Fanfic / RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

"In the wake of the fall Team RNJR sets out to bring Cinder Fall to justice while the new Fall Maiden overlooks her master's plan in Haven City. All the while Weiss tries to help a friend, Yang struggles with the loss of her arm, and Blake deals with guilt over the White Fang. Meanwhile, someone from Cinder's past returns and Salem's newest pawn rises. "

— FanFiction.Net summary.

In this RWBY story by UGX7 (with assistance from a few other writers at times), the story starts four months after the finale of Volume 3, with Team RNJR on their way to Haven due to the fact that the members of Team RWBY has been broken up and scattered due to the fallout of the aforementioned Volume. While the members of Teams RWBY and JN - R deal with their individual problems separately from each other, the hands of Salem and by extension, Cinder Fall have not been idle as their faction has already put into action their plans to destroy the Kingdoms as well as all those who oppose them. While Cinder has a surprise ready and waiting to be unleashed against Team RNJR, someone from Cinder's past returns and may just set into motion events that would have serious consequences for both Team RWBY and JNPR and decide the destiny of the world of Remnant...

This story then becomes an example of a Fix Fic in which the author UGX7 has written in response to the well-known ending of Volume 3, especially with Pyrrha's death and the handling of several other characters story arcs. Not only does the fic focuses on the many canon characters in the RWBY universe, it also offers an in-depth look at the overarching RWBY universe, and creates numerous Original Characters to populate the various factions and organizations that were mentioned in the fanfiction. While there are quite a number of OCs (with quite a few of them getting their own individual subplots), the canon characters still have their chance to shine in their moments of glory by taking more proactive responses to the events and relationships already established by the canon of the first three RWBY Volumes, and their actions might just fundamentally change the post-Volume 3 setting since quite a number of hints and mentions of something big yet to arrive are hidden within the chapters themselves.

As of the latest chapter, RWBY Destiny of Remnant has been split into four major story arcs:

• Arc One - The Haven Arc (Chapters 1 - 28)

It's been four months since the Fall of Beacon, and the world of Remnant is recovering from the wounds it has suffered from the fallout of the Vytal Festival. Tensions reign high between the various Kingdoms of Remnant, with trust and hope in small supply. The members of Team RWBY are divided: Ruby Rose has set out with Team RNJR to Haven to bring Cinder Fall to justice, Weiss Schnee tries to help a friend while uncovering a conspiracy within Atlas itself, Blake Belladonna deals with guilt over the dangerous path the White Fang has taken while on the run, and Yang Xiao Long struggles with the loss of her arm and her fiery spark back in the island of Patch. While each heroine faces a journey of her own internally or venturing out into the world in search of answers, the Fall Maiden overlooks her master's latest plan in Haven City and has a terrible surprise ready to be unleashed against Team RNJR. Meanwhile, someone from Cinder's past returns with a dark secret that would spell disastrous consequences for both sides if known...

• Arc Two - The White Fang Arc (Chapters 29 - 52)

After the climactic Battle of Haven which resulted in striking a severe blow against Cinder Fall and her associates, the reunited members of Team RWBY and JNPR had little time to celebrate. With Adam Taurus asserting total control over the White Fang, the organization has strayed further and further from its original principles much to Blake's discomfort. However, after receiving some important information from someone within the White Fang who opposes Adam's command, Team Beacon sets off on a new mission to wrestle back control of the White Fang from Blake's former partner. Traveling to the continent of Sanus, they will encounter new allies and enemies along the way, and Blake would need to deal with her inner demons even as she faces the White Fang along with the rest of her team. Unbeknownst to either side, individuals of a clandestine Order watch from the shadows, waiting for their opportune moment to strike...

• Arc Three - The Maidens Arc (Chapters 53 - 86)

With the White Fang splintered and effectively under new leadership, Team Beacon has returned back to the reopened Beacon Academy in Vale to finish their studies and further hone their skills as Huntsmen and Huntresses. Even as the Guardians of Remnant maintained a vigilant watch over the Spring, Summer and Winter Maidens, as well as the Relics of Remnant, the mystical and secretive Remnant Knights, continue to fight a shadow war against those who serve the darkness by countering them at every turn. However, when Qrow Branwen discovers clues that points to uncovering a far-reaching scheme in the Kingdom of Vacuo, Team Beacon is thrust back into the thick of action once more with even higher stakes against a merciless enemy. With Shade Academy seemingly becoming the stage for the next great battle of Remnant, will Team Beacon and their allies uncover Salem's scheme in time...or will the Kingdom of Vacuo end up like another Fall of Beacon?

• Arc Four - The Relics Arc (Chapters 87 - TBD)

With Salem in possession of the Winter Maiden's powers and the existence of the Maidens as well as the Knight Order openly revealed, the world of Remnant has become a darker place. As the Kingdoms of Atlas and Vacuo pick up the pieces stemming from Salem's sudden strikes, the Guardians of Remnant and the Remnant Knights have discovered something far worse: The locations of the sacred Relics of Remnant are compromised. Team Beacon's next mission is one of grave importance: recovering the Relics of Creation and Destruction from their hidden temples before their enemy could get to them. However, even with the help of the remaining Maidens and the Remnant Knights the task of retrieving the Relics will be far more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined. Facing enemies without and within, the members of Team Beacon will have to rely on each other and their unexpected allies now more than ever to prevent Salem's dark plans from coming to fruition and changing the world of Remnant forever...

This story can be read here at FanFiction.Net and here at Archive of Our Own.

A prologue to this fanfic named I Never Even Told You, also written by UGX7, can be read here.

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A series of prose specials featuring the Four Seasons theme has also been released by UGX7 as well.

• Spring (ff.net link here and AO3 link here.)
• Summer (ff.net link here and AO3 link here.)
• Fall (ff.net link here and AO3 link here.)
• Winter (ff.net link here and AO3 link here.)

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A prequel to RWBY Destiny of Remnant named RWBY: Crucible, which has been written by a separate author, can be read here.

While the Huntsmen and Huntresses fight to protect Remnant from the Grimm, the Remnant Knights fight a secret war against those who have sworn themselves into the service of shadows. Known only in myths and legends, they stand against the darkness to ensure a future for the world of Remnant. And these are their stories.

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WARNING: SPOILERS INBOUND

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RWBY Destiny of Remnant contains examples of:

• Accidental Murder: Ruby accidentally kills two of Ante's thugs in the heat of battle and this places massive guilt on her, which we see in Chapter 21.
• Ace Pilot: Qrow was shown to be this at times.
  • Ross, a friend of Qrow, was mentioned to be this. Justified because he was a military pilot of the Valean Militia.
• Action Dad: Taiyang Xiao Long, as he's an experienced Huntsman.
• Action Mom: Summer Rose, as she's a professional Huntress.
• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: In Chapter 44, Ruby and Sharp Strike had a conversation about how he coped with taking the lives of others, as well as how he met Ashe Kasai on two separate occasions. Keep in mind their conversation takes place when a number of Team Beacon members have been taken prisoner by the Adam's White Fang.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Everyone feels the pain of Pyrrha's death a lot more than in canon, especially those who knew her the most.
• Adaptational Heroism: Due to Volume 4's release, a number of characters are shown to be more heroic than their canon counterparts, especially with Raven Branwen, Taiyang Xiao Long, Professor Port, and Dr. Oobleck.
• Adaptational Villainy: Vernal, who is Raven's second in command and Body Double for the Spring Maiden in RWBY Volume 5, is re-imagined as an usurper who initiated a coup to seize control of the Branwen Bandit tribe from Qrow and Raven Branwen. Both twins vowed to make her pay after she killed their parents, and while we don't know the specifics, Raven revealed that justice was served.
• Airborne Aircraft Carrier: The Spirit of Winter, an Altesian Airborne Assault Carrier that was introduced in Chapter 57, is most definitely one.
• Air-Vent Passageway: Raven and Qrow use their bird forms to pull this off when infiltrating places with high security.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Ruby feels bad for what happened to Roman Torchwick in canon.
• All There in the Manual: Some fellow authors who collaborated with UGX7 wrote some short stories to fill the gaps.
  • RWBY: Crucible author, RelentlessCrusader, wrote a character short-styled story about The Remnant Knights, and what they have been up to in between the second and third story arcs. The story can be read here.
  • Another fellow author, GojiGrimlockSaurus, wrote a World of Remnant-styled short story about the dinosaurs, as well as a "trailer" for the upcoming third story arc. The World of Remnant can be read here, while the trailer can be read here.
  • Cosmic Fiction has written a prologue of sorts that references the Relics for the upcoming fourth story arc. The story can be read here.
  • UGX7 himself dedicated an entire chapter giving information of every character thus far up to chapter 52, both canon and OC, as well as their current statuses at the time. Additionally, the author also listed recommended music themes for certain scenes in the story. It can be read here.
• Alternate Continuity: While the fic ignores subsequent Volumes completely, the main author and the supporting writers have included quite a few things from the latest RWBY Volumes.
  • From Volume 4:
    • Ren and Nora's backstory from Kuroyuri has been hinted at quite a few times.
    • The new Grimm such as the Seer, Sea Dragon, Geist, and the Nuckelavee were included in the story, although the final Grimm will have a significantly more impactful scene.
    • The new villains of Salem's inner circle, Watts, Hazel, and Tyrian all make appearances during a meeting in Chapter 50.
    • Ilia Amitola, a member of the White Fang in Volume 4, makes an appearance near the end of the second arc.
    • Ghira and Kali Belladonna were also featured, but they are slightly different due to significant story divergences for Blake's family.
    • Klein Sieben, the Schnee family butler makes an appearance during the Atlas scene in the second arc, helping Winter and Weiss just like how he helped Weiss in canon.
    • Ruby, Blake, Nora, and Ren's outfits during the White Fang arc are all based on their new outfits in Volume 4, with a few changes here and there.
    • In this continuity, as Winter and Weiss's mother has been killed, Whitley wasn't born.
    • Sharp Strike mentioned fighting a Sea Dragon Grimm while on traveling on a passenger ship during his debrief, just like what happened to Blake (and Sun) in Volume 4.
    • During the White Fang arc, Blake visited Sun Wukong's family in Hondayama, while in canon the exact opposite happened in Menagerie.
    • Qrow fought Tyrian when the latter infiltrated Shade Academy in the third arc, as compared to him fighting Tyrian in the abandoned town in Anima in Volume 4.
    • Instead of having a meeting at the start of the story arc like in the first episode of Volume 4, Salem and her inner circle had a meeting near the end of the White Fang arc.
    • The legend regarding the Relics of Remnant has been mentioned too, and unlike Volume 4 where Qrow tells this tale to Team RNJR, it's Salem telling the tale regarding the relics to her inner circle, but with certain changes to the legend.
    • Lie Ren uses his Semblance during the fight against the Grimm in the Shion Town, whereas in Volume 4 he uses it during the fight with the Nuckelavee Grimm in the final few episodes.
    • Thorn Branch lost her left eye and right arm during a fight with Sharp Strike and Heliosia, which is similar to Cinder Fall who suffered the same injuries from Ruby Rose's Silver Eyes at the end of Volume 3.
  • From Volume 5:
    • Leonardo Lionheart is the headmaster of Sanctum Academy in this verse, while in canon he is the headmaster of Haven Academy.
    • The Relic of Knowledge isn't put in Haven Academy as it was revealed that Ozpin handed it over to the Remnant Knights to be protected within their Fortress Headquarters of Tintagel due to a Noodle Incident involving a Grimm Commander infiltrating Beacon Academy.
    • The Relics of Remnant aren't hidden within the Huntsman Academies like in canon, instead they were secretly hidden within specific temples built specially to protect the Relics with additional security measures installed.
    • Vernal isn't the Spring Maiden in this verse, instead re-imagined as a usurper who seized control of the Branwen Bandit tribe from Qrow and Raven Branwen, and murdered their parents. According to Raven, she got exactly what she deserved.
    • The Spring Maiden is not revealed as Raven Branwen like in canon, but an Original Character named Amethyst Rilo.
    • The battle between Blake and Ilia took place not in the Belladonna Household in Menagerie, but actually in Shade Academy in Vacuo.
    • Heliosia delivered a similar decisive attack to Thorn not unlike how Raven finishes off Cinder in Volume 5, by slamming a fist into her face and winning the battle.
  • From Volume 6:
    • Team RWBY traveled across the continent of Sanus on board the Allcroft's train in the second arc, while in Volume 6 Team RWBY, Team JN-R with Qrow and Oscar/Ozpin boarded the train Argus Limited to reach port of Argus on the Northern Coastline of Anima.
    • It has been heavily implied that this fic's version of Ozpin isn't Ozma aka the Wizard, and his relation to Salem has yet to be uncovered.
    • Maria Calavera, a new character introduced in Volume 6, shares quite a few similarities with the Remnant Knight Argentius, i.e. them both having Silver Eyes, uses double-edged scythes, taking on a mentor role for Ruby etc.
    • Argentius had a conversation with Ruby on the Silver-Eyed Warriors during their meeting, which also happened to Ruby and Maria Calavera as well at Saphron Cotta-Arc's house.
    • Adam Taurus was revealed to have a scar of the S.D.C. on his face in Volume 6, which is similar to that of The Reveal happening in Chapter 42 of the fic.
    • Adam Taurus was defeated by Blake and Yang working together in Volume 6, whereas he was defeated by Blake, Sun and Yang in the fic.
    • The canon version of the RWBY heroes and heroines fought a Leviathan Grimm in the finale of Volume 6, while Team CFVY along with Ren and Nora (plus Tom Allcroft) defeated a Sand Devourer Elder Grimm in the fic.
  • From Volume 7:
    • The description of Ironwood's new outfit resembles the one he wore for the duration of Volume 7.
    • The Ace-Ops, General Ironwood's personal enforcers, first appear at the end of the Maidens Arc, as opposed to the beginning of Volume 7.
    • During the secret meeting taking place in Atlas, Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses are also name-dropped.
• Alpha Strike: N1CK3L does this in Chapter 58 against an entire Red Fang cell of enemy forces, combining Beam Spam, Gatling Good, More Dakka and Macross Missile Massacre all in a massive package of devastating firepower. Guess who wins.
• Amazonian Beauty: Quite a few examples.
  • Yang and Pyrrha both obviously count from Team Beacon.
  • Among the four Maidens, Heliosia Ainea (who is the current Summer Maiden) fits this trope perfectly.
• Ambiguously Bi: Amethyst shows signs of this when she flirts with the waitress and tries to seduce the drunk Huntsman in Chapter 54.
  • All but confirmed that Amethyst is possibly bi-sexual in Chapter 61.
• An Arm and a Leg: Nadir lost his hand, which was cut off at the wrist by Lao, one of Damien Ante's Enforcers in Chapter 19.
  • While not technically an arm or a leg, Sun does get half of his tail (which serves as an extra limb for him sometimes) cut off by Adam during an intense fight in Chapter 42.
  • Thorn Branch, aka Salem's candidate for the powers of the Summer Maiden, lost her right arm from elbow down to Sharp Strike's relic sword when he cleaved it off during a fight in Chapter 76.
• Ancestral Weapon: Jaune still wields Crocea Mors the Arc family blade as per canon in this fic.
  • Sharp Strike's ornate sword was specifically mentioned by a few characters to be crafted by the Prometheans, a tribe of renowned weaponsmiths who created many famous swords and blades. So far he has only mentioned the said sword was with his family and he took it with him when he joined the Remnant Knights, but there's clearly more to the his family sword than meets the eye.
• Ancient Order of Protectors: Two in this Fanfiction.
  • Ozpin's group is known as the Guardians of Remnant.
  • As revealed in Chapters 50, 51 and 52, The Remnant Knights are also this as well.
• Angsty Surviving Twin: Qrow becomes this for a while after Raven is killed by Cinder, as seen in Chapter 21, and mentioned quite a few times in the later Chapters.
  • Ashe was like this until he discovered his elder sister Cinder was alive.
  • After Ashe's death, Cinder became this for a period of time.
• Antagonist in Mourning: Cinder for Ashe, because he was her younger brother.
• Arc Villain: Cinder takes the role for the first arc, while Adam is the primary antagonist for much of the second arc. Salem is considered the Big Bad for the whole series.
• Asshole Victim: Adam as his backstory is incredibly tragic but his actions lose him any sympathy points, and Doctor Giger to a point.
• Awesome Personnel Carrier: The Atlas military Forces deploy quite a few of these during the assault on the White Fang Headquarters in Chapter 46.
• Ax-Crazy: Quite a few in this Fanfiction: Damien Ante, Norvik, Saul Jude and of course Tyrian Callows.
• Badass Army: A few examples.
  • The Atlas military forces as seen in Chapter 28 and 46, especially with Task Force Omega.
  • The White Fang can be considered one as well.
  • The Remnant Knights too as mentioned in Chapter 51, as they are founded in secret by both The Vale King and The Wizard to protect Remnant.
• Badass Crew: Quite a few examples.
  • Team Beacon (which is made up of Teams RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, SSSN, and Penny)
  • Task Force Omega of the Atlas military forces
  • The Elite Guard of the White Fang
  • The Knight Legions of the Remnant Knights (The Winter Templars of Atlas, The Steadfast Sentinels of Vale, The Relentless Crusaders of Vacuo and The Eternal Warriors of Mistral)
  • The various antagonistic characters making up Salem's faction are no pushover either
• Badass Creed: Task Force Omega of the Atlas military forces has one: "Exitus Acta Probat" , which in Latin stands for "The Outcome Justifies the Deed" or "The End Justifies the Means" .
