had fought back on Remnant, the fragmentum beasts weren't necessarily hard to defeat. The man who had rescued them had taught Y/n all about this world and its language was called Gepard. He had also taught them about the Fragmentum beasts.

But they were getting tired of living here. They missed the others, and they still weren't able to locate Yang. Did she just.. not make it..? Or was she in a different universe entirely? Did the others make it to Vacuo? Was Penny safe? Was Ruby able to beat Neo? They kept wondering things like this, it sucked. To be fair, maybe they died and passed on to a different realm, but still. It worried Y/n that they didn't know anything about their old friends, or if they were even still alive anymore. They hadn't told Gepard anything about their past, claiming to have amnesia. He seemed to buy it, since they clearly didn't know anything about this world.

-

"It's the suspect and his accomplices! Arrest them!" One of the Silvermane guards had yelled out as a suspicious looking man fled the scene, leaving three others behind to fight. Y/N was currently with Gemard on patrol when they had heard all the commotion. They weren't necessarily working for the Silvermane guards, but they did like to help every now and again.

"Hey! Where do you think you're-!" The girl in.. a summer dress? Yelled out to the man, but he had already fled. And just like that, the guards started attacking.

"Should we step in?" Y/n asked, but Gepard just shook his head.

"Not yet." He said.

And so they waited, but the guards were getting their asses handed to them. "Gepard.." Y/n warned. He said nothing. It was only until the girl in the dress was shooting a frozen arrow did he move. Walking over and blocking her attack completely. The girl gasped and took a step back. Was that something she's never seen before?

"I, Gepard Landau, Captain of the silvermane guards, order you to relinquish your futile resistance." He said, but they didn't let up. Instead, the girl spat out a threat.

"GRR!! That Sampo cheated us! Oh just wait till I get my hands on him!" She yelled and her grip on her bow tightened as she thrashed it.

"Suspect! Relinquish your resistance!" One of the guards piped up. It seemed to make her more angry.

"Ugh! So I'm a criminal now?! Forget about Sampo, wait till I get my hands on YOU!" She yelled and fired an arrow at the guard. The fight went pretty much how they had expected it to go. Gepard defeated the group.

"And what of the prime suspect? The one with blue hair." He asked another guard, who answered in apology as he explained how the suspicious guy had managed to get away. But Gepard shrugged off the apology and focused on the three infront of him. "Atleast we have his accomplices. He'll be close by, plotting his next move." But the three explained how they weren't connected to the weird guy at all. And even showed a picture of the planet. Jarilo VI.. it was kind of beautiful from afar..

"Gepard, may I speak with them..?" Y/n spoke up, standing next to the tall blonde. He simply nodded and turned to talk with his guards. "So.. you're all from other planets?" They asked, tilting their head. And two of the three nodded. The tall guy just seemed to stay quiet, like he wasn't actually a part of the conversation, he looked like Ren. "Can I ask you all something.. because I'm guessing you've traveled to other planets aswell.. have you come across one named Remnant..?" They asked, they knew they shouldn't be hopeful but it just seeped into their voice. Sadly the girl shook her head.

"Sadly, I can't say I've been to a planet named that. Can you describe what it looks like..? Do you have any photos of it, or maybe a map of some sorts?" She spoke, she genuinely wanted to help. It made them feel a little hopeful again. She seemed a lot like Nora, it made Y/n want to chuckle.

"Yeah, here." Y/n pulled out their scroll so show her a photo of Remnants map. Hoping that she had atleast seen it. But she only shook her head.

"I'm sorry.. I can't say I've ever seen it. What about you, Dan Heng? Have you ever seen a planet like this?" She asked the tall man, but he shook his head aswell. Y/n seemed sad at the response, but remembered the shattered moon.

"Here! Have you seen this moon anywhere??" They held up a picture of the shattered moon. By the brothers.. they missed it. The two shook their heads again. "Is she new..?" Y/n asked and pointed at the third person.

"Yeah! This is Stelle! Our newest addition!" The shorter girl clung to Stelle. "Oh! Hey, do you think that if we explain the situation to Himeko, that we can bring them along and help them find their home?" She asked.. Dan Heng, was his name? But he sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know." The two reminded them of Ren and Nora. It made them sad to think about, they still didn't know if anyone was okay or not.

-

Y/n hadn't expected this to happen, but they kind of just tagged along with the three other-worlders. Much to Gepard's dismay. It was fun. Like back in Atlas when they were wanted criminals. Well.. maybe fun wasn't the right word to use. But it was entertaining and helped Y/n keep their mind occupied for a little while. Then, when they arrived in the underworld, helping the Happy hun- no, these were Wildfire, not the happy huntresses.

