2

Partial Maiden Tenno

The city is burning, not just Beacon. Other kingdoms are probably on fire too, but not nearly as bad as Vale. Everyone was watching the Vytal Festival over the CCTS when it went down.

Not with the White Fang air dropping Grimm into the city.

I land at Ozma's loose circle, wind playing across my- Oh shit, I'm practically naked. I think he spotted the exact moment I realised. Play it up. Stupid half dazed dream logic. "Sup. How's the crisis?"

"Miss Ten-" I wave him away.

"None of that, I don't call you Mr. Headmaster." I look up. Hmm. "Would a bullhead help?"

"Ah. Yes, that would be of use. One moment." Grimm get slammed as he works his cane.

Eww, that's a bad way of thinking about it. Just help, kill Grimm. Stones float under my will and accelerate into them, a dozen different targets. Magic is very intuitive.

I don't like. Magic is a crutch, but for making some clothes... Metal, heat and warp, let's make me some crude armor. And a visor, my face should be secret, as much as we can. It will also allow me to conserve Aura, which is must be local Huntsmen even use it. Some of them anyway.

Atlesian Knights, hostile red visors. Metal and full of Dust. Even human shaped. Well, I do need armor and some Dust wouldn't go amiss. Wait, can I even use Dust? I toss the half twisted metal at a Grimm and move in for the kill. Rip and tear, until my clothing is done.

Amber's combat skills pay off, instinct and stolen training allowing me to breeze across the jagged stones and Dust accelerated rounds. Aura takes hits, level at 32%. Not good, that explosion, the thunder-wave, hurt me bad. Rip and tear. Duck, turn, feel my steps guide themselves. Don't try to interfere or even think about it, I don't have the real skills to do any off this.

What was that story?

'How do you control so many legs, asked the Frog to the Centipede. I don't know, said the Centipede. And the Centipede never moved again.'

Incoming shots, another Knight, no. A White Fang member. Throw a rock at him, her. See how it knocks the mask loose and stare at her. Well, my state of undress is disarming, stunning. Too bad the majority of people to fight (duck the claw) are Grimm and Knights, who don't care about the bloodstained chest wrap and plain white panties I'm wearing.

Generate another staff and stab it, stupid Grimm trying to distract me. I'm not going to be able to make anything in this mess. Time to head back.

A slick of ice over the ground and a couple of jets of fire push me into a slide, and I'm back where I started at the line. "Sorry, got sidetracked. Know anyone who can fly a bullhead?"

"I can, Miss!" A civilian, Faunus but unmasked so I'll trust her.

"Got a scroll linked to the local network?" She nods as I step into her personal space. "Then hold on." I lift a slab of rock under her we fly upwards.

Force applied to the underside and around the edges to hold the slab together, she grabs me and I focus my Aura onto my feet to grip it as we rise. I can do that? No, don't think about it. There's a bullhead, and it's turning so the side so it's passengers can shoot at us. Uhg.

Lightning them. Done. We collide with it and open the pilot's door. "Get out or die." I command.

He reaches for his pistol. I grab it with magic earth movement and pull it into my hand before shooting him twice in the head.

His Aura breaks and I now have control over his body, so out the side it goes. I consider shooting him, killing him, but the civilian will freak out. "Get in, take control, setup your scroll. And take this." I push the gun over. "Safety is-"

"I know how to use a gun." Okay, good. Wait, how do I know how to use a gun. Videogames go only so far, and I've never held a handgun before. Oh, dream logic (I'm not dreaming) that's how.

"Good." I jump out, fly a bit, and then land. "Anyone else know how to fly?"

"Goddamm crazy naked huntress." Someone mutters as he stands up. "Aye, I can fly."

Then let's do it again.

One by one I co-opt the bullheads, 5 of them before Ozma calls me over. "Sup Canelord, what's the op?"

James is here and I swear, if he wasn't dishing out some Due Process, he would be facepalming. Instead he speaks. "The Knights are controlled by the remaining Atlesian Airship, if we can bring that down, we can shut them all down."

I nod. "Kill the metal dragon, got it." No. "Better idea, I need a tech specialist to guide me to the transceiver, once it's down the drones and take back control. We can use the firepower."

He nods and Ozma rounds up a strike team for us, excluding James who protests. "It's my ship, Oz."

His fault, his command, his people. We do need people on the ground, especially skilled Huntsmen like him, but...

"He will have authorisation codes, Headmaster." I add. "It might be hacked, but the backup systems will require-"

"Yes, yes." Ozma relents. Four Huntsmen join up with James and I, one or two giving me an appreciative look. Ha, Nice body Am-

She's dead. I'm wearing a dead girls bo-

Not now. Stay dazed, stay disconnected. It's just a dream.

A bullhead comes down and I take flight by fire again as they load up on it. The other 4 will be doing civilian rescue. "I'll fly escort, leave enemy aircraft to me."

No more hijacking, time to kill. Nods and affirmations, someone tries to give me a scroll. I shove it the only place I can, in my chest wrapping. Then we are off.

I embrace the unreality of the situation, flying under my own power, mind turning to my well worn videogame mindset. Fire and ice sprays out and cuts down lesser Grimm while the greater are hit by weapons fire from the bullhead's occupants. It's just a game. Let go of the distinction, spend that Mana.

"Bullhead coming up on our right, Tenno!" One of the huntsmen shouts over comms. Right, that that side.

"Starboard then." I speaks to myself and dart over the bullhead, spotting the target. That one has a mounted gun. Generate and throw a stone wall or four to catch the bullets as I move in for the kill.

Enclosed space, use a short weapon. Say, a Skana. The science-fantasy katana of crystal forms and glows under my magical power as I pull the blade from my imagination. Lightning flashes out of my right palm as I slash with my left, no mercy to feel for the foe. I land in the open side as they fall, either out of the side or onto the floor dead. Pilot's door gets ripped open and a confiscated pistol flashes five times as I murder the pilot. Grab the controls, find a group of Grimm and nudge it to fall on them. Oh, a Paladin, even better.

Eject, blade and gun in hand, as the ship falls onto the subverted robot. I hope there wasn't a pilot in there, watching the- Damm you Watts. There would be pilots trapped in them, watching as their mechanical bodies tear into the people they want to protect.

Link back up with the bullhead and spot another incoming hostile White Fang aircraft. No, not going to waste time with that nonsense.