  • The Remnant Knights have one as well: "Protect the innocent, survive the trials, serve Remnant."
  • The Oath of Secrecy for the Guardians of Remnant, as seen in Chapter 50 also counts:
  "In the illuminating light of day.
  In the shrouding dark of night
  This oath of secrets will bind us tight
  For those who would betray this sacred right
  Beware of Remnant Guardians' might."
  • And Salem's faction also has one, also seen in Chapter 50.
  "War, Chaos and Ruin! All Hail Salem!"
• Badass Family: Ruby and Yang's family, and she also views Team Beacon as one.
  • Hinted at and then confirmed in Chapter 52 with Jaune Arc's family, as he had Ancestors who fought alongside The Remnant Knights themselves.
  • The Kasai family, being guardians of the Aura Crystal for some time, most definitely counts as well.
• Band of Brothers: Throughout all the adventures, missions, and situations that are thrust upon Team Beacon causes them to rely and trust each to undertake some of the most impossible circumstances and surpass them.
  • Also implied with Ante's Enforcers, as they all attack Saul Jude together when he killed Zhan to make the latter pay.
• Bar Brawl: Happens in Chapter 53 when Spring Maiden Amethyst fights against a drunken Huntsman who was harassing the waitress in the Higanbana tavern.
• Battle Cry: Task Force Omega of the Atlas Military Forces has one: "For Atlas and Remnant!"
  • The Remnant Knights have one as well: "For the Vale King and Remnant!"
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: In Chapter 51, Ruby and Argentius both fought an Elder Grimm known as a Dreameater when they are both in the mindscape.
• Battle in the Rain: We have quite a few.
  • Ashe versus Cinder in chapter 7.
  • A particularly brutal one involving Ashe versus Jude in Chapter 24.
• Beard of Sorrow: Jaune grows one during the four months after the events of Volume 3.
• Benevolent Boss: Damian Ante's one redeeming quality is that he truly cares for his troops.
• The Bet: Ruby makes one with Sharp Strike, in which she would give him one of her rose-emblem bullets while the Remnant Knight agreed to show her his eyes after the success of the White Fang mission.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Basically what happened to anyone associated with Salem who had been taken into custody by the authorities.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ruby and Pyrrha, just ask Cinder Fall.
• Beware the Superman: Cinder uses the stolen powers of the Fall Maiden to give our heroes and heroines a hard time fighting her, in addition to causing widespread chaos and collateral damage under the orders of Salem.
• Big Bad: Salem, undoubtedly.
• The Big Bad Shuffle: Every villain seen so far in the fic, no matter how powerful they may seem, is working for Salem one way or the other.
• Big Badass Battle Sequence: Happens multiple times throughout the course of the fic.
  • During the first arc we have The Battle of Haven.
  • During the second arc we have The War for the White Fang.
  • During the third arc we have The Battles for Atlas and Vacuo.
• Big Damn Heroes: Hoo boy...
  • Almost every single named Huntsman and Huntress teamed up to save Ruby and Jaune during The Battle of Haven.
  • Ember Kasai saving both Cinder and Ashe from a Grimm Ursa which was about to kill them as seen in Chapter 18's flashback.
  • Sharp Strike single-handedly saving Team Beacon from the White Fang recon team when the latter had Ruby and her friends at their mercy.
  • The joint Atlesian-Vacuoan Strike Force (as well as the rest of Team Beacon) arriving to join in the battle against the White Fang in Chapter 46.
  • Nearly the entire Winter Templars Knight Legion arriving to help the Atlesian forces of Hephaestus City in Chapter 74.
• Big Fancy House: Headmaster Ozpin has one, but he rarely stays there due to his work at Beacon Academy.
  • The Schnee family, being one of the richest family in Atlas, undoubtedly has one as well.
• Big "NO!": Several, particularly during The Battle of Haven which took place during Chapters 16 - 20.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ashe Kasai gets this at the end of Chapter 24.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Even more so than the actual show. This fic is rated 'Mature' for a reason.
  • Limb Loss? Check. Torture? Check. Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique? Check. Slavery? Check. And that's just scratching the surface.
• Bodyguard Babes: Melanie and Miltia Malachite for Junior Xiong, of course.
  • Neo as per canon to Roman Torchwick, but later she defected as per his 'secret orders'.
• Bold Explorer: Ruby and her friends in Team Beacon usually end up on one adventure after the next that in an increasing scale of danger and severity.
• Bolivian Army Ending: Cardin's death when he was fighting against the Grimm Chimera during The Battle of Haven.
• Bookcase Passage: It was revealed that Amber's life support machine is not the only thing that was hidden underneath Beacon Academy. As seen in Chapter 49, Ozpin leads the other Guardians of Remnant deeper into Beacon's Vaults until they reached a huge door with the emblem of the Remnant Knights on it to retrieve the sacred paper scroll of alliance with the knights themselves.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: General Ironwood for a brief period of time by an informant of Salem which had been specifically planted close to him, until he was freed in Chapter 21.
• Broad Strokes: Quite a number as this fic was written before the release of Volume 4.
  • Team RNJR reaches Haven far faster than they do in canon as Ashe knew how to get there, whereas in canon they at first have to find their way there themselves with Qrow watching over them in secret until Qrow intervenes against Tyrian and they hail down some Mistralian Airships to get him help.
  • Blake was still pursuing the White Fang after Volume 3, but she was sidelined as Ruby and Jaune are captured by Cinder Fall, and she was briefly captured by the White Fang herself before she was rescued and joined in the joint rescue attempt to save Ruby and Jaune. Only after the first arc did she get her chance to pursue the White Fang once more.
  • Beacon Academy was still under the control of the Grimm in canon, whereas in this fic it has been successfully taken back by a joint Atlas-Vale army in Chapter 28.
  • Unlike in Volume 4, Ghira and Kali Belladonna are not the parents of Blake Belladonna, but her uncle and aunt respectively as UGX7 has already written down her parents for the story.
  • The Headquarters of the White Fang is revealed to be located in Vacuo in this fic, whereas in canon it is still unknown.
  • The destruction of Vale's CCT tower did not affect communications between Kingdoms like in canon, as it was mentioned in this fic that there are backups in place just in case such a situation happened. However, Atlas still has to deal with quite a public relations nightmare after what had gone down during the Vytal Festival in the latter half of Volume 3.
  • The town of Shion was saved by Team Beacon in this story, whereas in Volume 4 it was attacked by the Branwen tribe, then devastated by the Nuckelavee.
  • As Ilia wasn't present during the War for the White Fang, her confrontation with Blake happened several Chapters later at Shade Academy as compared in canon when she fought Blake in the Belladonna Household in Menagerie.
• Broken Pedestal: Ozpin for Jaune, briefly due to what the former has done to Pyrrha.
• Brother–Sister Team: Qrow and Raven after they reunited during The Battle of Haven.
  • Argentius and Soul Seer are also confirmed in Chapter 51 to be such a team too.
• Bus Full of Innocents: Haven Elementary, which is the school Jude holds hostage to force Ashe to hand over both the Aura Crystal and Pyrrha Nikos.
• Butt-Monkey: One of Ante's Enforcers, Tom-Tom, suffers from this quite a few times.
• Calling the Old Man Out: During Chapter 15 Jaune chastises Ozpin for the latter's failures and mistakes, holding him just as responsible as Cinder for the events of Volume 3.
• The Cameo: The first Four Maidens (from the Story of the Seasons) make an appearance in the form of statues in the Maidens Mindscape which the Winter Maiden Elsa brought Pyrrha into.
• Canon Discontinuity: Many things from Volume 4 are completely ignored, and even things from Volume 3 such as the CCT towers. Another example being Cinder's scar she received off-screen at the end of Volume 3, since this fic was written months before the aforementioned Volume was released.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Damien Ante, who replaces Roman Torchwick in this fic.
• Cassandra Truth: After Winter Schnee discovers that Ironwood has been placed under mind control, no one but Chamberlain gives her warnings a second thought.
• The Chase: Several in this fic.
  • Damien Ante and his Enforcers chased Ruby and Jaune throughout the City of Haven in Chapter 6.
  • Ashe chasing Jude after the latter escaped in Chapter 23.
  • The White Fang chasing Team Beacon in Chapter 41.
  • Qrow chasing after Madame Viper in Chapters 69 and 70.
  • Team JNPR, Team CFVY, Ruby, and Sharp Strike chasing after Damien Ante, The Enforcers, Thorn, and Emerald in Chapters 72 and 73.
• The Chessmaster: Cinder is one and by extension Salem is also considered one too.
  • Ozpin also counts for the side of good (and in canon).
• The Chosen One: Hinted in Chapter 51, Ruby Rose was considered to be one.
• Co-Dragons: Cinder, Hazel, Watts, Tyrian, and most recently, Thorn and Anastasia.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Jaune suffers through this in spades while in Cinder's captivity. Ruby as well, but not as much as Jaune.
• Cold Sniper: The Remnant Knight known as Eagle Eye was implied to be one.
• Collective Groan: Yang receives this from the rest of the cast a few times for her puns.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Many of the OC's are given actors and actresses the author would like to hear from them. Please refer to the list in the trivia page for more details.
• Cool Bike: Yang's Bumblebee, of course.
  • The Remnant Knight known as Sharp Strike rides one, and it was revealed to have a secondary "Battle Mode" as seen in Chapter 46. Its name was further revealed to be Swift Wing in Chapter 67.
• Cool Plane: The Hyperion One (officially introduced in Chapter 67), which had been stated as the Mobile Airborne Command Ship (MACS) used by Team Beacon for the third arc. According to the design concept, it looks like a cross between Zephyr One from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avenger from XCOM 2, and serves as their team's personal mobile airship base.
  • Task Force Omega of the Atlas military forces have Falcon One and her other five sister aircraft, which was said to be a slightly advanced, more heavily armed and armored form of the bullheads used by the Kingdoms. From the descriptions alone, it looked like some kind of VTOL-capable transport gunship which can deploy the elite task force into battle very quickly.
  • The Remnant Knights have been mentioned to have a few impressive aircraft of their own, such as Andromeda which was mentioned to be a stealth prowler ship of sorts, and an unnamed one seen in Ashe's flashback which can cloak itself and remain out of sight unless called upon by the knights themselves. Then there is Tempest, which is a stealth airship that transports Sharp Strike to Beacon Academy in Chapter 65.
  • The Atlas Eagles, which make several appearances in the fic, also count as this too.
• Cool Ship: The Resolute, being the personal Atlesian airship of General Ironwood, certainly counts as this.
  • The Spirit of Winter, which is actually an Airborne Assault Carrier commanded by Captain White.
  • The Retribution, which is a Strike Corvette crewed by the elite Task Force Omega of the Atlesian military forces.
  • The Moonlight Serenity, which is a luxurious Atlesian airship which transports the Winter Maiden to Beacon Academy.
  • The Breath of the Wild Storms, which is the personal airship of the Knight Castellan of the Eternal Warriors Knight Legion.
  • The Nautilus II, which is a Altesian battleship with carrier capabilities under the stewardship of Admiral Nemo.