They couldn't help but mix the two up. The leader, who they had later found out was Natasha and not Oleg, was like a secret love child of Robyn, May and Winter.

During this entire time, Y/n found out that the short girl was called March 7th (they just liked to call her 7th) and that she and Stelle were dating. Which, Stelle kind of reminded them of Blake and Pyrrha. They also found that Dan Heng was often left alone or third wheeling, so Y/n liked to join him when out on patrol. Often going out on walks, nothing was said between the two, they just liked being in eachothers presence.

It had been hard for Y/n to open up about anything with these three. But they were the only ones who truly understood what they needed. That's why they liked spending time with Dan Heng. They never felt like they needed to speak.

-

They sucked in a breath, standing on the platform they created. This was bad. Really bad. Svarog wasn't going to listen to the four of them, and Stelle wasn't helping. They needed to get Dan Heng and the others out of here. Bursting into snowfall, they tried to merge with them, but only managed to reach Dan Heng before svarog shot a waring at the two, flinging Y/n away from the others while Dan Heng landed behind the two women.

-

After the fight, 7th walked up to Y/n with sparkling eyes "You can turn yourself into snow?!" She seemed so excited. Too excited. They blushed from embarrassment as 7th was practically pushed up against them.

"W-well..-"

"March. Leave them be." Dan Heng said and pulled the girl off of Y/n. Which in return made them smile and nod a thanks in return. "Although, I am quite curious aswell.." Y/n let out a sigh before nodding.

"It's called a semblance.. everyone on my world has one." They said plainly, not wanting to get into more detail. "Mine is Snowfall."

-

Over time, Y/n opened up a bit more. And bit by bit, started to laugh and have fun. They still preferred to be around Dan Heng, he was like Blake and Ren. Comfortable. It made them more willing to open up.

"So.. how do people get their semblances?" He asked, sitting on the ground next to them, leaning against a wall.

"Well first, a good step is to unlock your aura- err, soul. It's different for everyone. Mine came to me one day while I was training with a friend.. he attacked and I forgot to activate my aura- soul's force field. His blade went straight into my stomach and I suddenly found myself flung into a wall, blade still lodged in my side." They chuckled at the memory, hand over where their friend had left a permanent scar.

-

"And who is this?" Himeko asked, clearly on edge around Y/n. Having never seen this person before, she suspected them to be someone from either Jarilo VI or worse case scenario, a Stellaron Hunter. Even Pom-pom was hiding from them. The same way the little bunny hid from a Stellaron Hunter.

"This is Y/n, they're trying to find a way back to their homeworld. A planet named Remnant." 7th explained, much to Himeko's disapproval.

Himeko turned to Dan Heng and asked if he was sure they could be trusted, "I don’t see why they wouldn't be.. I mean they helped with everything on Jarilo VI. Along with Stelle." He stated. Himeko still felt skeptical but alas, this wasn't her decision to make, it was Pom-pom's.

"I say they can stay.. for the time being, but you all better keep an eye on them!" Pom-pom said seriously. Himeko sighed and smiled at Y/n.

"I.. apologize for that" She said, but they shook their head.

"No, it's good to be skeptical. I don't blame you for it." After all, they had been skeptical of anyone within the Atlas military when they first arrived at Atlas. And even though they didn't like being observed, they understood the caution.

-

Over time, everyone warmed up to Y/n. Even Pom-pom liked them. They always brought some kind of gift back for the little conductor. Himeko, while she had no more suspicions on them, she felt uneasy around them. There was something about their calmness. Why was someone so young, so good with combat? An 18 year old who has combat experience on the same level as a war veteran. It wasn't something she wanted to think about. She heard someone's voice from the next room over and decided to evesdrop in on the conversation.

"So.. you're telling me that in your world, kids are trained from the age of 13 in combat?" Dan Heng asked Y/n, and they nodded their head

"Yeah! See, we have these creatures named grim, they're like Fragmentum beasts but much more mindless. And they're attracted to negative emotions, so in order to protect the cities, we train the next generationof huntsmen and huntresses." They said proudly, though there was clearly something off with how they stated it. Dan Heng wasn't going to ask about it though, he felt that if he did, they would distance themself. That's not something he wanted. He had grown to enjoy their company quite a lot, so the thought of accidentally ruining that by bringing up something they weren't ready to talk about yet felt...