I land on top our bullhead and focus, dropping my weapons as I call up lighting. Hands come up and I pour magic and Science into the act. Focus, tear the electrons from the nuclei, move the nuclei and anchor the more massive orbs on the hostile bullhead.

Now let it go.

Thunder rocks our bullhead a notch, but the White Fang's explodes. "Holy shit, Nudie!" A Huntsmen in our bullhead yells.

I would make another witty comment, but a rather large Griffon has taken notice of us. Or me. Doesn't matter. Galatine! The massive greatsword forms in my hand, memories of a videogame becoming reality, the edge broken glass sharp and massive mass giving it the power I need.

Amber doesn't know how to use this, but I'm not going to use it as a sword. I leap, more by thrust than by pushing off the bullhead.

Someone yells over the comms as I spin mid-air, momentum building. A vertical spinning blade.

The blade and myself become a blur as we become a disk of destruction, Aura guiding my action. Now, Release! The weapon with it's great mass accelerated forward without me, adjust the path with earth magic and guide it into- Hit.

The heavy greatsword passed through it's armor and digs so deep the guard against the bone plate is what stops it. The Griffon falters mid air, mid flight. And dies. Excellent.

It falls, black smoke pouring off it. We are coming up to the airship. "Designate an LZ, I'll get to clearing it."

"Upper deck, near the access door under the bridge." James relays back. I thrust forward and begin clearing Grimm. I wonder where Ruby is.

Doesn't matter. Kill. Ice and stone shards fly opening up Grimm's critical organs. Or would, if they had them. They die all the same. The larger ones get science enhanced lightning. It's white when I do science, yellow when not. Why?

The Landing Zone isn't clear when they land, but it's clear enough. James and the other 4 hop out, weapons up and firing at the mass of Grimm around us as we move inside. Feathers and spit, acid spit, fly towards us only to be caught by sheets of ice as I turn from attack and play defensively for our squad.

The door is open, Roman and Neo, no doubt, and we enter. James works the controls to close the door behind us while I kneel down and grab a side arm from the dead Atlesian officer. A clean cut across the throat. Neo.

Skana comes to my left hand, gun in my right. The Tenno Way of Blade and Gun. Not Amber's way though, unfortunately we are in enclosed spaces here. James takes command. "You two, with me. We are heading to the bridge to take back control. You three, head down and then right to the main comms station."

"Yessir!" I start moving with two huntsmen starting at my ass. Probably.

Running down the hallways, checking every corner for survivors and hostiles. Main corner, turn right. One of my companions are jogging along side me, giving directions. Maybe checking maps they must have transferred while on the bullhead? I don't see his scroll out.

Knights, Grimm that got in, and a few White Fang opportunists, we encounter them all. We kill them all. Or I do, the Huntsmen behind me are hesitating. Clean Huntsmen then, not corrupt.

The soldiers are all dead, executed or died fighting. Bastards. "Bastards." One of my companions verbalises my thought.

"Stay focused, or we join them and they died for nothing." I recite empty military doctrine from some game, running more on delusion than training. No, can't think like that. Have a breakdown later.

"We have taken the bridge, the virus has infested every inch of the command system, we can't shut down the drones from here." Damm. "We do have other systems controls."

"Understood." I look to my map companion, huh, no map. They might be using a Semblance. That would be better. "We are close to the primary communications relay, can you overload the secondary relays from there? Redirect the power to fry them?"

"Working on it." James' voice comes from between my tits. Because there is of course multiple communications systems. The main system is designed to take the full power of the ship to run at max broadcast range, but the backup/emergency stations? No.

The lights flicker as something explodes. "One of four down." Four. Four again, myth gag, arc number?

Think like that, like we are in fiction. Not that my flesh-

"Whoa, you okay Nudie?" My mapless companion catches me as I stumble. Not my flesh. Not my skin. No- No, stay on mission. Complete the run and then go over my status later.

"Fine, just got distracted." I shake off the thought as we come to the door. It's locked. From the inside.

Or overridden by Watts' for the explicit reason to prevent us doing what we are about to do. No matter. "Override the door?" I ask.

My map companion rips open the smoking control panel. "Can't. The internals have been fried from the inside. Someone deliberately cooked them. Shoved a Dust crystal in here."

Fine. "Stand back and defend me, I'm going to cut it."

"Sure thing babe." Mapless jabs. I snort, but it helps distract me from my funk. Navman, Mapless and Tenno. We should start a band.

Science again. Magic creates four collections of matter, rip the electrons off and create a one way circuit. A square loop. Two on each side, magic converting into twin beam of lightning so close it seems as if it's a single rod of lightning passing though the door. I begin to cut.

And freeze. What happens to a metal that is heated before cooled rapidly? It becomes brittle. I cut and freeze, cut and freeze, very poor smithing but very good for what I am doing. Regular applications of force crack and shatter along the seam of the door lock as I cut a circle around the central lock.

Knights behind us are firing, but I can't think about that, even as I take stray hits. Stay focused. Huh, I'm the NPC that needs defending in this game. My lightning arc falters and I force myself to refocus.

Keep cutting. Keep shattering.

Come one, melt faster. I'm already pouring all my magic into the lightning, the most efficient used of energy I can think of.

"Got it!" I punch the center of the lock and feel it shatters, before ripping the door open with my magic and body strength, overwhelming the military grade rollers holding it in place.

The door yields as we move in. Shit, blood, piss and bodies. Someone here was messy, trying to prevent... Survivor. I move over to him and kneel. "Breath. Everything is going to be okay."

"can't turn it off" He gurgles, dying. He was trying to do what we are here- Save him first.

"Res." I again, now realise he's really dy- NO, a Dream. I pour my magic and stolen Sem- Magic and Semblance into his injuries, my need to make him live. Kindness and empathy, sorrow and healing. Speak the word. "Res." Aura at 12%.

He gasps, lungs suddenly clear. He was slowly drowning in his own blood as his lungs filled. No more.

Now, where is the main... Ask. "Soldier, what do I need to break."

He points. "Main computer system, behind that door. Locked, we couldn't get in." Another locked door? This room is just a messaging station. Multiple redundant locks and rooms for internal defence of critical systems. Military design, expected to be boarded.

"Get up." I pass my pistol into his hand. "We are not done." I look back and think.

Every second spent cutting another door is another hundred lives lost. But I don't need to cut it, do I? "Soldier, where is the main power conduit?"

