Chapter 2: Heresy

Weiss panted heavily as she climaxed, riding on this person that she'd hooked up with only an hour ago. Slumping over, she fell to the side and was lying on her back. It's not the best, she thought. But, it'll do. The man she was with was some sort of Faunus, but she didn't really focus too much on the details; she didn't even bother to remember his name. He smiled and rolled to look her in the eyes. "You were great, baby," he said. "We should go again."

Weiss scoffed. "You weren't that good," she commented. She stood and dressed herself as quickly as possible. "Just another brief lapse out of my boredom."

"That's cold, baby," the man said. "Some of us have feelings, you know."

Donning her boots, she turned to face him. "Fine. In less than fifteen hours, a black comet is going to enter Remnant's view and strengthen Grimm. Over the next year, mankind will nearly be wiped out. Vale will be overrun with Grimm. I suggest you get a head start and flee to Fort Stein."

He laughed. "Well. Now I feel bad. You're not supposed to put your dick in crazy."

She simply smirked as she turned to leave. "You'll thank me when the comet arrives. That or you'll die like everyone else. I don't care either way." Without waiting for his reply, she left the motel room and started walking through the streets of Vale.

A small, white snake head poked out of her jacket and rested warmly against her neck. "Why didn't you undo the summon?"

"I need someone interesting to talk to, Ouroboros. A talking, evil snake isn't ideal, but its what I'd call interesting," Weiss retorted.

"I understand that much," he replied harshly. "But watching you fornicate isn't exactly something I'd have chosen to do."

She smiled cruelly. "Aw, does the living incarnation of temptation feel awkward from watching his master fuck?"

"Temptation was my specialty, yes, but never sexual temptation. And I was born for the sole purpose of killing your kind, witch. Seeing any of you fornicate is disgusting."

Weiss smiled deviously. "From now on, at least once per lifetime, I am going to have the wildest sex imaginable and make you watch it." She could almost feel the snake shudder at her words. "So, what's our game plan?" she asked.

"Game plan?"

Weiss turned down a different street, ignoring the strange looks from people she was getting as she talked to the snake in her jacket. "It's my somethingth life. I've very nearly lost count. I fully intend to kill all of the Master Units at least once. Who should I aim for this time and how should I go about it?"

"Who have you killed?"

"Just you."

"How could you kill me, but not any of the others?" Ouroboros asked in shock.

"Not for lack of trying, mind you," Weiss said quickly. "I've died countless times attempting. With you, it'll be easier to kill them."

"And with each Master Unit you destroy, you grow more powerful." The snake's tongue licked at the air in thought. "You will be the most power monster of them all, witch."

Weiss smiled. "A monster, hm? I rather like the sound of that."

"Why do you hunt us? Is there some reason? Will our deaths break your free from this endless loop?"

"Not at all," she answered immediately. "Not that I know of, at least. I just have nothing else to live for, and I've run out of things to die for."

Ouroboros chuckled. "Have you tried religion?"

Weiss paused, hesitantly remembering a night from hundreds of thousands of lives ago.

Ruby stood silently in the rain. Weiss stood beside her with an umbrella, the pair of them keeping guard over the wall that defended Beacon. Cardin's funeral was earlier that day, and the team had a lot on their minds.

Ruby turned to Weiss. "Do you think...that there's a life after death in some form. Is there a heaven we can go to after we die?"

Weiss smiled weakly. "I like to think so. To believe otherwise, to me, is terrifying. I don't like the thought of not existing. If my spirit lingers in another realm, then I still exist somewhere. That's what I like to think."

Weiss spat angrily before resuming her walk. "God is dead," she whispered, resenting her old beliefs.

Rose fired back to back with her twin pistols, seemingly not doing much damage to Nidhogg. "What the hell is this thing?" she asked in between heavy breaths. "It doesn't want to die!"

Nidhogg opened its maw, unleashing an inferno upon them. Penny closed her fists and made a solid punching motion to the sky with both of them, creating a force field between her and the flames. "I expect nothing less from a Master Unit! We've got our work cut out for us!"

The flames died away and Penny released the barrier, but a small tongue of fire licked at Rose's arm as it faded. "Fuck me!" she shouted as it barely burnt the surface of her skin. "You got any ideas?"

"How about some of that Dark power?"

"You really want me to use it? I'm still not very good at it."

"Every little bit helps."

Rose nodded. She holstered her pistols and held her right hand out, whispering incantations to herself as she began to summon the black bladed scythe. Mid summon, she felt the ground give a little bit; the crashed airship had damaged the surrounding facility too much and was due to collapse. "Penny, we can't stay here!"

"We can stop it! If we stop it, this Remnant may live, and then we can find Weiss."

"Weiss is dead here! There's no way she's still alive here. If we don't go, Gamma's shafts will collapse and we'll be stuck here, or worse!"

"Weiss has to be here!" Penny insisted.

"She's fucking dead!"

"You don't know that!"

Nidhogg landed two hundred feet away, making the ground rumble. Sections of the ground began to cave. "We saw her broken blade! That's evidence enough!"

"But what if she is here?"

"We live forever," Rose shouted reassuringly. "We can come back later. Maybe next month, maybe next millennia, but we will come back!"

Penny was uncertain, but she knew her options were limited. She growled to herself. "Damn it!" she shouted as she turned to flee with Rose following behind. They leapt down the shaft, using their magic to ease the landing.

"Burn!" Nidhogg cursed. Rose looked up and could see the black dragon's head arching into the shaft. It's razor teeth were bared and it opened its gullet, preparing to breath fire.

"Run!"

Making great haste, the pair rushed to the sarcophagus chamber and began to chant the incantation to re-open the portal. The room began to heat up as dragon flame erupted in the next room over, melting the metal and concrete that held the facility together.

