Chapter 9: Liberate

True Remnant: Beacon

Weiss

The four women stood silently, and a little awkwardly in the elevator as it rose from the Gamma facility, ascending into the Beacon proper. Weiss stared at the floor counter climb slowly as she pondered her situation. For the first time what must have been thousands of literal years, she felt a cloud lift from her mind as though she had sobered up after an evening of hard liquor. Ouroboros slithered up Weiss' torso, a sensation that would have once disgusted her but now brought her an odd sense of comfort, and poked his head out of her shirt's collar. "What is on your mind, Witch?" he asked, gaining the attention of the other three women.

Weiss didn't meet the snake's gaze, but instead continued to stare at the floor counter. Her mind was a cluttered mess of mixed emotions; rage, joy, and depression to name a few. "I...I can't believe I'm actually here."

"Here?" Garnet asked.

"It's like an echo. A distant memory at this point. The one world I liked. The only Remnant where I lived a full life. I had a family here. I got to see my children grow up. I got to see my grandchildren! I thought...I thought this world was where it was all going to finally end." As she spoke the tears began to flow. "Even when I was in pain from the cancer eating away at my insides, I was genuinely happy. This death will be my last, I kept thinking." She shook her head, punching the metal door in front of her angrily. "It was my Two-Hundred-Fifteen-Thousand-Four-Hundred-Fifty-Third death! I was a fool for thinking it was finally over. You'd think after two hundred thousand lives I'd have given up on hope forever!"

"Weiss," Penny stated.

"It's not even recent anymore! I've been through millions of lives! A total lifespan in the hundreds of thousands of years, maybe more!"

"No more, Witch," Ouroboros whispered.

"I'm so tired! I just want to fucking rest! That's all I've ever wanted!"

"No more, Witch."

"Why the fuck was I given this life to repeat!? For what reason do I persist, god damn it!?"

"No more, Witch!" Ouroboros yelled, delivering a disturbingly loud hiss for his size. "Enough, lest I pump you with my venom! I wouldn't kill you, but it would be enough to give you a pain that I know you've never felt before!"

"Everyone, please," Penny said sadly. "Calm down. Weiss, little snake thing...please. Calm down." The others turned towards the robotic shifter, and were met with a scared, teary eyed girl. "You don't have to worry about it ever again, Weiss," she said reassuringly. "I can cure you. This repeating life doesn't have to repeat ever again. You can live here, now, on this Remnant with your descendants. A long, happy life. When it does ultimately end, it will end for good, and you can move on to be with your lost friends and family in the great beyond. I can fix this."

Weiss let her mind wander for a moment before replying. "I thank you for the offer, Penny. I truly do. But please understand; killing the Master Units was my only reason for doing anything up until today. Nidhogg is the last one on my list. I must kill him before my true death."

"Then we'll kill it," Rose said out of the blue, causing all three of the other women to stare at her, lost. "The first Remnant we went to had Nidhogg standing over the ruins of Beacon. In theory, its mapped into Penny's mind."

"One of my hard drives, actually," the robot girl chimed. "But, yes. Yes it is."

"We'll go as a team, then," Rose continued. "We'll fix you first, though. That way you'll have a reason to try and stay alive during the fight, and it'll give you a sense of urgency to try and win."

Weiss stared dumbfounded at the tattooed woman before turning her gaze to Penny. "You would...help me fight the black dragon?"

Penny shrugged. "Why not? Dragon Grimm aren't too different from Wraiths. Just a little fire breath is all that's different."

"I imagine the size difference is relevant," Ouroboros chimed playfully.

"Trying...not to think of that."

"Ladies," Garnet said at last, breaking her own personal silence. "We've arrived." The doors slid open, revealing the main atrium of the school. "Weiss Schnee, as the current head mistress of Beacon Academy, I'd like to welcome you back." She turned and smiled her most brilliant smile to the white haired woman. "Welcome home."

"Unfortunately," Penny interjected. "We can't stay. We must return to the Thoughtspire for this to work properly."

"O-oh. Okay," Garnet lowered her head, dejected.

"T-tell you what," Weiss added. "When I'm fixed, and when Nidhogg is dead, I'll come back. You can show me what's new around the school, and tell me about my grandchildren.

"Tell you? Chya! While you're off killing dragons I'm going to be phoning it in! Nox is gonna flip when he finally meets you!"

"Nox?"

"Your great grandson," Penny explained. He was born after you died. His full name is Noxus Weiss Schnee, and he's actually married to Blake's great granddaughter. They have a son, so you're officially a great great grandmother. He should be about five or six years old now, I think."

Weiss smiled happily, reflecting on raising her own children so many life times ago. "Yeah, I'll definitely come back to see them."

"Well, it's a date then!" Garnet cheered happily as she stepped off of the elevator, and Weiss realized in that moment how similar she was to Ruby. "Have fun!"

The doors closed, leaving Weiss alone with Penny and Rose. "Shall we?" Penny asked.

"Let's go," Weiss answered. Penny and Rose each grabbed one of Weiss' hands, and Penny used the same spell that she'd used to leave this universe, but on a much smaller scale by comparison, so that she could force Weiss' being from Remnant. The air around them popped violently as they were engulfed in rainbow flames.