"Inside the walls?" Never mind. I rip panelling off the walls until- "That, that one there." Yes, thank you. "But there are over a dozen, this place is hardened against attack."

Yeah, if I was going to run around the communication block and sever each line to cut off the power, that would take longer than just cutting open the door. But I'm not going to do that. I slice open the Dust conduit with my Skana and grab the feral lightning with Magic and Science. Lightning Dust instead of copper? They don't actually understand how electricity works, do they?

Doesn't matter. Grab and direct at the lock. I don't make a precise cut/freeze, I melt the core of door as I spray lightning into the room behind it, into the sensitive computers inside.

Something explodes as I channel part of a flying battleship's main power directly into the computer systems. There is electronic hardening against EMP and electrical attacks, but what I'm doing is ridiculous.

I stand there for over 4 seconds pumping lightning into the computer totally frying every system and every system they are connected to. Reductant systems burn moments after the primary ones and I only stop when my scroll chirps. "Good work, the drones are shutting down." Thanks James, but we aren't done. I am still alive.

Need to turn off this junction, the ship will need every drop we can get for the counter attack. Fuses. I short the conduit and the ship flashes again before the line goes dead. There we go.

What next? Tide will be turning, but I can make it turn even faster. "General, what is our current position?"

"We are taking position over the safe zone and assisting in their defences, freeing up Huntsmen on the ground." Good. "Oz says he needs you down there, Tenno."

"Understood Sir, but I have an idea first. Does this ship have an external loudspeaker system, and can I use it?" Time to demoralise the enemy.

"I'm linking your scroll to the system, everyone else radio silence." Neat, and a security risk. The kind that got us in this mess to begin with. Well, them I'm jus- "You're live."

I pull out my titty computer (heh) and prepare my words carefully. Isolate, attack, divide, philosophy, pull from what I know and how they would react.

Speak. "If Remnin are going to treat Faunus as monsters, we should take up the masks of them. How has that made you any better than them, made anything better? Look around you, and ask yourself: 'Is this the world I want to live in? One of smoke and death, constant fear and adrenaline? How does this help the people next to me? How does this save lives when all I do is take them? How am I any different than the Grimm?'"

I pause, let that sink in, before continuing. "You are given a choice, here and now. To be Members of the White Fang, to uphold the tenants you swore to, to protect those who cannot protect themselves. To further the righteous cause of equality, even at great sacrifice. Or... To be members of the Red Fang, whose dragon lays smoke on the wind, whose subversion of Atlas refused and whose element of surprise lost."

Another pause, and finally the choice. "You all have a simple choice. Cast off your mask and turn on the Grimm, or be cut down as one. Remnant Unbroken!"

I stop and wait for James to turn off the broadcast. Not my best work, but I am losing control of the barrier between me and my delusional state. The shock is wearing off, the smell of blood is hitting me in ways I didn't think was possible. I sway.

Someone catches me. I was falling? No, get up. Keep fighting. Just a videogame mission, play an all nighter. James speaks. "It's working. Not perfectly, but it's working."

"Sir, she is going into shock." Shock? No, need to keep playing.

"Understood. Get her groundside with the others." James Ironwood isn't real. Oh, I'm in RWBY, Beacon is falling.

I jerk upright. Yang. Need to save Yang's arm. "I'm here."

"How much Aura do you have left?" Someone, the Navman, asks.

"9%" I answer, knowing instinctively how much that is. Where is my HUD? Oh, they think I can't fight. "I maintain combat effectiveness." My power is not drawn from Aura, though they probably think it's a Semblance.

The world comes back into focus and I move, following the path we walked to head back to the bridge. No not the bridge, the deck. "Whoa Nudie, where do you think you're going?"

"Down. People need healing." Yang needs healing. Her arm was severed.

"No, your not. Not with 9% Aura." Navman states as if it's absolute fact, his hand lands on my shoulder to slow me down.

I shrug him off. "General." The soldier starts. What is with the concern.

"Let her go." Thank you James. "But stay with her. Do not let her die, understand."

"Yessir." Looks like we're friends, Soldier. Welcome to the band.

"Beacon. That's where we'll go." I state. "Anyone know how to fly a bullhead, or am I going solo?"

"I can." Good. Who said that? "General, any bullheads left in the bays?"

"Several. Sending locations now." Good. Thank you James. Ozma will have to defend the ground without me, I have a mission.

Beacon. It's fictional, just a neat player made map for Warframe. (Warframe doesn't have player made maps, I'm not dreaming.) Just think of it like that. Conclave, yeah, the Conclave. I don't play Conclave, maybe there are maps there I haven't played. Or a new update, one that is an event themed about RWBY.

Just-Don't think about it too much.

Just get in, find Yang and her arm, reattach. We are landing, the fight has cleaned up. Scan for familiar regions, this is a fanmap, the scenes will be built exactly like... There.

I move, Skana flashing as my body slows down. I'm getting tired. There are only a few Grimm, but they are drawn to me as I pull aggro. Ice spikes rise out of the ground and impale them. Lightning flashes and roasts fast fliers while more wide area flames wipe out swarms of smaller Grimm.

Inside the ruined wall. She's not here. Her arm is though, and I pick that up with my free hand. "Um, what?" Mapless stares.

Where is she? Courtyard, landing pad? It could be anywhere. I don't remember. "Navman, can your Semblance find the owner?"

"Um, maybe." He holds it, and focus. I toss a few stone shards out at an Ursa to distract it while his friend cuts it's head off. "Got it, this way."

Easy enough. We move, Navman giving direction as I take lead again. Ice fire lightning and stone flares and flickers as I fight, occasional bullets getting deflected by my Skana before the shooter gets gun downed by my squad.

There she is, with Blake, in canon pose. I grab the arm and rush up to her. Last act before I pass out, I think.

"I might not be awake for much longer." I drop my Skana and focus, Yang looking up at me with a dead gaze. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

Place the arm, line up the muscles, see how they are contracted on both ends? Need to pull them taunt. Aura broken, focus and she screams as I pour myself into healing her. Ignore her pain, do the work. Save Yang. Line up, a little more, flush of bacteria using local medkit antiseptic pulled with magic. She's screaming more now, and Blake is getting up to fight me, verbally.

Ignore. No time. Need to-There, aligned.