The door began to bend and bow from the heat when the rainbow rift opened. Without even looking they leapt through, narrowly avoiding being burned alive.

Once again their senses were assailed with confusing sensations as their bodies were pulled in every direction. Rose felt as though her stomach would be ripped from her torso if the tumbling didn't end soon.

They "landed" violently in a field of grass. Penny lay still and silent on her back while Rose once again vomited, ejected what little was left of the contents of her stomach. Raising to a seated position, Penny glanced around to get her bearings. Why aren't we in Gamma? she thought. To her left was the cliff that lead to the Emerald Forest, with Beacon to her right.

"Penny?" Rose asked as she spat the last remnants of puke into the grass. "Where the hell are we?"

"This Remnant is fundamentally structured differently," she answered. "It's the only explanation that makes sense. Or maybe Gamma doesn't exist here. Who can say." She stood and help Rose to her feet. "I say we head for Beacon. It's as good a place as any to start looking." The two of them began to move towards the school when Penny caught the sound of rustling trees. She held a hand out to stop Rose as she began to listen closely.

Nothing. The wind?

Then it came again, this time lower to where only Penny could here. No. There's something here.

She took a single step forward and was stopped by a gunshot, the bullet embedding into the dirt in front of her foot. "That's far enough!" came a female voice that would have made Penny's heart skip a beat if she had one.

From the tree line came a group of four people; students from Beacon. Jaune Arc was on the far left with his sword drawn. His hoodie was missing, and in its place was a sleeveless leather brigandine with his breastplate covering the top portion of his torso. His jeans were torn, the left legging was ripped off from the calf down exposing armored leather boots in place of his low tops. His hair was long, tied into a short pony tail to keep it out of his eyes, and a long thin scar stretched from the right of his forehead to the left cheek.

Next to him was Pyrrha Nikos. Her armor was dented and scuffed, and even had patches of bland steel welded on, presumably repairing gaps that had been carved by Grimm. Her rifle was missing, and in its stead she held a long red spear. Her shield was misshapen, and had the Arc crest crudely painted on it, which Penny found curious. Her green eyes were full to the brim with suspicion and concern.

On the right was Blake. Her ribbon was nowhere to be found, and Penny was horrified to see that her right cat's ear was completely missing, as was her entire left arm. She wore her black leggings and white shorts, but her top consisted only of a black sports bra, exposing the recently healed nub of her left shoulder. Gambol Shroud rested in her remaining hand in pistol form, her grip deathlike.

Finally, Penny's eyes landed on the one who had spoken. Holding Crescent Rose in its rifle form was none other than Ruby herself. Like Jaune, she'd let her hair grow long, but it hung loosely about. Only her left eye was visible; her right was covered by a black makeshift eye patch. Her red cloak was tattered and torn, as were her leggings and sleeves. The silver saucer of the right eye glared daggers into Penny and Rose. She was the one who had shouted at them.

"Ruby," Penny said, longing slipping into her voice.

Ruby's eye narrowed. "How do you know me?"

"Ruby, I'm-"

"Stop, Penny," Rose cautioned with a whisper. "This timeline is different from the one where you met her. It's likely that you're already dead here, or maybe you were never built. In any case, she doesn't know you here."

Penny nodded. "I...I can't explain that very well right now."

"We haven't seen any survivors in this are for months," Jaune said sternly. "Are you brigands? Nomadic scavengers?"

"Look at their clothes. They're nearly pristine. Like they haven't had to fight the Grimm," Blake said matter of factly.

"It's true," Penny agreed. "We're...new to the area."

"Even more of a reason not to trust you," Ruby said coldly.

"We mean you no harm," Rose said. "We're just looking for a person. Weiss Schnee. Do you know if she's around?"

The four hunters looked at each other, shocked and confused. Ruby aimed Crescent Rose at the Shifters. "How do you know that name?"

"We're here to help," Penny assured. "Please."

Pyrrha stepped forward and put a gentle hand on Ruby's weapon, easing it lower. "What's the harm?" she asked.

Ruby eyed them suspiciously before she glanced at Pyrrha. She sighed, stowing away her rifle. "Follow us."

Song: Heresy - Nine Inch Nails

Author's Note

I'm alive! How alive? Hell, I don't know. I've been super busy in life and haven't been able to contribute to the community like I once did. But that doesn't mean I didn't constantly think about it. I thought, "Damn, I really, really need to finish that story!"

So, here I am, trying to tackle it again. It's hard stepping away for so long and trying to come back.

So, LET'S RECAP:

1) Weiss is feeling mostly indifferent. And yes, I actually went into a bit of sexual detail. That thing I almost never do. Ever. It felt weird to do. Super weird. I like sexual stories too. I just...don't like writing them.

2) Penny and Rose couldn't fight Nidhogg and had to flee, stumbling into another Remnant destroying by the Grimm. This Remnant however has team RBJP...I don't think I can make a word out of that. R & B J-Pop? What the fuck? Oh well. Suspicious Ruby is suspcious.

On to the fun facts of life! AKA: Why I've been so busy!

Fun Fact 1: I got hired full time at my job. I now make higher pay and get no free time. Yay, I can adult now!

Fun Fact 2: Due to Fun Fact 1, I bought a car. Yay! I can adult even more now!

But seriously. I'm so sorry that I was away for so long. I hope you can forgive me, and I hope my writing hasn't suffered for such down time. I also started an Magic: The Gathering fanfic series some time ago, but I don't know how often I'll post it, or if I'll even go through with it. Please, leave a review or PM me. Talk about the story, talk about life, talk about work. It doesn't matter. Just please, let me know what you think.

Till next time! :D