  • Salem's faction, on the other hand, has as of yet unnamed ship with cloaking capabilities that can switch between amphibious craft, submarine and airship modes.
• Cool Sword: Quite a few of these were featured in this fic.
  • Crocea Mors: The sword was Jaune Arc's family sword and his personal signature weapon.
  • Blood Blade: The blade wielded by Fotia Drakos and was subsequently shattered by Jaune Arc during his Death Duel with her.
  • Excalibrus: The badge of office and personal weapon of Grand Knight Master Seraph Pendragon, leader of the Knight Order.
  • Chaos Edge: The blade wielded by the Son of Salem, and was mentioned to be forged from Salem's dark magic and binded with the essence of an Elder Grimm.
  • The third sword wielded by Sharp Strike in Ashe's flashback also counts too, as it was mentioned to be crafted by the weaponsmiths of the Promethean Tribe, but it's name is yet to be known.
• Cool Teacher: Most if not all the teaching staff at Beacon are an example this trope due to all of them being highly experienced Huntsmen and Huntresses.
• The Corrupter: Salem and Cinder towards Ruby and Jaune respectively.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Willow Schnee isn't as bad as he is in canon, but he's still stated to have engaged in a lot of ruthless practices. It's also implied that some of the older members of the board (including Crawford) are much much worse.
• Courtroom Episode: The very aptly named Chapter 27: The Trial of Ozpin.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Anybody killed by Cinder and Norvik.
  • Saul Jude gets this near the end of Chapter 24, but after knowing what he has done, let's just say he got exactly what he deserved.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Quite a few instances.
  • Cinder Fall fighting against Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc when they were both captured by her.
  • Sharp Strike fighting against Captain Hopkins and his White Fang recon team in Chapter 43 counts as well.
  • Sharp Strike single-handedly clearing a room full of White Fang agents in Chapter 45.
  • Sharp Strike and Heliosia fighting against Thorn Branch in Chapter 76.
• Cute Mute: Neo, which Mercury even calls her this, and Piper... for the most part.
• Cute and Psycho: Neo again, who has shades of this when rescuing Ruby, Jaune, and Ozpin.
• Cyborg: Like in canon, Yang got a new mechanical replacement arm that comes with a variety of equipment built into it, including a miniature missile launcher, a hidden blade that comes out of her robotic wrist, and a number of really useful gadgets.
  • Jude becomes this after nearly dying the first time he fought Ashe.
  • Sun gets a new mechanical tail replacement after his original tail got cut off by Adam. He still has some difficulty getting used to it.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Ultimate Attack, as taught by Ashe to both Jaune and Ruby. We get to see how devastating it can be in Chapter 24, as Saul Jude was killed off pretty painfully using that attack.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Hoo boy...
  • Ashe Kasai: His parents were murdered by his sister Cinder in her single-minded pursuit for power (which he doesn't know), his significant other Mila was murdered by Saul Jude for saving him, and the latter died with their child still in her womb. He then spent the next few decades Walking the Earth with the Aura Crystal and looking for Cinder while believing that she was still alive and well, only to find out that she had been corrupted by Salem and given the awful truth that she actually murdered their parents.
  • Adam Taurus: He and his parents were forced into slavery by corrupt members of the Schnee Dust Company, and his father Tarvos was gunned down because he caused an insurrection within the mines, his mother Iona was killed during an escape attempt, and his younger sister Lily was heavily implied to have starved to death and her body was thrown into the ocean and fed by seagulls.
  • Blake Belladonna: Her parents, motivated by the bigotry around them, broke off from the original White Fang to join more radical groups, but a riot broke out one day and they were killed in said riot. She was then raised by her aunt Kali and uncle Ghira as well as Claudandus, the latter of which was the founder of the White Fang. When a young Adam joined the White Fang and told her about his own past she became more disillusioned with the direction the White Fang was going and the lack of chances for equality. Years later, she joined Adam in overthrowing Claudandus and helped him take over the White Fang. However, as Adam's methods got more and more extreme, Blake eventually became wary of him which resulted in the events of the show's canon, and the rest is history.
  • Sharp Strike: From what we do know in Chapter 54, it was mentioned he was also a survivor of a...certain horrifying event (not unlike Ren and Nora) that led to the death of his family and everyone he knew in the hometown of Himawari, before his recruitment into the Remnant Knights.
• Dead Man Writing: Most of Chapter 37 is made up of audio journals in the form of an Apocalyptic Log from White Fang characters who have already been killed at a remote White Fang base.
• Deadpan Snarker: The majority of characters in this fic are prone to this. Especially Blake and Coco.
• Death by Origin Story: Cinder and Ashe's parents, Mila (Ashe's beloved), Adam's family, Blake's parents.
• Death by Adaptation: Cardin is killed during the Battle of Beacon.
  • Raven is killed by Cinder during the battle of Haven sacrificing herself to save Qrow.
• Death Is Dramatic: All of the major deaths in the story are treated very seriously, especially Pyrrha's.
• Death of a Child:
  • Pyrrha's parents Zeus and Hera had to live 4 months believing their child had been killed in the heat of battle, so understandably, they were overcome with emotion when they see Pyrrha alive and well.
  • Dr. Polendina learns that General Ironwood intends to have his daughter Penny become a suicide bomber to eliminate Cinder, and not too long after he managed to rebuild her. Dr. Polendina can't convince Ironwood not to go through with this decision and he's upset when Ironwood uses the justification that she's Just a Machine and not his child.
  • Adam's little sister died when she was only five years old. Her death, along with the rest of his family, was what drove him to hate humanity so much.
  • Ashe and Mila's child was killed when his pregnant fiancé died to save him.
• Depraved Bisexual: Ante is hinted to be this at a few points, but doesn't seem to have much attraction to men outside of one or two brief references.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Ashe before he met Team RNJR who were on their way to Haven.
• Determinator: On both sides of good and evil, we have quite a few.
  • On the heroes' side, we have Ashe, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ruby, Sharp Strike.
  • On the villains' side, we have Adam, Jude, Norvik.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: A variant happened in in Chapter 14, in which Jaune literally told off Salem of all people.
• Died Happily Ever After: Ashe and Mila were reunited in the afterlife at the end of Chapter 25.
• Disney Villain Death: Adam gets this in Chapter 47. Blake is forced to kick him off her and is sent plummeting to his death from thousands of feet in the air. His body impacting the ground is also gruesomely detailed at the start of the next chapter.
• The Dog Bites Back: Fotia turns on Salem when she realizes that she was nothing but a pawn to her and The Dark Queen was willing to let her die. She allows Jaune to help her regain her memory and become Pyrrha again.
• Don't Think, Feel: This is how Argentius advised Ruby to gain control of her Silver Eye powers in Chapter 51.
• Doorstopper: With over 907,000 words on Fan Fiction, this is one of the highest word count fics on the site. And with a final Arc coming, it will easily get past 1,000,000 words soon. On AO3, it has the highest word count by far.
• The Dragon: Cinder and the rest of the evil faction is this for Salem.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Done a few times by the heroes and heroines of Team Beacon, especially in Chapters 40 and 45.
• Driven to Suicide: Ulysses Cy, when he's found out as Salem's spy within Atlas. He does this in hopes that killing himself will prevent Salem from killing his family. Sadly, it doesn't.
• Drives Like Crazy: One of Ante's Enforcers, Douglas is this to the point where West wonders if he's aiming for the buildings in Haven.
  • Adam is this when chasing after Team Beacon in Chapter 41.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Ashe, Taiyang, and Qrow being The Alcoholic of course, all partake in this at one point.
• Due to the Dead: Ashe Kasai got a burial attended by those who knew him in 25.
  • Also in Chapter 25, the rest of Ante's Enforcers dug graves for both Zhan and Douglas at the edge of town and said their goodbyes.
  • In Chapter 48, Sharp Strike comforts a dying White Fang scout and promised to convey his love to his family before the said scout passed away due to his injuries.
  • In Chapter 55, Sharp Strike performed a solemn vigil to remember the deceased people of his hometown of Himawari.
• Duel to the Death: Ashe versus Jude in Chapter 24, and very nearly with Jaune versus Fotia in Chapter 14.
• Duels Decide Everything: Salem decides to have Jaune and Fotia fight to the death, whoever wins will serve her and the loser... well it said so in the rule book.
• Don't Think, Feel: This is how Argentius advised Ruby to gain control of her Silver Eye powers in Chapter 51.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Done a few times by the heroes and heroines of Team Beacon, especially in Chapters 40 and 45.
• Driven to Suicide: Ulysses Cy, when he's found out as Salem's spy within Atlas. He does this in hopes that killing himself will prevent Salem from killing his family. Sadly, it doesn't.
• Drives Like Crazy: One of Ante's Enforcers, Douglas is this to the point where West wonders if he's aiming for the buildings in Haven.
  • Adam is this when chasing after Team Beacon in Chapter 41.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Ashe, Taiyang, and Qrow being The Alcoholic of course, all partake in this at one point.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Sharp Strike's appearance in the White Fang arc has been hinted a few times, such as during the secret meeting between Ozpin and Shadow Reaper, and particularly a news report about a mysterious Huntsman saving a village single-handedly when Team Beacon arrived at Sun Wukong's home in Hondayama.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: A few examples.
  • Ashe has earned this, although he had given up his life in the process, but he was reunited with his beloved Mila in the afterlife.
  • Jaune and Pyrrha went through hell, more than earning a happy life together. However, as they are still targeted specifically by Salem, but as long they have each other, they'll be happy.
• Earth All Along: In a certain way as during Chapter 13, Ashe reveals what the Aura Crystal taught him was that Remnant was once Earth, but the shattering of the moon brought upon the end of the world, meaning that the world of Remnant is set thousands of years After the End. Based on Cinder's comments about the "Seventh Millennium" it's even possible to pinpoint the date as being about 6,998 AD
• Eating the Eye Candy: One of Jaune's seven sisters, Shani Arc briefly saw Ashe topless when she opened the bathroom door. Judging from her blushing expression, she did really like what she saw.
  • Ilia Amitola apparently did enjoy the unintentional eye candy when she was spying on the Summer Maiden in Chapter 62.
• Electric Torture: Jaune suffers this in Chapter 10, and it is very...unpleasant.
• Elevator Escape: Jaune and Ruby took this trope and ran with it in Chapter 6 at the Seras Kalifa building.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: There's a number of reasons why Task Force Omega of the Altesian military are respected (and feared) by the common rank and file, as they are recruited according to incredibly stringent criteria and their specializations.