"Res." I intone, pouring the last of my emotions, the last of my Aura and the last of my mind into the single act of healing. Forcing the cut to regrow, to seal and become whole.

As the world goes black, I know I did it.

Mmm, my bed is warm. Soft even. A bit too soft, now that I think about it, but maybe I'm just sleepy. Numb from all the fighting.

Fighting? I don't fight, unless you count videogames. I don't even play games anymore, not really. Down to about two or three hours a week. Took up writing and reading instead, dabbled in programming and...

Game design, just a bit. Maybe that's what I mean. I turn over and look for the cold side of the pillow. Ah, there it is. Could use some water though, though that would mean getting up. My mug is on the other side of my desk.

Eyes half open and the world slowly comes into focus. Very slowly, but even blurry I can see it's white. Too white. My room is dark. Or am I looking at the wall? The wall was white, right?

Turn over again. No, nothing. Still white. I reach for my phone, hand fumbling through the air. Where is it? Wait, where is my desk? It's up high, I use my computer desk as my bedside table. Where is the corner, that where I hang my headphones? Not there, not there.

Okay, now I'm starting to panic, just a little bit. Calm down, just breath.

Open my eyes fully, ow, and look, ow still ow, around. Bright and white. White bed with white sheets, white walls and roof, a TV above looking down at me. No wait, I'm looking up at it, TV's don't look at people, not yet anyway.

A pair of chairs sit next to my bed, facing away from me with their backs to the wall. No visitors at my bedside, which is expected. Why is that expected? A hospital. Oh, that's where I am.

Wait, what? I'm suddenly upright and looking around, my body feeling strange. Distorted. Look down.

Since when did I get so tan? No, not tan. A couple of levels darker skin, light olive I think is the term. Light olive skin that is moving as I move it. My skin. Not my skin.

My head hurts. This isn't my body. This isn't my room. This isn't my world.

My world? What? Did I fall asleep reading and dream... Not a dream. My head is killing me as I try to remember what happened. I know what happened, just-

"Ah, your awake Miss Tenno." I look up at the woman who- Fox ears. Cute, but also moving. "I'll inform the headmaster."

Headmaster. Fox ears. Body.

RWBY. Fall of Beacon. Dragon slayer. Oh shit.

This wasn't a dream (I knew that) I'm awake.

Did I really run around Vale naked? I'm a fucking idiot. (Almost Naked) Yes, obviously, because a chest wrap and pair of panties are clearly acceptable clothing. Nudie, that's what he was calling me. Not bad looking either, though I suppose all Huntsmen and Huntresses look good with how much they work out.

Mmm, muscles, just lightly toned.

Wait, now is not the time for horni. Idiot. Stupid body and emotions. Did I inherit them off Amb-

She's dead. I felt her die, more than saw, I felt her soul dissolve as she gave up. As I took over. I let Cinder get away. I couldn't save her.

I said everything was going to be alright. I promised. 'Thank you.'

She thanked me as she died. Thanked me. So much pain.

She's dead. I've never seen anyone die before.

I've killed people too now. Not video game character, people. Why don't I feel bad about that, but do for Amber?

How disconnected am I? How psychopathic, or whatever the medical term is, am I? A lack of empathy.

But I do have empathy. I cared about Yang, about Amber, about the solider I healed. That's how Res works, it requires care.

In the dream it does. I'm not dreaming here.

Stop. Just. Stop. Breathe, keep my breathing to a steady pace and calm down. That's in, in and out. Just a panic attack, we can deal with that. Air in, feel and focus on how it feels running across your skin- No, don't think about that, feel it. Feel the invisible air.

'It's not invisible' I tell myself. There we go.

'It just allowed certain wavelengths of light through, the same wavelengths that the human eye uses.' See, now we are thinking via science, simple easy science.

'If you were to use a different wavelength, it would seem as solid as stone while stone would be as clear as glass.' And?

'And... That's why radio stops working over certain distances at certain frequencies. That's why the WiFi signal doesn't go on forever. The air is only half transparent, the WiFi is a flashing light. Walls are transparent at those frequencies too, which is another reason that frequency is picked.' Why don't we use very high frequencies?

'Because radiation. No, not quite radiation, yes radiation. Electromagnetic radiation like ultraviolet light or higher. UV could be used, but it is blocked by walls and metals. Going higher gives better penetration for a lot of substances, but using something like Gamma rays will cause cancer as the ray penetrates the body and disrupts the DNA of the organism.' Why is cancer bad?

'I'm talking to myself in my head to calm myself down.' Don't think like that, why is cancer bad?

'It's working. I'm feeling a lot less stressed, more calm. I think I can stop now and... fine, one more. Cancer is damaged cells follow broken instructions. Most are harmless or get picked up by the immune system and destroyed, but some are not. Some follow the self replication coding endlessly while also having their self termination coding destroyed, resulting in an uncontrolled growth that takes over and damages the body. Cancer is the body turning on itself, cells either not doing their job or being in places where they shouldn't, along with the rogue self replication and failure to self terminate. That drains resources from the body as well.'

From air to cancer, okay, I'm feeling better. Not perfect, I'm still lost and... Just let it go for now. Concentrate on what I can. 'Ten seconds observation can save your life.'

Hospital bed in the center of the room, the main feature of the room. Not a row of beds like I was expecting for some reason. Ah, I was expected more people to be hurt, the attack... Not now. White walls, well cream, with a few inoffensive posters of landscapes. A vase of flowers, plastic probably, sits on a table under the TV mounted above it, angled slightly to face downwards.

To my left are two chairs, backs to the wall and facing outwards to the far wall. The far wall that has the door, also on the left side. My right has a table, far shorter than I am used to. Then again, I am used to a raised computer desk serving as my bedside table, this is level with the bed. A glass of water sits there, but I'm not that thirsty.

In the right corner is some equipment, medical I assume though I don't recognise it beyond the heart monitor. I don't have electrodes on me, so it is somehow monitoring me wirelessly? Right, RWBY, technology is all Dust based. Who knows how it works.

The roof is a bland cream colour as well, but I knew that. Down, the floor is a plastic or linoleum cream. I didn't need to know that, but I'm just trying to be complete with my assessment. As well as anything to distract me from my...

Nothing else, I shouldn't distract myself.

I pull my arms up and look at them. Amber's arms. Light olive skin that isn't mine, puppeted around by me. She is dead. She gave me everything, not just magic like Cinder... Breathe, just breathe and continue.

