AN: Hopefully, Whitley's betrayal in this last chapter was more surprising than distressing for you guys. I know a lot of you liked the idea of him as a supportive little brother, and I promise I still plan on deepening his character no matter what happens in canon. But for now, I simply wanted to hint at some of his hidden depths and show him being "nothing but supportive" rather than make us take Weiss' word for it. For better or worse for our heroes, Whitley has his own plans and objectives. Unfortunately, they require the entire Schnee inheritance and that he plays by his father's rules.

It seemed weird to me that Tyrian was trying to poison Ruby in canon since Salem wanted her alive. I guess the plan could've just been poison her, so she's incapacitated then give her the antidote when he gets her away. But still, I like the idea that he can swap venoms based on eye color.

Rather than having Sun stumble in like an idiot, then get slapped around by Blake (why do people like her again?) who then spots Ilia watching her by the most contrived of contrivances, I changed things up a bit. You'll see the full extent of these changes in this chapter.

Exposition chapters suck, but sometimes you just have to put things into words. I get that. And at least the canon version of this chapter tried to make the story of the brothers interesting with the visual aids. The biggest problem with the canon version of this last chapter is that the only useful information we got from it was regarding the relics, which came with a lot of questions. In this case, we know how Ozpin's reincarnations work, an elaboration on why people go to school to be huntsmen, and since the characters are asking these questions like, "who is Salem?", "what does she want with Ruby?" "what are her plans for the relics?" and "why has it taken Ozpin so long to beat her when he seems to have had every advantage?" it lets the audience know that these are not plot holes. They are questions that I will answer in the future. And while he does lash out at Qrow, Jaune's just angry at Ozpin. For some pretty good reasons, I'd say.

Oh, and if you're trying to imagine what Kali's weapons look like, imagine the Blades of Chaos from God of War. (Get it? Because Kali was the Hindu goddess of war? Okay, so the RWBY character probably isn't meant to be based on her, but I think it's a fun connection, and it's similar to Blake's weapon, don't me.)

ATLAS: 7 1/2 MONTHS AFTER THE BATTLE OF BEACON

Weiss wiped her brow as she left the manor's gymnasium.

"You're not fooling anyone, you know."

Weiss ignored Whitley and kept walking towards her room.

"Spending hours upon hours in the gym, running through the gardens and grounds like an obstacle course, eavesdropping on father whenever he has the General over."

"Maybe I'm just trying to stay in shape and up to date on current events. I have to do something with my time now that I'm stuck here."

Whitley rolled his eyes. "It's obvious you're planning on escaping and going back to being a huntress. It won't work. Even if you could get away, no academy will take you for fear of further conflict. Where would you go?"

"Are you jealous? Is that it?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Is that why you hate me? Are you jealous of my abilities? Of Winter's?"

"…I don't hate you, Weiss. Either of you." Whitley's glare softened. "And no, I am not jealous. I am well aware that our Grandfather wished to be remembered not just as a businessman, but as a warrior. But a warrior fights in the hopes that someone else won't have to. Thus, the Schnee Dust Company is more than a miner and seller of dust. It is a weapons manufacturer."

He seemed to be genuinely enjoying the discussion. "I've paid particularly close attention to our weapons department these past few years, sitting in on board meetings. I even had a hand in designing our most recent models."

Weiss glared. "You're designs went rogue and killed innocent people."

Whitley was pulled from his conversational revelry and frowned, "An incident which will not be repeated."

"Either way, don't look down on me because I uphold our families legacy differently." He turned and walked down the hall, then paused and called over his shoulder, "And if you're going to attempt some manner of escape, you'd better do it soon. Ironwood intends to close Atlas' borders by the end of the week. Nobody in or out."

Weiss rolled her eyes as she walked back into her room. She was well aware of her deadline. But for now…

Weiss held her blade to the middle of the floor, and a large glyph appeared.

While the intensive exercise was all well and good, Weiss needed real practice, with a real sparring partner. So she'd spent the first week of her captivity making one.

She took an offensive stance as the summoned Arma Giga did the same.

"En garde!"

"Ilia?"

Blake had followed the faunus girl into an alley.

"Blake." She turned. Ilia removed her mask. "I'm sorry."

"What are you doing, Ilia? Why'd you attack Sun?"

Ilia's voice turned hostile. "You shouldn't have come back."

Blake felt a pair of boots land on her back, driving her to the ground. When she tried to rise, she felt a sticky thread wrap around her. She turned back to see a young spider faunus gripping a strand of webbing.

The bat Faunus, Yuma, nodded, "Well done, Sister Trifa - and to you, Ilia."

"Ilia! What are you doing?!"

The chameleon girl looked down on Blake pityingly. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, Blake, but you and you're family are holding the Faunus back."

"And you think killing me is really for the greater good?"

"No, but getting rid of your family is."