  • The Elite Guard of the White Fang. They are highly skilled and dangerous fighters, and act as the White Fang's heavy hitters when push comes to shove. The sheer fact they gave Team Beacon quite a bit of trouble even with Qrow and Winter's help speaks volumes about their combat prowess.
• Elite Mooks: The Elite Guard of the White Fang again. They get much more development, are far stronger, and aren't as loyal to Adam as the normal White Fang Troopers.
  • Of course, Adam being Crazy-Prepared for something like this, has his own Elite Mooks in the form of the Oblivion Vanguards, who were only loyal to him and gave Team Beacon as well as the White Fang Elite Guard quite a bit of trouble during the Enemy Civil War.
• Emotional Powers: Ashe and Jaune share an emotion semblance, where their strength and moves are powered by their emotions.
• Enemy Civil War: Essentially what happened to the White Fang in Chapters 46 - 47 after the conclusion of Blake and Adam's duel for leadership of the White Fang and Adam's crimes having been broadcasted to every single White Fang cell on Remnant.
• Ensemble Cast: The cast for Destiny of Remnant is quite large, and most of them are important to the story in some way, OC or not.
• Explosive Leash: Salem gives one to Damien Ante in the form of a microscopic explosive device implanted into his neck due to the fact he released the Grimm Chimera early which killed Victor Giger.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Cinder, surprisingly despite everything she has done, still cares for her younger brother Ashe. She's quite uncomfortable about killing Ashe, but eventually went through with it because she couldn't disobey her master Salem, and because she has already chosen her fate.
• Even Evil Has Standards: A few examples are seen in this fic.
  • Emerald Sustrai, while being a disciple of Cinder Fall, is uncomfortable with the rest of Salem's Inner Circle like Tyrian, Dr. Giger and Damien Ante, not to mention not taking Salem's punishment for Cinder (leaving Ruby's scythe scar on her face) with regards to her failure in Haven well at all.
  • Zhan was shown to have regrets about fighting children as he clearly regrets stabbing Octavia, and refuses to help torture Jaune or help Jude break Ashe mentally. He gets killed for his trouble for the last part.
  • Trooper, while being one of Ante's Enforcers, is evidently uncomfortable with how Salem treats those who worked for her, which planted a seed of doubt which eventually saw him helping the heroes secretly whenever he can.
  • Ante himself is loyal to his men, going so far as to help Ashe defeat Saul due to the later murdering one of his men.
  • The pirate gangs of Remnant frequently attack cargo ships and plunder from those unfortunate crew, but kidnapping and selling children off to slavery is a BIG no-no in their books, and breaking that "pirate code" of sorts is punishable by death.
  • EVERYONE (except maybe Tyrian) in Salem's inner circle is rather disturbed by Norvik's bloodlust.
• Evil Mentor: Cinder tries to be this for Ruby. While Ruby selectively took her advice, thankfully she didn't fall under Cinder's influence.
• Evil Virtues: Damien Ante might be a Jerkass, but he's loyal to his Enforcers who in turn are loyal to him as well.
  Damien Ante: To inspire loyalty in his men a leader must be loyal to them.
• The Three Faces of Eve: Surprisingly, the three remaining Maidens fit into this category nicely.
  • Amethyst Rilo, the Spring Maiden is the free-spirited, cheerful and idealistic child.
  • Heliosia Ainea, the Summer Maiden is the mature, beautiful and (unintentionally) alluring seductress.
  • Elsa Vorst, the Winter Maiden is the dignified, regal and motherly wife.
• Three-Point Landing: The Spring Maiden Amethyst does this during her Bar Brawl in Chapter 54.
  • Done by the Summer Maiden Heliosia Ainea in Chapter 63 during a sparring match at Shade Academy against Team BRNZ.
• Faceless Goons: Subverted, once Adam's crimes are exposed many of the White Fang troopers turn on him by removing their masks.
• Fallen Hero: Sheer Kaa and Steppenwolfe both fought for Faunus Liberation when they were still mortal. Salem herself was the Winter Maiden.
• Fanservice: There is the occasional detailed description of the bodies for both genders. There's also a brief moment where Coco forces Velvet to wear a belly dancer outfit in Chapter 33.
• Fantastic Racism: Adam and multiple White Fang members towards humans, and Willow Schnee towards Faunus at first.
• Faux Affably Evil: Damien Ante, again.
• Fix Fic: The main reason the author wrote the fic was to bring Pyrrha back and to make Cinder Fall a much more complex and, in his opinion, less bland and Mary Sue-ish, villain.
• Flashback: Multiple times to set up Ashe's backstory and other significant events, as well as to flesh out the backstories of various canon characters and Original Characters.
• For Want Of A Nail: Due to the nature of the story, the various characters of the RWBY universe have caused profound impacts on both certain canonical and fanwork events.
  • Team Beacon helped to save the town of Shion in Mistral from the Grimm which resulted in it avoiding the fate of being attacked by the Branwen Tribe in canon. Fridge Logic sets in however with the fact that the former happened after the latter in canon.
• Foreshadowing: A few examples.
  • There are several subtle hints as to who Fotia really is and several more regarding how she'll be restored.
  • There are also several hints, mentions and references to the eventual appearance of The Remnant Knights at the end of the second arc.
  • The other three Maidens (Spring, Summer and Winter) were also mentioned quite a number of times in both Arc One and Arc Two, before their first appearance in Arc Three as well.
• Freudian Excuse: Ashe's past tragedies makes him act like a jerk at times. The same goes for both Emerald and Mercury too. Adam's also revealed to have suffered an absolutely hellish upbringing, though at the same time it's made clear his actions are inexcusable.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Velvet tells Adam that while she feels sorry for what he's endured, it does NOT excuse his actions, especially since he inflicted many of the same crimes on any Faunus who dared disagree with him.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Cinder Fall and Adam Taurus, big time. Also Mercury and Emerald to an certain extent. Thorn Branch was also a lowly minion of Garrett Odinson before Salem saw potential in her for something more.
• Fun with Acronyms: The Atlas military, in this fic, has S.W.O.R.D. which stands for Special Weapons and Operations Response Division.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Salem and any of the other Grimm Hybrids.
  • The same happens to Jaune and Pyrrha when they use their Grimm Commander abilities.
• Good Is Not Nice: Ashe at times, and a number of characters on the heroes side like Qrow also counts. Some of the Remnant Knights, especially Sharp Strike, are this too.
• Good Parents: The Arc parents and the Nikos parents, and the Scarlatina parents.
  • And from the flashbacks, The Kasai Parents are also this as well.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: For quite a few characters in this fic.
  • Cinder Fall gets a scar on her face courtesy of Ruby in Chapter 20.
  • Shadow Reaper was revealed to have quite a few scars on his face when he removed his helmet to Ozpin, explicitly mentioned in the narration that those scars had been inflicted on him by an unspecified Grimm creature literally chewing his face off.
• Great Offscreen War: As mentioned in Chapter 56, The Great Wars (that's right, plural) that have ravaged Remnant in the past and created the current state of the world of Remnant today are still frequently referenced within the fanfic itself.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Salem is revealed to serve a force called The Darkness (which according to the author is modeled after the Nothing from the Never-ending Story). The Darkness is a malevolent force that has conquered countless universes over the years, with Remnant (which was once Earth) as it's latest target.
  • A lesser example is Alan Crawford, the Board Chairman of the SDC. To put it in perspective, he's the one who spearheaded the large scale abduction of innocent Faunus to work in off the books mines and then ordered their murder when things became inconvenient, which makes him responsible for Adam Taurus' Start of Darkness (and thus the one indirectly responsible for Adam's atrocities).
• Guilt Complex: Jaune has this at times for what happened to Pyrrha in Volume 3, and Ruby also shows shades of this in regard to the same incident.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Qrow does this to Wade, the warden of the White Fang prison, with his personal weapon.
• Hallway Fight: Prominently done in Chapter 15 between multiple characters, and it is very intense.
• Has a Type: Coco thinks Blake has a thing for blondes, given her interest in Sun and Yang.
• Hauled Before a Senate Subcommittee: In Chapter 27's flashbacks, Headmaster Ozpin was hauled before the Vale Council to answer for the events that had happened in Volumes 1 - 3.
• Healing Factor: Damien Ante's Semblance was revealed to be this.
• Heel–Face Turn: Quite a few characters have defected from the villains side.
  • Neo makes her defection official in Chapter 15.
  • Trooper and Ziz aren't too keen on working with Salem after seeing what happened to those who served her, and although they have secretly helped the heroes they aren't defecting yet.
  • All of the members of the White Fang Elite Guard and a good many members of the White Fang once they find out about Adam's crimes.
• Heroic BSoD: We have quite a number.
  • Ashe when he discovers that Mila was pregnant when she died and again when he learns that Jude survived and he couldn't properly avenge Mila.
  • Ruby when she accidentally killed two thugs.
  • Rebuilt Penny when she sees a recording of her death.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Again, quite a few examples.
  • Raven Takes The Blade to save Qrow from Cinder.
  • Jaune did this to save Pyrrha from Cinder's arrow once more.
  • Cardin did this to prevent the Grimm Chimera from attacking the other members of the joint rescue team.
  • An Atlesian Armoured Carrier tried to do this to save other Atlas Soldiers and Vacuo Rangers from being massacred by a White Fang Paladin, but sadly it failed and got itself destroyed instead.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: And how.
  • Giger is killed by the Grimm Chimera monster he created.
  • Ante (temporarily) lost his arm due to Jaune impaling the crime boss's hand with his explosive daggers and Yang shooting it.
  • Adam's crimes are what causes many of the White Fang to turn on him.
  • In Chapter 55, Doctor Merlot (from Grimm Eclipse) was mentioned to be killed by one of his unsuccessful Grimm creations as well.
• Hope Spot: During the White Fang arc, Team Beacon has escaped from the Fang's prison after getting the evidence of Adam's crimes and got evacuated with the help of a Vacuo Ranger ship. However, their escape craft was shot down, forcing them to fight Adam and the White Fang Elite Guard head on.
• Hostage Situation: In Chapter 23, where Ashe has to face Jude who is holding an entire elementary school hostage.
  • Adam takes Sun Wukong's family hostage in Chapter 34.
  • Very briefly when Team Beacon was under the White Fang's mercy during Chapter 43 - 45.
• Human Chess: Like in canon, Ozpin and Salem are this as leaders of their respective factions for the fate of Remnant. However Ozpin has refused to see his associates as chess pieces after his brief capture by Salem in this continuity.
• Humanoid Abomination: The Grimm Hybrids, and Salem are basically this.
  • The precursor to the Grimm Commanders, known as the Sin Commanders which are featured in the prequel RWBY: Crucible, are even more so.
• Humans Are Bastards: Adam's whole backstory, and boy is it tragic. See Dark and Troubled Past above for more details.
• Humongous Mecha: The Atlesian Paladins are these, and so are the stolen White Fang Paladins which had been modified extensively by the White Fang.