Not just the magic like Cinder wanted, but her burdens, her pains, her dying body. 'Thank you.'

Suicide. She gave up and killed herself. I stopped her body from dying, but she was broken, dead even, long before that. How long was she in that white place? Sensory depravation will drive even the hardest of minds mad, it's called 'white torture' for a reason. It breaks people. How long was she in there? How long was she alone with nothing but her own mind?

That white place, it wasn't a place. It's one of conceptual space, empty and infinite. I've seen it before, that's where Penny and Winter met, when Penny died.

I'm in RWBY. Remnant. It's not a-

Calm. Breathe. Run the analysis. 'Right. Science.'

White place, designate it a soulscape, is a non-place, a collective delusion, that forms when two or more souls meet. (I hope, Amber should not have been alone there.) Working theory is that Penny and Winter, as Penny died, met there while Penny's soul was being carried along by the magic to Winter. Yet why didn't Penny, or any other Maiden, hop into the body like Ozma does? Why did Amber have to die so I could 'be born'?

Limitations. What limitations, what stupid rules does it follow?

Oz always wakes up in a little boy. Soul size maybe? Capacity? If there is some limit on how much 'soul' a body can handle, then the laws about Maiden power transference and Ozma's reincarnation would mean it's only possible below a certain age or 'soul size/complexity'. For the far less complex transference of Maiden power, below 25. But for Oscar and Ozma. Oscar, he was about fourteen, I think.

This also explains why Ozma and Salem haven't gone insane over the centuries. Well, more insane. If the theory holds true, then there is only so much 'soul' they can have at one time, limited by their bodies. Salem would have reached that cap a long time ago, where as Ozma would be hitting it over and over again as-

My theory expands.

As his host's soul grows, forcing them together. Not merging, more smushed together. Generate an analogy: Glass bottles with plants in them, only so much room. Ozma is a plant that is taken out of the broken bottle (Breaking means death) and placed into a newer, far more empty bottle. One with only a small plant in it. As the small plant tries to grow, it quickly runs out of room due to the Ozma plant, and has to entangle with it, merge with it, to survive. Or it doesn't.

That sounds so much kinder than the messy soul magic going on.

I am a full soul, somehow. Does Ear- Terra. Call it Terra. Does Terra even have souls, or did I form/pick one up on my way... Amber. Did I overwrite Amber's personality, her soul? Rip apart the fundamental components, her 'soul stuff', and rearrange it into my pattern?

I'm crying. It's just a theory, no proof. Not without evidence. I didn't kill Amber. Use her skills to raise my Aura around my arm, see. White. Not Amber's amber.

Breathe. Just, let it go.

The door opens, a distraction I am thankful for, and Ozpin walks in. Alone.

"Hello, Ozma." I start. I can't think about Amber, she let go. Thanked me. Maybe she's in a better place, maybe she's not.

Ozma strides into the room and pulls up a chair before passing me his mug. Hot chocolate. Well, warm. "I thought you could use something to drink."

Another distraction, and I murmur thanks as I take it, sip it. It's rich, very rich. A bit too rich for my liking but tolerable. Sip. Sip. Gulp. Pause. Let the flavour soak my mouth, distract me from the soul I might have stolen. She killed herself, let go. Gave me everything.

No. My aura is white, hers is amber. I am not Amber's stolen soul. I refuse.

Choice made and the relief is immediate. It makes sense, and a good scientist doesn't lie to themselves. Everything I know about Aura, which isn't much, says this. Even Pyrrha, as she was being pumped full of Amber's aura, that glowed amber.

Funny, how a little change in colour completely changes the way I feel about the world.

I should talk to Ozma. I need a plan. Too bad I don't trust him, fiction and secrets. Ha, some distraction he was, I immediately went back to my crisis of identity.

"Amber is dead." I start, both explaining what I was crying... I was crying for the broken girl who gave up even as I held her close, told her everything was going to-

Ozma. Look at him, I need to play the game of lies and secrets now. Ozma has the decency to look ashamed, guilty. I drink more warm hot chocolate and wait, trying to decide what I should tell him, what I can tell him and what I have told him in my half real half 'dream' daze.

"You are not her then." Obviously. Right, he's not trying to state the obvious but is fishing for information.

"No. She gave up." Fresh tears fall, why am I crying? I didn't know her, and my internal thoughts are-

My emotions are disconnected from my mind. Still in panic attack? Something soul based? How am I so distant from my feelings?

I'm suppressing feeling them even as I feel them. A chasm between my thinking self and my feeling self. Compartmentalisation and overloading of said compartments, almost like a split personality. I will need to merge again or risk insanity.

"I promised her everything would be alright." I start, both to explain to Ozma, and to feel again.

I am feeling again, slightly. "I wrapped her in my love and promised." More, the tears falling feel a little more real.

Drink your chocolate, girl. Even as it becomes more salty. Amber... would she have liked this? This far too bitter hot-now-warm chocolate? Does she want more cream or less? I like less, hot water and chocolate powderer, more like a tea or coffee than this rich mess. Occasionally

It's balanced wrong. "She thanked me, as she died."

It's wrong. The creamy flavour is too rich, that's the problem. Too much white in the brown. Too much me in her. Oh great, now I'm seeing symbolism in hot chocolate. "I tired to heal her, take her burdens, defend her from Cinder."

Look up at Ozma, the grief hitting me full force. "I failed. She killed herself in my arms and thanked me for the simplest of kindnesses. She was broken."

Her conceptual self, even healed by my wings, was still broken. Sick. She looked sick even after her 'body' healed. Despair is the sickness of the soul, those flushed of health in her was-

I drop the mug as I sob for the broken girl. The one I failed to help, too deluded into thinking the world was a dream. If I was cleverer, more aware, more- His hands are around me, comfort from an immortal?

A play! I push him off. "No. I don't trust you." Emotional manipulation, give comfort, worm your way in-

Breathe, he was just trying to help. Was he? Or is this a way to testing me, infiltrating my emotional self and manipulating me.

"Why?" He asks. Ha. HAHAHA. Like I'm going to tell you.

I need to though. I can't pretend, I can't play the Immortal Game like this. "Everyone. I'll tell everyone." Breathe. Be honest. I can't play, I don't want to play.

I have to. So, Ha! Welcome to Remnant! Where four cities stand on the edge of destruction at all times while a shadow war is played in the background! No wonder people liked pre-Fall RWBY more, this world is awful.