"I see." He smiled at Y/n. "Is that why you're such a good fighter? Would you mind training with me from time to time?" He asked, tilting his head a bit. The smile and nod he received as an answer made him smile in return, though, only a little.

-

The black fog that spewed out all over the floor of the cart brought everyone to high alert. Pom-pom stuck to Welt's side, clearly terrified of the unknown substance. It wasn't until Y/n walked into the train cart that the black ooze started forming in the middle of the room. Dripping from the ceiling down to the floor, creating a small puddle.

"Hm, and here I was, looking for.. someone else." a familiar voice rang out and Y/n instinctively got into battle stance, panic rising. "Now, now.." she spoke out again, rising from the puddle with a.. another hound?! "Do you really think you could take me on? Don't you remember what happened to poor little Summer Rose?" She smirked directly at the huntsman, "and you remember my hound, don't you? How it bested you?~"

Instead of fighting like they should, Y/n dropped their weapons, taking a few steps back, tripping and falling over themself with a scream. Salem just looked irritated. Although, the hound didn't budge one bit.

"Hm~? And here I was, about to inform you about all that has happened. How team RWBY died." She smirked to herself, "go." She said before puffing into a black smoke and the hound sprang into action, leaping at Y/n.

Too frozen in fear, Y/n could only watch as the hound pounced at them.

Then something knocked it away to the side. A spear. "Are you okay?" A voice asked. Who was it..? They couldn't register anyone or anything aside from the hound. Which just stood up like it was nothing.

"Kill.." It said. It's voice more feminine than the last. It's body contorted as it turned towards Y/n. "Kill.. silver eyes.." It said again, walking towards them.

"Y/N! SNAP OUT OF IT!" yelled a woman, loud enough to shock the young huntsman out of their fear. Himeko. Then they noticed an arrow sticking out of its back. Multiple. They were 7th's.

"Someone! Help me blast its face off!" They yelled and got up, grabbing their sickles. Immediately, Himeko shot at the hounds face. Under it was a young woman. Far to familiar for comfort. It looked almost like..

...

...

A blinding white light filled the room as the grim disappeared into dust. Only human bones remained. No.. this was a faunus. She had a tail. Their breath was choppy.

"What... who.. what was that..?" Pom-pom asked, still hiding behind Welt. "Y/n..? Y/N?!" was the last thing they heard from the conductor before collapsing.

-

Their eyes fluttered open, looking around the room. Dan Heng was asleep next to their bed. The conductor was also there, though it looked more like they had just walked in. "H-hello, Pom-pom.." their voice was hoarse, but it still made the little bunny look up with glee.

"Oh! You're awake!" Pom-pom exclaimed, placing the tray with tea that the huntsman only now seemed to notice. "I was hoping that you would wake, so I made some tea. Perfect timing, really." The little conductor smiled at Y/n. "Oh, could you wake Dan Heng? He's been worried sick, hasn't left your side since the incident. He can join us for tea!"

"No need.." Dan Heng's head raised from his position, his eyes just barely opened. "To wake me up I mean." He added, realizing that they might have thought he meant the tea part. "I'll gladly join you both for tea."

Pom-pom made one cup for each of them, handing it out to Dan Heng and Y/n. This was so calming, but Y/n didn't really remember anything, so wasn't sure why they were in the medical cart. Lifting their cup to their mouth, they asked hesitantly "... so what happened..? Before I passed out." It made the other two nervous, they didn't even know. All Dan Heng knew was that there was a grim and some grim woman.

"I.." he started, before pausing to collect his thoughts better. "You seemed to recognize the woman. And there was a grim, or I think it was atleast." It seemed like with what he said made the memories of that night flood back to them.

".. ruby.." They gasped, but remembered that it was a faunus, and not the powerful girl they were close friends with. A headache came on quickly, making the huntsman grip their head with agony. "Ngg..."

"Y/n?" Dan Heng reached his hand out to them, placing it over their forehead. Concern filled him as he felt how they were burning up. Though, his hand was considerably cold making the huntsman sigh with relief. "You're burning up.." he muttered.

Pom-pom handed him a glass of water, "it's for them. Cold. Hopefully it will help. I'll leave some pain killers here. I need to get back to work." The little conductor motioned to the bedside table that had a small box of meds. Dan Heng took the glass, thanking Pom-pom. The conductor nodded and left.

"Drink. You'll feel better." Dan Heng's voice rang out as Y/n felt the rim of the cold glass press against their lips. Helping them drink the water, he asked "need something for the pain?" And they nodded.