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Ante, under the orders of Cinder, placed a bounty of two million lien on both Jaune and Ruby each to capture them for Salem's own twisted purposes. The rest of Team JN-R and SSSN got five thousand lien each, and Ashe Kasai himself got a price of twenty-five thousand lien on his head, and to be captured alive. They nearly succeed.
  • As mentioned in Chapter 50, Salem's priorities have changed slightly in the form that she wants Jaune and Pyrrha to be recaptured, and the acquisition of the Aura Crystal. She has also issued orders for Tyrian to search for the Summer Maiden, but whether to capture or kill her is still debatable.
• Hypocrite: Adam Taurus inflicts many of the same atrocities that were inflicted on him and his family on other Faunus who disagree with him (the most notable instances being maiming Faunus by cutting off their animal parts, and holding a sword to Hualin's throat even though she's the same age as his dead sister), which ultimately undermines his claim to the moral high ground.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: The death duel between Jaune and Fotia, who is actually Pyrrha, is centered on this.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Both Yang and Sun for Blake, but thankfully they worked out a compromise which is great for both parties.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Norvik, better known as Ozpin's nemesis, has a taste for Huntsmen...
• Implacable Man: Ashe takes an insane amount of damage throughout Chapters 23 and 24, and yet just keeps on going. Briefly turns out to be a Mook Horror Show for the various gang members fighting him as Ashe went into what certain readers described as "Full-On Punisher" mode for the duration of the two chapters.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon: It's a RWBY fanfic story, so obviously characters from both sides have them.
  • Damien Ante has explosive daggers that can be detonated remotely.
  • Tom-Tom has a shotgun-mullet hybrid weapon.
  • If you think Crescent Rose (Ruby) and Reaper (Qrow) are cool, meet Iconoclast which belonged to the Remnant Knight known as Argentius. It basically is a double-bladed scythe which can also become both a large broadsword and a high-caliber double-barrelled assault rifle capable of rapid fire and single shot configurations.
  • Soul Seer has a flower-shaped staff named Life's Requiem which can become a railgun-esque bow to fire magically or glyph charged bolts over incredible distances.
  • Shadow Reaper has a pair of gunswords named ShadeSlayers.
  • Forge Smith has a mighty warhammer named Mjolnira, whose ability have yet to be seen.
  • Wood Cutter has a shotgun-axe hybrid weapon as seen in a flashback in Chapter 52.
• Infodump: We have a few instances at the moment.
  • In Chapter 13 has Ashe and the teachers of Beacon explain the situation and what exactly Salem is, along with the history of Remnant.
  • In Chapter 50, Salem tells her inner circle about The renowned Promethean Tribe of weaponsmiths who defied her, as well as the Relics of Remnant which she would need to complete her grand plan.
  • In Chapters 51 and 52, Ozpin's Guardians of Remnant and The Remnant Knights themselves explain the formation of the Knight Order and the reasons why they work in the shadows to protect Remnant, while Ruby gets to know more about the Silver-Eyed warriors from an important conversation with Argentius. Jaune also gets to know that his family actually has a history with The Knights of Remnant too.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Ashe and Team RNJR.
• It's Personal: Quite a few examples.
  • Jaune and Ruby against Cinder Fall.
  • Ashe against Jude.
  • Blake, Sun, and Yang against Adam.
• Jerkass: Ashe comes across as one at times. Mercury and Russel too.
• Joker Immunity: Jude to the point that Ashe even lampshades it, saying that the former's becoming more annoying than actually being a threat.
• Just a Machine: Averted. While most of the cast see Penny as a living being, some Atlas military personnel think this about her, especially with brainwashed Ironwood being pretty vocal about it.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Alan Crawford, the guy who ultimately caused Adam Taurus's Start of Darkness is stated to have gotten away with his crimes for decades before the events of Chapter 90 see him finally put behind bars. For added Irony Blake (Who was abused by Adam) is the one who gets to slap the cuffs on him.
• Kick the Dog: Happens quite a few times in the fic.
  • Jaune and Ruby suffer this multiple times when they are captured by Cinder.
  • Blake, Sun, Velvet and Penny also get it when they are captured by the White Fang during the second arc.
• Kill It with Fire: Fireball, the pyromaniac member of Damien Ante's Enforcers, plays this trope throughout every scene that involves him until his eventual death in Chapter 77.
• Killing in Self-Defense: Ruby and Jaune are forced to do this in Chapter 7, and Blake is forced to kill Adam near the end of Chapter 47.
• Knight Errant: Sharp Strike shows some shades of this, judging from his actions.
• Knight Templar: Fotia has been brainwashed into being this by Salem and Cinder, but Adam is this BIG TIME, while Cinder and the other villains have shades of this.
  • It has been hinted that some of The Remnant Knights might also have shades of this too.
• Lady and Knight: Jaune and Pyrrha, Elsa and her lover Kaifin.
  • The other Maidens and their Knight Vanguard protectors also count as well.
• Large Ham: Ante, Jude and Norvik are all written this way.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Fotia Drakos suffers from this due to Salem and Cinder's actions to prevent her from remembering that she was actually Pyrrha Nikos.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Some characters become this trope in this fic.
  • Velvet Scarlatina in particular goes from being a very shy and quiet girl to one who would bravely fight alongside her friends to protect them, and during the White Fang arc, she has quite a few action scenes devoted to showing her mastery with her own personal weapon.
• Little Miss Badass: Ruby and Penny, of course.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Many of the characters (especially Jaune, Ruby, and Blake) rely on their friends and family members to keep them sane.
• Lock-and-Load Montage: Happened to the massive team of Huntsmen and Huntresses before the Battle of Haven.
  • Happens again when Team Beacon plans their assault on the White Fang's jamming towers in Chapter 45.
• Long-Lost Relative: Ashe for Cinder.
• Love Triangle: Averted, as Blake, Yang, and Sun compromise and have a three-way relationship.
• Mad Scientist: Giger, by the gods, Giger. What do you expect from someone who shares the same name as the artist who created the Xenomorphs from the Aliens Franchise?
  • Dr. Arthur Watts has shades of this too.
• Magic Plastic Surgery: The Aura Crystal does this to Jaune and Pyrrha to restore them to their normal appearances, but it doesn't get rid of the other effects of being Grimm hybrids.
• Magnetic Hero: Despite being a Butt-Monkey in canon, like said canon (and this fic) Jaune is actually a very effective leader in the story. This is due to his natural leadership qualities and strategic thinking which leads to the other teams to trust intrinsically in his decision making.
• Mama Bear: Professor Glynda Goodwitch for her students.
• Manipulative Bastard: Adam, and Salem. Ozpin count as well too, for the side of the heroes.
• Mark of Shame: Adam inflicts this on Faunus who attempt to leave the White Fang by amputating their animal features.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Happens a few times in this fic.
  • Everyone in the warehouse once Ashe reveals what Salem wants for the Grimm.
  • When Cinder and her associates realise that they are coming under attack by a huge combined Huntsman and Huntress team plus her younger brother.
  • The White Fang when they realize that the signal jamming towers hiding the Headquarters were all blown up, which meant a massive attack is imminent.
  • Team Beacon, when they saw the Sand Devourer, which is an Elder Grimm version of a Sanus Deathworm.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: The Arc family, as Jaune Arc has seven elder sisters, and one of which is already married and have children of her own.
• Meaningful Name: There are quite a few characters who have names like these.
  • The Kasai family has used fire-themed names like Kojin (Japanese God of Fire) and Ember (a small piece of burning coal or wood), which is appropriate since Kasai literally means out of control fire in Japanese. Cinder and Ashe's names also apply as well as Cinder is actually Ashe's elder sister, since what comes after cinders is ashes.
  • The individual Remnant Knights in particular, are named after certain traits like their skills, abilities, and appearance. For example, Sharp Strike is given that aforementioned name due to his impressive dual-wielding sword skills.
  • The Chief Librarian of the Grand Temple of Vacuo's Archives was named Vidya, which is fitting because Vidya primarily means science, learning, philosophy, knowledge, scholarship, any knowledge whether true or false.
• Mecha Expansion Pack: N1CK3L has shown to be able to use a number of different battle suits named Armor Packs to increase his combat effectiveness in battle. So far the known battle suits revealed in the fic are:
  • Mark II Full Armour Defense System: An experimental bipedal powered exoskeleton battle suit armed to the teeth with beam rifle, gatling guns, gauss gun, missile launchers, and claymore mines.
  • Aile Integrated Armor Pack: A flight-capable exoskeleton battle suit armed with a high-powered thrusters backpack, multiple racks of missiles, two shoulder-mounted railgun cannons, two handheld multi-barreled laser rifles and twin batteries of mini-missiles within its forearms.
• Mecha-Mooks: The Grimm Knights for Salem's faction. An inversion would be the Atlesian Knight-300 (and the phased-out 200) series which were used for the Atlas military forces.
• Megaton Punch: Jaune delivers one to Cinder in Chapter 8 after he got pushed a little too much, and boy was it so satisfying.
• Mentor Archetype: Argentius of the Remnant Knights is this to Ruby Rose in this fic, except that he's also an experienced warrior too.
  • Both Argentius and Soul Seer serves as this to the young Remnant Knight known as Sharp Strike as well.
• Mercy Kill: In Chapter 77, Trooper does this to Fireball, a fellow Enforcer who had been turned into a living torch when his flamethrower weapon was ruptured.
• Mini-Mecha: N1CK3L's Mark II Full Armour Defense System most definitely counts as this.
• Missing Mom: Summer Rose as per canon. However, the real details with regards to her death aren't fully revealed yet...
• The Mole: So far we have two, but it has been implied that Salem has many other agents working for her hidden elsewhere.
  • Ulysses Cy: Salem's spy in the Atlas military forces, albeit unwillingly due to her I Have Your Wife (and kid) threat.
  • Cedric: Another mole of Salem's faction planted within Shade Academy, working as Headmistress Luna Aria's secretary. Whether it's willing or not remains to be seen.
• More Dakka: Whenever we have huge battle sequences in this fic, this is bound to happen in spades.
• Mundane Utility: For a relic that supposedly contain the Aura essences of numerous deceased people who had died during the devastating event known as The Great Shattering, Jaune used it as a way to dazzle and entertain his baby niece Arabella.
• My Greatest Failure: We have a few examples.
  • For Ashe, it was that he was not being able to protect Mila.
  • For Jaune and Ruby, it was not being able to save Pyrrha.
• Neck Snap: How Cinder kills Douglas, who was one of Ante's Enforcers.
• Not Afraid to Die: Ashe, full stop. After whatever hell he has gone through, it's totally justified.
• Not Quite Dead: Pyrrha. Penny also counts as well.
• The Nothing After Death: In this fanfic, one of the four afterlives souls go to is called The Nothing, which Ashe describes as a place for souls so evil that Hell itself won't accept them, an endless void of nothing where they will spend the rest of eternity alone and forgotten. The only known souls currently residing there are Saul Jude and Adam Taurus.