It needs me though. Maybe not me, but anyone. Ozma fails. Failed. Badly. I don't even know how AU I am, what drifted world I visited. Extended Fandom Multiverse Theory states that all worlds a possible, all of them. Including ones exactly like canon but with some slight differences. Was Amber's eye scarred over, unable to open? Is this not Canon, but canon-like, based on my understanding of RWBY as I dreamed my way across the gap?

I can't think like that, not anymore. It's done, I'm here, time to learn and fight. A line of lyrics drifts across my mind. 'For the war has just begun, and there's nowhere left to run.'

Blumenkranz, English Cover by Sapphire. A villain's song, one to push concepts of fascism, propaganda even. It could be read and understood like that, but here...

Here in Remnant, it is alarmingly accurate. 'There's no room for wilting flowers here, smile and wipe away your tears.'

Cull wilting flowers, the un-useful person, serve everyone in your country by being a tool. The meaning shifts here. In Remnant is it true. The 'wilting flowers' will be culled by the Grimm. By Salem. By factions with no regard for life.

Yet.

Hope. I am drawing Hope, that devastatingly powerful magic, from a song about a broken world. A brutal and hostile world, because there are other lines in that song. Uplifting lines. 'So plant your dreams and wishes now.'

I realise I have been staring at my hands, balled into fists. My hands. Amber gave them to me. She entrusted her burden to me, Pyrrha entrusted her burden to me. I accepted it. I chose this life, in dream and in conviction and in act. Through void and soulscape and reality.

Calm. Deep calm. My will is planted. 'Cold and vicious life, how I long to make it right.'

Look up. "Teams RWBY and JNPR. James. Glynda. Yourself. Qrow. Winter." Anyone else? No one else right now. "Get us in a secured room. No electronics." Watts is still active.

"No." No? Idiot, I have you in check.

"Ozma, you don't have a choice in the matter. Unless you are going to kill me, send the rest of the power to her, then you have no path forward."

"I could confine you." Heh, no. You can't. Science enhanced magic works, that's how my 'spells' were so powerful. I didn't 'call up lightning'. I 'tore electrons from nuclei and carve a path of least resistance.' My big lightning strike, my Thu'um, it wasn't magic. It wasn't some outside power from a game or another world.

It was science weaponised. "You can't. Even if you kept me unconscious, I would escape. Then I would destroy you, turn your allies against you and stand alone against Salem." Somehow. I know I can do it.

Two Players of The Immortal Game stare at each other, a test of will.

A test I will win.

Because Ozma is fundamentally broken.

'You can't.' Jinn's word echoes though my head, the words that broke him. Words I just repeated, now that I think about it. It's my absolute certainty that is eating at him though. That I know full well who and what he is, and yet I am smiling as I stand in total opposition to him.

Hit him again. "Do you think they will remain ignorant? You told Pyrrha. She will tell the others why the city burned." You are not just in check from one position. "Jaune was down there too, he will ask questions."

Secrets are bleeding out, the people I want to tell are already going to know. Winter is trusted by James too, not to mention she is Weiss' sister. He backs down. "I'll arrange a meeting."

"Everyone, Ozma. Everyone." He nods. Finally.

He gets up to leave and I notice that my sheets are wet. Oh, right. I dropped my warm chocolate. That's fine, I wasn't enjoying it anyway.

It will be an hour before I the meeting, Ozma tells me, so that's time to run over what I can and can't do.

Magic obviously, whatever that means, but I'm more interested in how I fought.

Aura, it doesn't just put up a forcefield and fuel Semblances. It can strengthen the body to preform feats unlike regular people. That's how I ran so fast, reacted so fast. I recall the fight, which I remember in more clarity than when I was actually doing it, and compare it to the show.

What's a fight I know of. Ah, Winter vs Qrow. They swung and struck, sure, and there was some Semblance use, yeah, but I'm far more thinking about the teleportation. Those shots from above where they were seemingly teleporting around, clashing in pairs with bright flashes and sword swoops.

Monty Oum's style. The fights kind of went downhill after he died, even when the new animators got up to skill there was a certain impact missing. Too much focus on detail I think, like they were trying to show off each move rather than overwhelm the audience with constant activity.

You could tell by simply watching two fights at slow motion, whatever is Monty's one remains fairly entertaining.

No, that's not what I need to think about. Compare what I have seen to RWBY.

Speed. A Huntsman can bolster their speed in very quick, short bursts, at the cost of Aura. Which is starting to make sense why the show fights changed after Volume 3, burst is expensive and everyone would be trying to conserve Aura as they travelled, falling into the bad habit by the time they reached Mistral and Atlas. Maybe.

Got distracted again. Senses. What was that quote, by Pyrrha? 'Have you ever felt you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?'

There is an almost precognitive aspect of fighting, good choreography by Monty, but in Remnant I think it's a cross reading of intentions and other aspects. To know where your opponent is, what they intend, how their weapon sits in their hand. Combat experience and reading people dialed up to eleven by Aura. I'm pretty sure Masters in martial arts can read each other through subtle cues, the same way I (a master) can read a room in a video game for secrets or upcoming conflicts. Not that 'room full of ammo before big arena' is a difficult feat to read as 'boss fight' but I'm much more experienced in that.

So, Aura enhances senses, or gives an entirely new sense, that pushes fighters over the edge into superhuman levels on top of the physical enhancements. Fox. Fox Alistair is blind, right? From team CFVY, yet he can fight at Huntsman level, and I don't think he has a detection Semblance like evolved Ren.

Ren, he is particularly skilled in Aura arts, his Emerald Forest fight against that big snake (A King Taijitu) showed that. Even without a weapon he managed to concentrate his Aura into the palms of his hands to stop the fangs, and then later enhanced his strike to- wait. Did he literally detonate the snake or am I misremembering. That's badass.

One of CFVY's members did that too, during the breach. On a big Grimm with spines. Spines which went off like shrapnel and killed Grimm around it. Less badass, in my opinion, if only because how in all havok did they know the spines would do that and not hit their team? Unless there is some kind of conceptual guide involved?

Uhg. I'm getting nowhere with this line of thought, need more information. Too many possibilities and too little knowledge.

