"The world of Remnant knows Weiss Schnee as a family disgrace, hidden away in a mental institution in Atlas. Only she remembers what might have been."
Summary of Fighting for the Future
Fighting for the Future
(found here on Archive of Our Own) is a RWBY Peggy Sue fanfic written by Gladsome Praetorian and is available on SpaceBattles.com. The story follows Weiss Schnee who, after escaping from a mental asylum, seeks to ensure that the future she remembers does not come to pass.
Fighting for the Future provides examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Weiss asks Blake one when she's captured by the White Fang after their attack on Beacon Academy.Weiss: Who...Who do you think this is going to help?
Blake: I.... (looks out around her) I don't know. - Badass in Distress: In "Shadows, Part 6", Winter's transport gets shot down in combat, with her being saved by Pyrrha.
- Bedlam House: A downplayed case, but the mental institution Weiss was stuck in for six years did her few favors. She was forced to take regular Aura-suppressant drugs after several escape attempts, she talks to hallucinations of her old teammates, and when the story starts she's made a Room Full of Crazy. Even after escaping, it takes some time for Weiss to wean herself off the drugs, and she still sometimes has difficulty distinguishing her memories from reality.
- Big Sister Instinct: Winter towards Weiss. In a flashback, she got pissed when a group of Atlesians made fun of Weiss' "mental issues".
- Black Sheep: Weiss' "mental issues" have made her this to the Schnee family in the eyes of the public. Jacques basically disowned her and threw her into a mental asylum not to try and cure her, but simply so she couldn't embarrass him.
- Brought Down to Badass: Thanks to the nature of her time travel, Weiss only has the memories of her future self and not her combat experience, so she needs to relearn how to fight effectively. She does, however, retain her glyphs and summons at the same level that they were at post-Volume 7, which she puts to good use when the White Fang attack a ship she was on. It's also stated by the doctors at the mental institution that if she weren't regularly sedated, she'd have broken out a long time ago with her Semblance alone.
- Canon Discontinuity: Since Weiss' memories only account for the events she can remember up to the end of Volume 7, Volume 8 and beyond (including some of the reveals made then) aren't part of the story.
- Cardboard Prison: Averted. Weiss was frequently kept sedated so as to prevent her from using her Semblance while in the institution. Her previous attempts to escape ended in failure and it took years to finally succeed.
- Crazy Cat Lady: Downplayed in that she isn't really crazy, but Maria lives on her own in Mistral with only a few cats as company.
- Defector from Decadence: Blake ends up leaving the White Fang years earlier than in canon, as she sees Adam's true character due to the attack on Beacon, as well as gets a personal appeal from Weiss.
- Everybody's Dead, Dave: Weiss' nightmare in "Shadows, Part 7" implies that Salem killed everyone and she was the only survivor in the previous timeline.
- Everyone Has Standards: Pretty much the whole world, including most of the White Fang, is appalled by Adam raiding Beacon in an attempt to capture Weiss, since the Academies are responsible for training Huntsmen against the Grimm. In addition, Sienna condemns him specifically because attacking the Huntsmen so openly united the Kingdoms against the White Fang.
- Evil vs. Evil: The White Fang attack on Beacon leads to one between Adam's sect of the White Fang and the rest of the organization. To speed up Adam's capture, Sienna puts a bounty on his head which results in him and a group of his renegade White Fang fighting Roman Torchwick and Neo. The latter team wins.
- Fights Like a Normal: During her training with Blake, Weiss practices trying to do this since relying on her Semblance is not viable due to it being a dead give away for her identity.
- Fix Fic: Played with. While Weiss is certainly trying to prevent what happened in later volumes from coming to pass, Salem is still dangerously intelligent and planning around these differences.
- For Want Of A Nail: Thanks to Weiss, either directly or indirectly, a lot of dominos start falling out of place.
- Blake ends up leaving the White Fang ahead of when she originally did.
- Adam is stripped of power and rank because of his very public assault on Beacon Academy.
- Leo steps down with Ozpin putting him into hiding.
- Weiss and Blake attend Signal academy under cover identities.
- As a result of Adam's failed attack on Beacon,the White Fang falls into a civil war, tearing itself apart and leaving it open from attack from other kingdoms.
- The knockoff effects from above start to affect the rest of the world. Among others, is Ren and Nora having trouble finding work, which leads to Ren stealing a purse for Lien, but leaving the purse behind, and not taking anything else.
- I Have No Son!: Jacques has pretty much written Weiss off. He doesn't even refer to her as his daughter, but as "a lunatic who endangered [the] family".
- It Gets Easier: This is discussed after Pyrrha saves Winter from her ship crash regarding all the death and killing soldiers are involved in.Pyrrha: Do you ever... get used to seeing things like that?
Winter: It’s not something anyone should hope to get used to. - Mental Time Travel: Neither Weiss herself nor her mind are actually sent back to the past, but rather her memories from Volume 1-7 are. It's also a major Deconstruction of this trope as the memories overwhelmed the eight-year-old Weiss, and her subsequent attempt to arrest her father got her locked up in a mental asylum. In addition, by the time the story starts she has trouble recalling some of the less important memories.
- The Mentor: Qrow becomes this to both Weiss and Blake, and later giving some much needed tips and advice to Amber.
- Mythology Gag: Qrow talking to Amber in bird form is one to the comics where Raven did the same to a young Ruby.
- Odd Friendship: The story focus on several, from Weiss and Blake (Due to wildly different circumstances), to Winter and Pyrrha later on, to Weiss, Blake and even Amber.
- Reluctant Retiree: Ozpin confronts Lionheart about his Regretful Traitor status and has him publicly announce his retirement, after which he's Sent Into Hiding.
- Retired Badass: Maria Calavera, the former Grimm Reaper, was living quietly in Mistral, with only a few cats for company until Ozpin tracks her down and offers her a teaching position at Beacon, which she's all too happy to accept.
- Sanity Slippage: Downplayed. Weiss' time in the asylum didn't completely make her lose her mind, but it, combined with having all the future knowledge imposed on her, didn't do her psyche any favors.
- Secret Identity: To hide their true identities while attending Signal Academy, Weiss and Blake use aliases. Weiss uses the name Eira Wynn (Welsh for "Snow White") and Blake uses the last name "Briar".
- Stupid Evil: Once the news of Weiss being on the run spreads, Sienna Khan orders Adam to capture her, seeing a chance to strengthen the White Fang by blackmailing the SDC. However, Adam's failed attempt to do so by attacking Beacon Academy infuriates Sienna, considering it heavily damaged the White Fang's reputation and mobilized the Kingdoms against them. Adam's utter refusal to believe it was a mistake leads to an Enemy Civil War within the Fang.
- Talking to Themself: Thanks to her years in the asylum, Weiss frequently imagines having conversations with her teammates in her head and responding to them out loud, either complimenting an idea "Ruby" came up with or calling "Yang" out on making a terrible pun.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Watts and Cinder are shown to really hate having to work with each other despite working for Salem. Watts even gloats to Cinder's face that she can't do anything to him because of how necessary he is to Salem's plans.
- Tempting Fate: At the end of "Chapter 5: Embers, Part 7", Blake decides that talking to one or two humans isn't a bad thing."It wasn’t like she was planning on making a habit of it."
- Wrecked Weapon: Qrow's Harbinger gets shattered by a Semblance-enhanced bullet from Adam during the White Fang attack on Beacon. However, between his experience and Beacon's resources, it only takes a few days for Qrow to completely repair it.