• Odd Friendship: Team RJNR and the others with Ashe, since the latter is actually Cinder's younger brother.
• Off with His Head!: Several of Cinder's henchmen get this treatment, notably Giger.
  • Raven decapitated one of Cinder's henchman in this way in Chapter 15.
  • Sharp Strike does this to a White Fang scout in Chapter 43.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Quite a few in this fic.
  • Qrow mentioned an encounter when Team STRQ fought a Grimm Kraken together in the past, and apparently Summer Rose was the one who dealt the killing blow.
  • Sharp Strike mentioned he fought a Grimm sea dragon on board a passenger ship during his travel to Vacuo during his debriefing.
  • Argentius mentioned he killed a Grimm Kraken during a particularly difficult mission for the Knight Order in the past.
  • Averted with Operation Fracture, in which we see how the different Remnant Knight Legions launch simultaneous attacks on the White Fang throughout the various continents on Remnant.
  • It has been mentioned that Sharp Strike and Argentius had faced a Grimm Sphinx and a horde of accompanying Manticores during a past mission in Mistral. Not only did they both survive, but the Sphinx and Manticores were also all wiped out.
• Oh Crap!: Multiple times in this fic.
  • Cinder Fall, when she realised that she has pissed off Pyrrha by shooting Jaune who took the arrow meant for her.
  • When Blake and Velvet both received messages from their contacts that the White Fang and The Elite Guard are mobilizing to fight them.
  • Team Beacon, when they realized that their extraction craft has been destroyed and they have to fight the White Fang and The Elite Guard.
  • Hopkins, when he realized that he was alone as Sharp Strike had taken out his entire White Fang recon team.
  • When Steppenwolffe, a Grimm Commander, realized that he was fighting a Remnant Knight who was significantly more powerful than him.
  • In Chapter 51, when Argentius realized that Ruby was in a separate mindscape with a Dreameater, which is an Elder Grimm.
• Older Than They Look: Salem had been around for quite some time, and so does Ozpin.
  • Cinder was able to stay young because Salem did something to her genetic makeup.
  • Soul Seer was able to maintain a youthful appearance due to her intense Aura control.
• The Order: We have two in this fic.
  • Ozpin's Guardians of Remnant
  • The Remnant Knights (also known as The Knight Order of Remnant).
• Our Dragons Are Different: The Grimm Wyvern and other types of Grimm dragons are hinted to reappear in the upcoming third arc.
• Out-Gambitted: Happens during the major fight scenes.
  • In Chapter 76, Thorn Branch anticipated fighting Heliosia the Summer Maiden alone, but was Crazy-Prepared enough to put at least a dozen Red Fang agents hidden in the Colosseum to Zerg Rush her and wear her down in case things don't go as anticipated. Anticipating a trap, Heliosia fought Thorn alone to keep her occupied while Sharp Strike discreetly took out the hidden Red Fang agents which deprived Thorn of another advantage when she realized that she was way over her head fighting both a Maiden and a Remnant Knight.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Pyrrha's parents suffered from this after the events of Volume 3 and suffered horribly. Thankfully for them it wasn't permanent.
• Papa Wolf: If you have a Huntsman as your father, this definitely counts.
  • Qrow and Taiyang for Ruby and Yang.
  • Razor for Piper and the rest of the Elite Guard.
  • Ashe, while not related to any of the children, scores some particularly brutal kills on the gang who worked with Jude to hold the elementary school hostage.
• Physical Goddess: Implied to be Salem's ultimate goal.
  • The Four Maidens, Who are revealed as Amethyst Rilo, Heliosia Ainea, Amber and Elsa Vorst, also counts as well due to the amazing powers given to them by The Wizard.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: Happens twice in the fic so far.
  • After the battle of Haven ends, Ashe still has one more battle to go through with Jude...
  • Ruby encountered an Elder Grimm known as the Dreameater in the mindscape after the climax of the White Fang arc.
• Posthumous Character: So far we have Mila, Ashe and Cinder's parents, Jaune's ancestors Luc and Lorenzo Arc, Blake's parents, Summer Rose.
• Power Parasite: Cinder demonstrated this ability by absorbing Raven's aura and energy in Chapter 18.
• Powered Armor: We have a few instances.
  • The Dark Armor is worn by Dr. Toma Sherizawa in Chapter 15 most definitely counts.
  • The various elite troopers of Atlas's Task Force Omega wore specialized variations of Powered Armor suits.
  • The Aegis Armor is worn by the Remnant Knights also count as well.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: We have a few.
  • "You have made it so easy for me to choose who to start with." - said by Sharp Strike before he wipes the floor with Captain Hopkins's White Fang recon team.
• Precision F-Strike: Several for the main characters. While adults such as Qrow and Ashe swear freely, the Huntsmen and Huntresses in training only do so in very emotional or desperate situations.
• Predecessor Villain: Yuri and Christina, the first and second Grimm Queens. Yuri was stated to have been recruited in the aftermath of the shattering, while Christina was her apprentice.
• Pretentious Latin Motto: As seen from Badass Creed above, the motto of Atlas's Task Force Omega is simply Exitus Acta Probat (which translates from Latin to "The end justifies the means").
• Prevent the War: Weiss, Winter, Team CFVY, Flynt and Neon all work together to break Penny out of Atlas Military Headquarters and away from Ironwood so that she will not become a suicide bomber designed to kill off Cinder, because if the bomb is compromised it would spark a war between Atlas and Mistral.
• Prophecies Rhyme All the Time: Ashe notes that several prophecies regarding the Aura Crystal rhyme and wonders why. Sadly, due to his death we might not get the answer anytime soon.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Damien Ante, once more.
  • Oh, Tyrian Callows as well.
• Psychopomp: All of those with a bird transformation Semblance end up as this, but with different plains of the afterlife depending on which species. So far we have the following:
  • Crows take souls to Purgatory.
  • Sparrows take souls to Hell.
  • Doves take souls to Elysium.
  • Ravens take souls to Nothingness.
• Punched Across the Room: Jaune, of all people, manages to do this to Cinder. Justified as he is fuelled by his rage over what she did to Pyrrha.
• Punished for Sympathy: Cinder is forced to kill Ashe when Salem senses that she's horrified with what her brother is going through.
• Punny Name: Thorn suspects this is the true reason Salem chose Cinder Fall to be the Fall Maiden.
• Purple Is Powerful: Amethyst, who is the Spring Maiden in this fanfic, has this colour for her overall costume design.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: Quite a few examples.
  • Emerald and Mercury for Cinder Fall.
  • The Enforcers for Damien Ante.
  • The Elite Guard for the White Fang.
  • Cinder, Hazel, Tyrian, Watts, Thorn and Anastasia for Salem.
  • Glynda, Ironwood, Qrow, Councillor Henry, Taiyang, and Seraph for Ozpin.
  • The Knights of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water for Grand Knight Master Seraph Pendragon.
  • Seen again in Chapter 51, Argentius, Soul Seer, Forge Smith, Shadow Reaper for Seraph once more.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Done by Heliosia the Summer Maiden during her fight with Thorn Branch.
• Rasputinian Death: Ashe, Adam, and Jude all die such deaths.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: We get a couple of these in this fic.
  • Jaune gives one to Salem in Chapter 14, which doubles as a Shout-Out to The Exorcist III.
  • Velvet gives one to Adam in Chapter 43.
  • Blake gives one again to Adam in Chapter 45.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Glynda, Ozpin, Qrow, Argo, and Ironwood after his brainwashing episode is over.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: The Grimm, of course. And most recently in Chapter 55... the Son of Salem is this.
  • The Grimm Knights and their variants also count as well.
  • The Red Fang as well when they were revealed in the third arc.
• Redemption Equals Death: For Cardin and Zhan.
• Rescue Arc: Chapters 13 - 20 deal with most of the named cast working together to save both Ruby and Jaune from Cinder and her associates.
• The Reveal: Quite a few examples again.
  • A major one in Chapter 7, in which Ashe and Cinder are siblings.
  • The ending of Chapter 10 reveals who Fotia Drakos really is; Pyrrha Nikos.
  • The ending of Chapter 37 is this for Ozpin and his group as they find out that Norvik didn't die and has been converted into a Grimm Chimera by Salem.
  • Chapter 42 reveals what is under Adam's mask, a slave brand of the Schnee Dust Company.
  • Chapters 50, 51 and 52 reveals a lot of details on The Remnant Knights, especially on why Qrow and Taiyang knew about them, and why Jaune's family had a history with them.
  • Chapter 50 also reveals where The other three Maidens had gone, as well as what happened to the four Relics of Remnant.
  • Chapter 51 reveals that The Remnant Knights are indeed real and not just legends, and they have been fighting a secret war against Salem's faction alongside the Guardians of Remnant.
  • Chapter 53 has one in which Cinder was informed by Salem that her mother Ember Kasai was previously the Summer Maiden.
  • Chapter 55 reveals that the Wyverns were once pure dragons. Being the last dragons of the old world, they were transformed into a new species of Grimm by the original Grimm Queen many centuries ago.
  • Chapter 60 has a terrifying one: The Wizard, who is the one who has given the four Maidens their powers, has gone missing.
• Revenge Before Reason: Jude for Ashe. Justified because he's Ashe's nemesis.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Basically what happened in Chapters 15 - 20 during The Battle of Haven.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Team RWBY, Team JNPR (including Pyrrha), and many others on Cinder for all that she had done in the previous Volumes.
  • Ashe on Jude and Gerard's gang.
• Robot Buddy: Both Penny and N1CK3L counts as this.
• Roofhopping: The various characters do this to get around Haven several times.
  • Jaune and Pyrrha did this again in Chapter 73 in Vacuo City.
• Sadist: Cinder, Jude, Ante and Adam. See character tropes above for specific examples.
• Scenery Porn: The various descriptions of the many locations Team Beacon has been so too far were made of this trope.
  • The mindscapes in which Ruby and Argentius both entered in Chapter 51 also counts too.
• Serial Killer: Ozpin's nemesis, Norvik, is this to an unnerving degree.
• Shirtless Scene: Jaune gets several and Ashe has a couple as well.
• Shot to the Heart: Done to Jaune to save his life in chapter 20, even though Glynda agrees reluctantly she still knows how dangerous and outdated it is.
• Shout-Out: To many, many things. Reference Overdosed to be honest.
  • Chapter 37 in particular has many references to the horror genre.
• Sibling Murder: Cinder kills Ashe, her little brother.
• The Siege: Chapters 15 - 20 deal with a massive attack on Cinder's secret base in Haven while Chapters 46 - 47 have one on the White Fang's Headquarters in Vacuo.
• Sir Swearsalot: Damnien Ante literally embodies this trope when things don't go the way he wants them to.
  • Qrow Branwen at certain times as well.
• Slave Brand: Adam has one on his face, which is why he wears the mask.
• Slimeball: Damien Ante, once again. To be honest, he's much worse than Roman Torchwick.
• So Proud of You: Ashe to Jaune, Weiss to Ruby, Claudandus to Blake.
• The Social Darwinist: Adam Taurus has shades of it, and so does Raven Branwen.
• The Sociopath: Adam, big time. Ante, Jude and Norvik count as well. Thorn Branch and Alan Crawford also qualify.
• Spent Shells Shower: Happens quite a few times.
  • Whenever Coco Adel or Little Steve of Ante's Enforcers used their minigun weapons.
• The Starscream: In Chapter 53, it was hinted that Cinder wanted to be this to Salem.