Blake's heart sank. "Sienna would never allow this! She respects my father too much!"

Ilia nodded. "And that respect is why she hesitates to act as she must. She restrains herself because she fears you're father's disapproval. So for the good of the Faunus as a whole, he must die.

"You wouldn't! You can't! I won't let you!"

"I know. That's why you're being sent to Mistral. To Adam."

"Ilia, Please," Blake pleaded.

"Yuma, with me." She turned to Trifa. "Get her to the docs."

As Ilia and Yuma hurried off, Trifa began yanking on the webs holding Blake.

"Let's go, trai-ugh!"

Blake felt the webs go slack and turned to see Sun standing over an unconscious Trifa.

She smiled as he cut her loose "Thanks for the backup."

"No problem. You okay?"

"No. You heard Ilia. My family is in danger. Call the police and let's go!"

AN: You get the picture, all the Blake scenes from Volume 5 episodes 8-10, until…

Blake looked up at her former friend. "Don't get in my way, Ilia."

She began heading towards the door when Ilia leaped down at her. Blake's clone vanished as Ilia struck, and the real Blake moved in from behind. Ilia and her whip blade whirled around to meet her, and she dodged.

"This isn't the way to change things!"

"Why not? It works!"

"NO! It DOESN'T," Blake insisted as she caught Ilia's whip on her blade and began reeling her in. "Fear is just another form of hate! If the only thing that changes is who oppresses who, then people will just keep on hating each other, and nothing will ever get better!"

Ilia shot an electric shot through her whip, forcing Blake to drop her sword. Blake switched to her cleaver and began swinging to recover her blade.

"It doesn't matter, because they'll never change no matter what we do!" Ilia insisted, "People don't change."

"You know that's not true. Just look at Adam! Look at what he's become!"

Ilia sneered. "Maybe you just didn't know him as well as you thought you did. Love has a way of blinding us."

Blake shook her head, "No. The darkness was there, but he was never a slave to it like he is now. The Adam I knew would've never ordered you to do this. And the Ilia I knew would've never gone through with it."

"Stop lecturing me!"

Ilia began going through a furious flurry of blows, driving Blake to the defensive.

Suddenly the wall exploded, and Corsac came flying through, followed by Ghira Belladonna, who saw Blake's struggle.

"Blake!"

Ilia could barely think as she crawled away from Ghira and the balcony he'd kept from collapsing onto her.

"Why?"

Fennec gave a vicious battle cry as he charged Ghira, only to miss him as Blake yanked him out of the way, dropping the balcony on the unfortunate fox brother.

"Mom!"

Ilia watched as Blake rushed to her mother. Kali carried Yuma, bound by the chains of her weapon.

Ilia didn't stick around to see Corsac rise to his feet, only to be knocked out once again.

"Just hold on, Uncle Qrow!"

Jaune looked back at the man on the stretcher he carried. "Shouldn't his Aura be healing him or something?"

Ren shook his head as he led the group. "Aura can replenish fast enough to drive out weaker and slow-acting poisons, but if the poison is strong and fast-acting, then all aura does is slow it down."

"How much farther?" Ruby asked, trying her hardest not to panic.

"I'm sorry."

Jaune turned to Ruby, "Huh?"

Ruby hanged her head. "This is all my fault. If I'd been faster, Penny would be alive, and Ozpin wouldn't be in your head, or maybe Pyrrha would be alive, and she could help you feel better."

Jaune felt a wave of guilt crash over him. "None of that is your fault, Ruby. You did everything you could to save them. I could never blame you for that."

"Then why are you so angry at Ozpin? It's not his fault Pyrrha died either."

Jaune took a breath, "He used her, Ruby. She didn't know she was going to be a key to a relic, and he didn't even know what the transfer of power would do to her. He uses people. People who don't know what they're getting into. I'm not even sure he knows what he's doing at times."

He paused, "And I'm scared. I'm scared that I'm going to lose myself and turn into him."

Ruby took his hand. "I don't want you to turn into him either. I don't want to lose you too. But we don't know if that's what will happen. Ozpin can help us. He can help you be a better leader."

"Ruby…" Jaune hesitated. "He was going to sacrifice Ren and Nora to Tyrian."

Ruby looked up in horror.

"He wanted me to grab you and run. Even after you're uncle showed up, he planned to cut and run."

"M-maybe," Ruby stammered, looking for a response. "Maybe he thought Tyrian would leave them alone and chase us."

Jaune shook his head. "Tyrian would've killed them so they couldn't interfere later. He enjoys killing too much to let a couple of easy targets get away."

He paused to see if Ozpin would deny it. He didn't.

"He was going to leave them because you and I are more valuable to him than Ren and Nora."

Tears began to form in his eyes, "And I let him. I gave him control, knowing that he'd just grab you and run."