A while after he gave them a pain killer and they finished the water, they fell back asleep. He decided to put an ice pack on their head before falling asleep in the chair he was on.

-

"Finally well enough to be up and about?" Himeko asked, and Y/n nodded. It was a relief seeing the young huntsman moving around. Especially since Dan Heng seemed to be so worried about them.

"I wanted to ask.. is there a possibility that we would be able to find my home land soon..?" They didn't mean for it to sound the way it did. But the way it came out made them seem desperate to leave the crew.

Himeko definitely picked up on that, and she wasn't going to lie, it made her feel kind of sad. "Any particular reason? I get wanting to go home, but.."

"I've seen similar events happen.. I.. I just don't want to be the reason you all die.. especially not like that.." the memories had been flooding their mind ever since they woke up after Salem's attack. It had been almost a year since the platforms to Vacuo plan so they've had time to process and move on from that experience. It had been a few months since they last thought about Remnant in that way. But now that they knew Salem could reach them.. Y/n was terrified, and the nightmares had come back to haunt them.

"We deal with stellarons on a daily basis. I think we'll be fine." Stelle had randomly popped up to say her sass of the day. And while it did make Y/n smile, they still couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened on Remnant because of them and team RWBY.

"Yeah, I suppose.. but Salem.. nevermind. I just want to go home." They looked at their feet, feeling ashamed that they had wanted to leave this amazing group of people. The refused to look up, even when a hand was placed on their shoulder.

"If something like that happens again.. we- we have no idea how to stop it. We would have been dead if it wasn't for you. Please stay. We need you... I need you."

It was Dan Heng's voice. He had whispered that last part, but they could still hear it. Did he- a blush crept onto their face and finally, they looked up at him.

"You make me happy. Comfortable. Don't get me wrong, I feel happy and comfortable with everyone else here, but it's never awkward with you. I've grown to realize that I need you. Please, stay. I love you."

It was probably the most they had ever heard him say in one go. And, even with his monotone voice, they still heard the emotions he put into it.

"Did you.. have you been practicing that line?" Y/n couldn't help but smile, their blush growing. And so did his.

Feeling bashful, he looked away before answering with a small "Yes.."

"I love you too"

[howlingday]

Have you ever feel that Jaune got to much focus? I mean he's called a main charater (for better or worse) in a show called RWBY. About Team RWBY. It's just looking at both sides as much as I like Jaune maybe their was or still is to much focus on him.

Hardly.

Tell me something. Did Sasuke get too much focus in a show called Naruto? Did Knuckles get too much attention in the show Sonic X? What about Harry Potter? One Punch Man? Hey Arnold?

The Jaune "getting too much focus because the show is called RWBY" is the saddest, weakest excuse ever uttered. Jaune is a main character, along with Ren and Nora, who, need I remind you all, got plenty of love and attention despite not being "Team RWBY"?

Now, does the FNDM give him too much attention? My second favorite tag on this hiellsite is "jaune arc," AFTER "rwby," agrees with this statement, and to be honest, I don't think that's a problem with the show's writing as much as it is with the audience's reception of him.

There being "too much focus" on Jaune is only in comparison to the weaker writing for the "main characters" because the show puts more effort into the action and the plot than into the development of the core cast of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang.

Ruby has silver eyes and is supposed to be the hero who saves the world, but it wasn't until Volume 9 that she really got a solid win for her character.

Weiss comes back home in Volume 7 and her biggest character moment is when she's stopping her father's escape. Then... nothing.

Blake and Yang are by far the worst because their characters are now wholly reliant on each other. And before that, Yang's character was reliant on Ruby while Blake's character relied on the White Fang plot, which ended in Volume 5, and Adam, who died in Volume 6.

But what about Jaune's character? Well, let's see; Jaune was the loser everyman character who acted as the foil to the prodigal child of destiny that was Ruby Rose. His partner, Pyrrha "Invincible Girl" Nikos, takes him under her wing and trains him as her mentor. She then dies, leaving him to train and grow on his own despite his team being there, whereas Ruby loses her entire team and gets their help to accomplish reaching Mistral.

...Typing this out, yeah, I would say Jaune got more thought and effort put into his story and character development, but I don't think it's "too much". If anything, I'd say the issue is RWBY didn't get enough. All we got for them were flashy moves and kicks and bruises, but it's all shallow, surface-level development. Looking back, I see RWBY as the same people as they were at Beacon, while Jaune has completely changed since his initial appearance.

And again, that's not Jaune getting too much attention. It's just RWBY never really grew up right.