Remember that review? 'The biggest problem with RWBY is wasted potential. They introduce an idea, use it once or twice, and then throw it on the pile.' Characters too, and their relationships. I wonder if Jaune and Pyrrha have kissed? If they haven't then that's okay. The price of their kiss was way too high last time.

Last time. Now we get to time travel. Or not time travel. I'm going to put my foreknowledge firmly in the 'happened last time' or 'in the Original Timeline' category to just keep my head clear.

Move back to capabilities, time travel or not will come later. So, I fought Cinder with Ozma, Pyrrha was keeping up with Jaune which means she was basically out of the fight, something that she would blame herself if Ozma or I died-

I could have died.

No, just move on. Didn't die, will freak out later. Used Aura to boost my physical state, my reactions and improve my senses. Semblance. I overpowered my... Amber's Semblance and used it to rapidly 'grow' the bacteria and fungi on her body, the natural layer accumulates with time and falls off with skin and showing. How did I penetrate her Aura? Unless she wasn't defending against that. No, it's a Semblance, if Aura could block Semblances, then Yang would have never been affected by Emerald's visions.

So, I gunked her up, Ozma knocked her blade loose, and she decided to run, either for a better shot of just because we were pushing her back. Caution, not at all like the Cinder from 'last time', the OT. That Cinder... Was overconfident. High off her Maiden powers and her 'victory' over Ozma. Ozma who actually committed suicide via Cinder for some reason. Salem's 'what are you planning' line confirms, and later details on how he can use his cane for some pretty potent attacks reveal that he really could have won. If he wanted to.

So that Cinder goes on a revenge kick after Ruby, the only thing that went wrong with her plan and who hurt her-

She's going to be after me, hard.

I cut off her arm, infected her body as she fled. She's hardcore enough to burn off her skin to stop the infection, she managed to survive Raven after all, and she has shown she will do everything to go on a revenge rampage.

She's petty, killed Neo and Watts for stupid reasons. Chased Ruby across the world for her eye and arm and plan. I have done far more than that.

I personally killed the Dragon (No, it's not a Wyvern, go away.) after dismembering her in a far more brutal way. She will stop at nothing to come at me, call upon every ally and asset she has. Assets like Roman and Neo? No, not in her weakened state, she maintained their compliance via threat, a dismembered and burned Cinder, while still dangerous, is so much less of a threat. She could send Mercury and Emerald, as proxies, imply she is full strength but merely too busy. Roman would see though it, I hope, but...

We need to get Roman and Neo onside. Okay, that's a plan. Even if we do, it won't stop her though.

Cinder is coming for me, with everything she can. Not immediately, not as she is, but she will. As soon as she thinks she's ready she will try to isolate me and kill me herself. She will use Emerald and Mercury, though they will only help. This will fundamentally be a one on one.

The next time we meet, only one of us is going to be left alive.

I don't think it will be me.

She's too skilled for one on one, and she will have help. Amber showed that, and that was before she got her Maiden powers. Not only that, this will be post Beacon Cinder, and while she isn't a Full Maiden, she will be on the full hybrid path. That, and every passing day she will practice, dedicate herself fully to getting stronger. To kill me.

Anyone around me is in danger. A feral Cinder is not something to be taken lightly.

At least she isn't after Ruby. Heh... I care about Ruby. Just a silly little show about girls who go to a fight school before the world knocks down the door. She stopped smiling, in the end there, didn't she? So distant from the Ruby Rose of the Red Trailer who cut down and taunted Grimm with a grin.

'Whatever you wanted, I hope it was worth it.'

Ruby's last words. I remember everyone's last words.

It was just a stupid show, not even written well. Why do I care so much?

Is this what having a soul feels like? Or am I- 'For the first time in forever I'm alive!'

Blumenkranz. There is a reason why I loved that song, and not a happy one. It spoke to me on a deep level, through my abuse. Like RWBY. A place where people can be people. The culture here, of coloured names and flashy Huntresses, of uniqueness celebrated not suppressed.

I was always too clever, even as I was socially inept. Had to compensate, but the image of a girl smiling as she fumbled her way through Beacon before being thrust unexpectedly into the world, that struck something with me. Came for the fights, stayed for the soul.

Ha. Terra is gone. Remnant, out of all the worlds I could have fallen into, all I could have chosen, I picked here. A terrible world with terrible problems, but a kindness, something special, in it.

Something meaningful to me.

I need a name. A Remnant name. Would Blumenkranz work? No, don't want to use that. Wait, does German even exist here?

'Weiss Schnee' means 'white snow' in German. How does German exist without Germany? Oh, right. Remnant. Civilisations have risen and fallen, so many with their own languages. Some words or concepts have probably made it through the ages, half remembered or half translated.

English, with it's jank-ed together nature of over a dozen different languages, is surprisingly fitting for a world built on dozens of dead civilisations. Cafe, Anime, Noodle, Hallelujah, all taken from different languages and yet so integrated into English. Weiss Schnee isn't even the worst of it, even if it is badly pronounced 'pure' German. Hmm, I wonder if 'geez' is a word here, that has root in swearing Jesus.

Does or has Christianity existed here, or is it like the cultures around it? I suppose it would be difficult to believe in an 'all good, all powerful god' when there are Grimm roaming about. Or maybe it got subsumed by the more prominent Brothers of Light and Dark. Which are real. Ugh.

That's an entirely different path of thought, one that has strayed too far from my self assessment of my capabilities. While I was dazed, I was using the term Tenno, using the mental framework of the game Warframe to hold myself up, but how much of that is true? Is Amber's body my Warframe? My body? Am I a ghost possessing a body or a body with a new soul?

I can use Amber's Semblance, but I'm not Amber. I don't have her soul or Aura colour. Does that make Growth my Semblance? Or...

Okay, think this through. Do the science, make a theory then test it when I get the chance to. If I didn't have a soul before I arrived in Remnant, then I, a complex thinking being, was suddenly given a flush of soul 'power' or whatever. Would that form a soul? Like a magnet put in iron filings? Would I develop a soul, a Semblance of my own, and what would it be?

Alternatively, I already had a soul and a Semblance, though it's hidden, and only- No. That doesn't work. I might not like the world outside my computer, Terra, but I'm pretty sure it would be a big deal if people developed superpowers. That would just be the kind of thing that would make me take interest in the world, and I didn't pick up anything.