Ruby's heart sank further as her friend continued to weep. "I promised Ren that he, Nora, and Pyrrha would all make it to graduation, even if I didn't. And then Pyrrha takes an arrow for me, and I decide to leave Ren and Nora for dead just to save my own skin."

He sank to his knees and began sobbing, "I let them down, Ruby. I let everyone down."

The sight of her friend on his knees snapped Ruby out of her shock, and she embraced him tightly as he wept.

After a few moments, she spoke. "You were desperate. And scared. You weren't ready for that kind of impossible decision."

She sniffled through a few tears of her own, "None of us were ready for any of this. But whatever Salem's planning, it needs to be stopped. We need to keep moving forward."

Jaune smiled and chuckled softly. "You're amazing. You know that? You lost Pyrrha, Penny, you're team, and your're sister. And now you find out that you've got a massive bullseye on your back, but you keep going anyway. You chose to come out here and do something about everything wrong in the world."

He stood up and took her hands in his. "That's why we're team RNJR. You give us the strength to follow you."

PATCH 6 MONTHS AFTER THE BATTLE OF BEACON

"We know your sister's headed to Mistral." Taiyang continued, "But something to consider is that your sister is fighting a threat much bigger than you. Than any of us really. What will you do once you find her?"

Yang nodded. "She needs backup."

"And you've improved these last months." Taiyang nodded. "But you're still just one person. Your mother has resources that can help."

He sighed. "Unfortunately, she hasn't exactly been willing to share them these last few years. Ozpin, Qrow, and I have all tried and failed to get through to her."

Yang cocked her, brow, "And you think I can?"

"I think someone just as stubborn as her would have as good a chance as any."

Yang shook her head. "I need to know where Ruby is. I have to find her."

Tai smiled understandingly. "I want to find her too. Which is why…" He moved to the back of the shed and pulled a sheet from his own motorcycle. "I'm going to Mistral too."

Weiss cautiously eased her window open. If she was going to leave, it had to be tonight.

"Not going to say goodbye?"

She turned to see Klein smiling sadly in her doorway.

"I'm sorry, but…"

He nodded consolingly, "I understand. No one should be a prisoner in their own home."

Weiss smiled and hugged him tightly.

"Where will you go?"

"Mistral. The last time I listened in on one of Father's meetings with the general, they mentioned that she'd stationed there. So that's where I'm heading."

He hanged his head as his eyes turned brown. "I suppose she'd be the only family you have left after tonight."

Weiss hugged him tighter, "I'll always have you."

"You most certainly will."

Sun approached Blake, who surveyed the damage done to her childhood home, "Blake?"

"This... is why Sun. This is why I left them all behind. I hate seeing my friends and family hurt because of me."

"Blake..."

"Shut up! Do you think I like being alone? Every day... every day I think about them! Ruby, Weiss, Yang... they were my friends! I loved them like I never thought I could love anybody. And I hope they hate me for leaving.

Sun shook his head, "You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do! Everyone thinks they can help me, but they can't. You saw Ilia last night, and she's not even the worst! No. No more. They're better off without me. I made my choices, and I'll deal with the consequences because they belong to me."

Sun thought for a moment, "You think you're being selfless, but you're not. Since I met you, I've been in danger on an almost weekly basis. But I'd do it all again if it meant protecting you. And I can promise Yang would say the same."

Blake looked down in shame.

"You can make your own choices, sure. But you don't get to make ours. When your friends fight for you, it's because we want to. When you're parents start standing up for what's right, it's because they want to. So stop pushing us out! It hurts more than anything the bad guys could ever do to us."

His serious face then turned to a mischievous grin. "But, if it makes you feel any better, the next time I go up against Lizard Girl, it won't be for you – I hate being snuck up on."

Blake chuckled and smiled fondly, "My hero."

She paused as a door collapsed behind her, and Kali fell into the room.

Ghira held out a pair of scrolls stolen from Corsac and Yuma. "Sienna is losing control of Adam. He's planning a full-on assault on Haven Academy. If would be the Fall of Beacon all over again."

Blake nodded. "Not if we destroy the White Fang once and for all. We'll need a few months to train a militia.

Ghira shook his head. "No. We leave immediately, and I won't involve untrained civilians. And we're not going to destroy the White Fang. We're going to take it back."

As Ren and Nora approached the ruins of Kuroyuri, they could hear sounds of fighting coming from what had once been the town center. Suddenly, a flash of silver light rose from the area. A few moments later, Jaune stumbled out of the center, supporting a weakened Ruby clutching her head, and carrying Qrow over his shoulder.

"We need to get out of here!" he called as the two came forward to help him.

Nora took Ruby from Jaune, "What happened?!"

"She used her eyes, but I don't think it was at full strength. That thing looks ancient!"

Ruby shook off Nora, "I'm fine, I just needed a minute."

"No." Ren paled and fell to his knees as the monster from his nightmares marched out of the darkness.