In all of her millions of lives, Weiss had never felt nausea like she did in this moment of tumbling weightlessly through nothing, seeing only the seven colors of the spectrum dance around her wildly and in an unorganized fashion with no rhythm before her vision came back to her with another deafening pop, the rainbow flames dying away to reveal the impossible geometry of an alien structure; the Thoughtspire. She ripped her hands out of Rose's and Penny's, doubled over and vomited all of the grass in front of her. "That's...new," she muttered. "Haven't puked in a few thousand years."

"That's why I landed in the front yard instead of the council chamber. Didn't want you hurling in front of my boss," Penny said with a chuckle.

"God forbid your omnipotent fuckers have to clean something up." She stood up and stared at the imposing structure. "Not very subtle, are you?"

"Don't look at me," Penny said defensively. "I'm still technically new here, compared to everyone else."

"Let's get this shit over with."

A few minutes later and the three of them stood in the main council chamber; the only member present was Lia herself, along with Felix the talking cat companion of hers. She watched as Penny strode into the chamber confidently with Rose and Weiss in tow, breathing a sigh of relief at the site. "You resolved this much sooner than I'd expected," she admitted. "Though, I am most certainly not complaining."

"Lady Lia," Penny greeted with a respectful bow. "I'm afraid we'll be reentering the Labyrinthus again soon. Weiss has a personal vendetta against a dragon Grimm named Nidhogg."

"I...what?"

"Long story," Weiss said calmly. "I remember you. You're the woman who healed Yang all those years ago."

"Yes. While she couldn't fight or perform straining activities anymore, Penny told me that Miss Xiao Long lived a very pleasing and fruitful life."

"I guess you're fixing me too, then?"

"No, I am not. Penny is. She's the one who discovered the method. If I could do it I'd have done it to myself a hundred years ago."

"I was going to ask you if you wanted me to cure you, Lady Lia," Penny said.

"I appreciate the offer, and I will take you up on it...but only if my death is certain. The Cycle has an interesting side effect on me in that my foresight no longer works. I prefer it this way. Know the exact future is more frightening than not knowing. I'll take my risks. Thank you, though."

"Of course. Shall we get started?"

"Please."

Penny turned to Weiss and held her hands out, beginning a verbal incantation in the process. Green magical holograms began to orbit the heiress before a bright read one burst from the space in front of her chest.

"∞ = 1"

The holograms seemed to dance around each other for what felt like ages before the red one exploded violently, being replaced by a green one.

"∞ = ∞"

Penny gasped for air, and the holograms disappeared. "It is done," she breathed. "Every new universe that is born will now house a version of you. When the current you dies, it will be permanent. You will not persist, and any new versions of you born naturally throughout the multiverse will not carry your memories. You are, effectively, capable of dying once again, Weiss."

Weiss took a deep breath before sighing herself. "Th-thank you. Really. Thank you. I mean it." She shook her head. "I still don't understand how this all happened to me."

"Penny," Lia said. "Show her."

"Are you sure? She's likely to just kill him," the mechanical girl cautioned.

"It's about time, honestly." Lia shrugged. "But I didn't say that. My official statement is that I had no knowledge of you releasing him from the Backyard, or that you took Weiss to him."

"Who?" Weiss asked. "Why do all the god damned god people play the fucking pronoun game?"

"Follow me, Weiss," Penny said flatly. "Come meet the man responsible for your millions of lives."

Song: Liberate - Disturbed

Author's Notes

Six months. Six months I haven't updated this story. I am so sorry. Work has sapped my energy. I've barely written a word of anything. I've designed a couple of Dungeons & Dragons worlds, and I've written down probably 20 or so new story ideas for various projects, this one included, but I just haven't had the energy to actually write. I'm practically forcing myself to do this one, but it must be done!

That being said, I genuinely enjoyed getting back into the driver's seat of this AU. I think Ouroboros may have taken Roman's place as my favorite character to write for.

So, some creative updates here. I had most of this story planned out when I started it back in December 2015, but the ending was something I couldn't decide upon. Well, yesterday at work I had a beautiful idea for the ending, which is why I'm forcing myself to write this chapter. I will go to bed shortly after posting it, and when I wake up I will begin writing Chapter 10. It may be the best way to finally cap the Shifting Remnant AU.

As much fun as this trilogy has been, I'm ready to be done with it. I hate leaving projects unfinished. So, fingers crossed, I would like to have Observer finished by the end of August 2017. Don't hold me to it, but we're stupidly close to the ending. It shouldn't be too hard to finish this trilogy.

Again, I'm sorry for going so long without an update, and to those of you who have put up with my later and later upload times; thank you. Thank you so much for reading. Please, leave a review or a PM.

Fun Fact: In addition to new Observer ideas, I also got new ideas for Free: A Feuding Remnant. While I am quite ready to be done with Observer, my concepts for Free are much fresher and to me more interesting so I should (SHOULD) be putting more of it out soonish.

Till Next Time!