So I didn't have a soul before I left Terra. I have one now, is it Amber's? Reshaped? No, I don't think so. Simply because the sparks that Amber dissolved into did not fly to me. I was me before I 'met' Amber. The critical parts of her remained. Just like how my Aura is a different colour.

Relief hits me again as I exhale. I didn't kill Amber. I thought that before, but simply going through the logic step by step makes everything so much clearer. My soul feels a little lighter.

I have my own soul, whatever that means in the long rung. What about Semblance? Is this mine or the body's? If I were to leap from body to body, maybe into a sweet robot girl bod like an empty Penny's, would I retain Growth? The Schnee Semblance is hereditary, and I think there are family resemblances of Semblances (or was that a fanfic or some other story?). I need more data, and to test myself.

Jaune. His Semblance is Aura Amp (a terrible name), which means he can 'amp' my Semblance, enough to discover what it is maybe. Or it will amp Amber's.

I sigh. I'm getting nowhere with this. Has it been an hour yet? No. Time to do something completely different.

I flick off my sheets and wiggle my toes. My toes, not Amber's. She gave them to me. Okay, I can use them like I thought I can. Wow, that was a knotted thought.

Get up, see if I can walk, feel out the body.

I swing my legs over the edge and push myself into standing, the loose hospital gown is far more modest than the underwear I ran around Vale in. Oh, that's a blush, okay. Yeah, I'm embarrassed now. What part of me thought 'let's go almost nude and fight monsters!'.

Oh right, the part that tried to turn Knights in to armor and gave up when she realised that there really wasn't time. I could have flexed magic, or looted a clothing store, or a dead bod-

Dead. I stumble and fall onto the bed. Dead. People are dead and I am smiling embarrassed. Amber is dead. The soldiers are dead. The one I saved was in a room full of blood and bodies, they locked themselves in with Grimm to save themselves.

Walls red with blood and I felt nothing. Did nothing. Simply played the videogame and did the mission.

The gunshot where I shot a man in the head and felt... feel nothing. I should be guilty, right? I killed people. I didn't even see them as people. Just mooks, adds, NPC's, whatever term I want to use. They were the enemy.

I still feel nothing over the man. Men. Women too. People. I killed over a dozen people. No, more, far more.

Count the dead.

.

31.

31 people are dead at my hands. 32 if you count Amber. No, not her. 31 people I murdered with a smile, and more if you count the ones I pushed out of the bullheads, still alive, but into the Grimm infested city below. Would they have even survived the fall? They aren't Huntsmen, even if they had Aura unlocked. I need to update my count.

I remember the first pilot of the first bullhead, how I gave him a choice to live. But was that even a choice? To be thrown from the bullhead or to stay and fight. No wonder he reached for his pistol. I was offering not mercy, but death or slow death. I threw him from the bullhead without Aura and weapon, more concerned with the civilian's ability to fly if I killed someone in front of her than the actual life.

84.

I call up on magic and generate a Skana. A stone/glass blade, single edged and about a meter and a half long. Inspired by a katana, but with a slightly more jiggered, more complex, form than a real katana. It's from my memories, from a videogame I spent way too much time with.

It's broken glass sharp, sharper than a medical scalpel. Even though I know this isn't the same weapon, I can still feel it swinging though Aura and body. Cutting limbs and lives with a skill neither Amber nor I possess. I was guiding it by imagination and earth magic as I killed and killed.

Aura, it's not perfect, especially not under the barely trained people I fought. Jaune's sword is from the Great War, used to kill people. Aura coated people. The evolution of weapons here is similar to Terra, because as great as a well trained Aura user is, few are at that level. It wasn't even a fight. Even dazed and half aware, I killed so easily.

No wonder Cinder ran. Amber is dead, and I was coming for her, full of murderous intent. Unrelenting, inhumane, not paying attention to the slightest of human concerns like damage or safety or modesty. No wonder Ozma said no to my demands for a meeting. I don't trust him, but he saw me like that.

A monster unrestrained, half full of magic and entirely full of rage.

The Skana is light in my hand, brand new and sharp. Despite the blade's youth, I feel the deaths on it, a projection of my own mind.

But not my guilt, because I do not feel guilt. Even in sync with my emotions, there is no guilt. Only the impression of guilt about the lack of guilt. How I should be feeling something, anything. Anything but the steady satisfaction of a job well done.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, letting the feeling, the conflict, of how I should feel something but don't wash over me.

Okay.

I can accept that. I'm a monster. A killer. I'd like to blame the numbness from waking in another world, but I know better. A videogame called Undertale taught me that. 'system_information_962' sits in my soul, an event flag. Truth of my self. I'm a murderer.

Maybe one day I'll be a better person.

Not today.

Get up. Stand, balance on the balls of my feet and bounce up and down. Huh, Amber's tits are near flat, nice. Much better than back pains big tits would give me. A-cup is awesome, and it gives me a lower center of gravity. A turn and I look over my body without a mirror, trying to get a feel for it. Hmm, Amber is kinda tomboyish. Cute even. Wait, is this narcissism? Necrophilia? Eww. Just push those thoughts aside. I'll need a mirror to get a much better impression of her... My body.

Feel the mass of my body as I do some stretches and feel just how damm fit she is. Nice, very nice. I suppose a life travelling and fighting monsters will do that, no wonder all Huntsmen are toned or buff. Ha, look at Sun 'no-shirt' Wukong. Wait, he's real?

Again? I thought I got over the whole 'I'm in RWBY', why does realising that Sun is real such a big deal? This is apparently going to take a lot longer to 'get over'- People don't just 'get over' trauma, don't think like that. I'm not even sure if dropping out of Ear-Terra is trauma. I suppose it depends on how I feel about it.

So how do I feel about it?

Really? I feel good about it? Earth sucks, yeah, but it's home.

Is it?

It was never home. Home was a sophisticated mental dream-world that I constructed and lived in to escape constant emotional abuse and neglect. Home was torn from me when one day I realised I couldn't keep living two lives, one dead and the other alive. When I picked the world that persisted over the world I loved.

No wonder I'm slipping so comfortably into Remnant. Earth hurt me, badly. Family and friends don't really exist, just obligations to fulfill. Videogames and fiction was closer to me than Earth, and now I'm in one. A second chance. Blumenkranz echoes again. 'For the first time in forever I'm alive!'

A gift. One I must not squander. You have given me a new life, a world to fight for, one to love and protect. It cost you dearly, but I will not let it go to waste.

"No, thank you, Amber."