• Storming the Castle: Qrow, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ren, Nora, and Ashe lead Glynda, Port, Oobleck, Penny, Raven, Jaune's sisters, Teams CFVY, SSSN, ABRN, CRDL, NDGO, and BRNZ, along with Flynt and Neon, Ross, and Dr. Chloris to attack the Craft-Tech factory to rescue Ruby and Jaune.
  • During the White Fang arc, we have the entirety of Team Beacon backed up by a massive joint Atlesian-Vacuoan Strike Force (plus a Remnant Knight in tow) attacking the main White Fang Headquarters in Vacuo.
  • During the third arc's Battle of Vacuo, we have an inversion in which this time it involves Ante's Enforcers and Mercury attacking Shade Academy as a distraction for the infiltration team to successfully find their target.
• Stronger Sibling: Cinder compared to Ashe.
  • Raven compared to Qrow as well.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Happens at least once per arc.
  • The joint rescue team set off the bomb which was put within Penny to start the assault on the Craft-Tech factory which was a secret base of operations for Cinder.
  • Ashe sets off a series of explosions in the Craft-Tech factory to cripple the villains.
  • Team Beacon blew up the jamming towers to allow the joint Atlesian-Vacuoan Strike Force to launch their assault on White Fang Headquarters.
  • During the Battle of Vacuo, members of Team Beacon (plus Tom Allcroft) managed to trick the Sand Devourer into eating a burning boxcar full of Hau Bakuhatsu explosives, which killed the Elder Grimm when those explosive containers detonated within its body.
• Stunned Silence: Emerald, Mercury, Ante and his Enforcers, and West when Jaune sends Cinder flying with one punch.
• Suicide Attack: What a brainwashed Ironwood plans to do with a rebuilt Penny.
• Suicide Mission: Russel of Team CDRL describes the Battle of Haven as this.
• Super Team: Team Beacon, when they're formed in chapter 27.
• Supervillain Lair: The Craft-Tech factory for the first arc, and Salem's mysterious palace.
• Sword and Gun: A few characters use this method to fight.
  • Ashe likes to fight this way in bigger battles.
  • The Remnant Knight known as Sharp Strike does this a few times too.
• Sword and Sorcerer: Argentius (Double-bladed Scythe) and Soul Seer (Magic Staff) were implied to fight this way.
• Synchronous Episodes: Most of the Battle of Haven arc (Chapters 16 - 19) take place around the same time, but halfway through chapter 19 they all converge together.
  • The same goes for the Battle of the White Fang sequence (Chapters 32 - 46) since they focus on the two separate parts of Team Beacon, which also converges together around Chapter 46.
• Take That!: A small one to RWBY Volume 4. In chapter 46 Neptune wonders if one of their Semblances brings bad luck, Qrow (who suffers from this in canon) tells him not to be stupid.
  • This fic essentially is a Take That! to how the writers of RWBY handled Pyrrha's death, her character arc, and the second half of Volume 3's story and Volume 4 as a whole. Downplayed in that the writer still acknowledged some elements that he liked.
• Taking the Bullet: Jaune takes a flaming Dust arrowhead for Pyrrha. Raven does the same for Qrow.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Fanart of Ashe Kasai certainly paints him as one, with examples like this.
• Tank Goodness: The Winter Templars deploy a massive armored tank, which looks like a cross between a mammoth tank from Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars and a Baneblade from Warhammer 40,000 during their assault on the largest secret White Fang cell in Atlas.
  • The heavy assault tanks used by the elite Desert Guard of Vacuo in Chapter 75 look similar to the mammoth tanks from Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars.
• Tears of Remorse: Yang after Raven's death breaks down crying in Qrow's arms. Regretting that she never told Raven she loved her when she had the chance, and thinking of the possibility that Raven died thinking she hated her.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: From the meeting which took place between the various individuals that make up Salem's inner circle, it's clear that many of their members openly dislike working with each other. The only thing practically holding them together was their unwavering loyalty to Salem herself.
• Teens Are Monsters: Thorn Branch got her start as a killer when she was a teenager.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Blake gives an absolutely SCATHING one to Alan Crawford, telling him point blank that his actions were what turned Adam Taurus into a monster, and that he's ultimately responsible for all the people Adam hurt as a result.
• Thinking Up Portals:
  • Salem was shown to have this ability, and so does Raven at times.
  • In Chapter 51, Argentius and Ruby travel throughout the different places within the mindscape through portals.
  • Jaune and Pyrrha, being the current Guardians of the Aura Crystal, travel around the mindscape within the Crystal by using portals as well.
• This Is Wrong on So Many Levels!: Mercury, surprisingly, feels this way when he mentions about Salem creating the Son from the body parts of various deceased individuals.
• Title Drop: In Chapter 53, we see this once more.
  "The opponents changed over the years, but the final goal, the prize of victory has always been the same: the destiny of Remnant itself."
• Time Skip: Happened a few times.
  • The Haven arc takes place four months after the events of Volume 3.
  • The White Fang arc takes place four months after the Haven arc.
  • The Maidens and Relics arc takes place six months after the White Fang arc.
• Token Good Teammate: Trooper and Zhan for Ante's Enforcers, and most recently...Fireball.
  • Emerald Sustrai, judging from her actions, seems to be leaning towards this trope as well.
• Took a Level in Badass: Jaune took quite a few levels after what happened to him in the first arc, and so did quite a few other characters.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Cardin Winchester of all people feels nothing but regret for his actions in the series after what happened to Pyrrha and does his best to make up for it.
• Tragic Keepsake: Jaune has Pyrrha's circlet, which becomes subverted because he managed to save her again.
  • Ruby has Ashe's whistle, which surprisingly came in handy during the White Fang arc.
  • Highly implied that Jaune still has Ashe's sword which belonged to the Kasai family.
• Tragic One-Shot Character: Captain Riley and Medic Styles in Chapter 37 along with every member of their group is this as they were all murdered by Norvik who had become a Grimm Chimera.
  • Chief Librarian Vidya, who was in charge of the Archives in the Grand Temple of Vacuo, also counts as well since he was only mentioned a few times before being killed by Watts.
• Traintop Battle: We get a particularly epic one in Chapter 36 which involves Team Beacon against Rail Pirates in Vacuo.
• True Companions: The entirety of Team Beacon, of course.
  • Hints given by both Qrow and Taiyang also imply that Team STRQ also this as well.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: The individual Remnant Knights have pretty fancy titles that are integrated into their knight names, presumably speaking of their individual achievements.
  • For example, in Chapter 65 Sharp Strike's (possibly full) knight name was given as follows: Sharp Strike, Protégé of Argentius, Champion of the Circle of Honor, Executioner of the Orochi Hydra Elder Grimm, Retriever of the Seer's Orb, and Slayer of the Deathbringer.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Both Cinder Kasai and Adam.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Twice in the fic so far.
  • Cinder and many of her associates pull this in Chapter 20.
  • Emerald, Mercury, and what's left of Adam's White Fang did this once more in Chapter 47.
• Villain Team-Up: Saul Jude (who is Ashe's nemesis) and Norvik (who is Ozpin's nemesis) both threw in their support with Salem as long as they can get revenge on those who ruined them.
• Villainous Valor: Emerald and Mercury show this at times.
  • The Enforcers of Damien Ante also display such qualities on a few occasions.
• Violence Is Disturbing: The author has to bump this fic to being 'M-rated' due to a large amount of bloody and violent scenes included.
  • Besides incredible violent fight sequences, there's also physical and mental torture, and certain interrogation scenes got really...uncomfortable fast, especially in Chapter 44 for the latter.
• Voice with an Internet Connection: The EVA (Electronic Versatile Agent) AI Units used by the Atlesian military forces functions like this.
• Walking Spoiler: Fotia Drakos, who is actually Pyrrha Nikos.
• Wardens Are Evil: Wade, the White Fang Warden who was in on Adam's awful punishments to the would-be defectors.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Quite a number of mentioned members of the White Fang fall under this.
  • Some of the characters of Salem's inner circle can be considered as such, depending on your point of view.
  • General Ironwood considers himself as one when he wanted to use a rebuilt Penny as a suicide bomber to kill Cinder Fall.
• Wham Episode: Several in this fic.
  • Chapter 10: The Aura Crystal gives Ashe a rhyming prophecy, Cinder continues in her efforts to corrupt Ruby and Jaune, Qrow and his associates break into Atlas Military Headquarters to prevent Penny from being used as a bomb, Blake gets captured by a White Fang cell, and Jaune finally comes face to face with Fotia Drakos.
  • Chapter 20: Jaune takes Cinder's flaming arrow for Pyrrha, Ashe suggested using the Aura Crystal to heal him, both of them were accepted by the Aura Crystal after being deemed worthy, and the aforementioned Crystal restored their original bodies as much as possible from their Grimm Hybrid forms.
  • Chapter 50: The Remnant Knights discuss their plans to protect the other remaining Maidens and about their alliance with Ozpin's Guardians of Remnant, Salem and her associates discuss their roles within her grand plan to destroy the other Kingdoms, acquire the other Maidens as well as the Relics of Remnant, and Team Beacon finally meets the Remnant Knights who agreed to seal the alliance with Ozpin.
  • Chapter 51: Team STRQ was revealed to have worked with the Remnant Knights in the past. Argentius was revealed to be a Silver-Eyed Warrior just like Ruby, more information about the Silver-Eyed Warriors are revealed, Ruby meets her mother Summer Rose in the mindscape and was given a very special gift, while also overcoming her massive guilt of killing others and killing an Elder Grimm known as a Dreameater.
  • Chapter 52: The Remnant Knights allow Jaune and Pyrrha to keep the Aura Crystal, and Jaune also discovers that his ancestors are indeed Remnant Knights as well. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ruby turn down the offer to join the Remnant Knights, and brief the rest of Team Beacon on what they have learned from the knights themselves. N1CK3L, Penny's synthetic brother, has finished his training and was assigned to Task Force Omega of the Atlas military forces, and Beacon Academy was finally reopened.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Quite a few characters in this fic has these.
  • Ruby Rose, Summer Rose, Argentius and Lord Emmanuel have eyes of pure silver.
  • Soul Seer, who is the younger sister of Argentius, has eyes of bright, sparkling gold.
  • Sharp Strike, as revealed when he removed his helmet visor, has eyes of deep cerulean blue with a hint of vermilion red near the irises.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Ruby and Jaune to Ashe, Yang to Raven.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Chapter 37 bears a noticeable resemblance to the story of Alien 3.
• Worldbuilding: Loads and loads of it, though mostly in text.
  • Chapter 50 to 52 has a number of paragraphs explaining about the Remnant Knights as well as how their historical Order was formed in secret by The Vale King and The Wizard.
  • Chapter 56 in particular has several paragraphs devoted to the past Great Wars that eventually shaped Remnant into its present-day state.
• Worthy Opponent: Merrick of Ante's Enforcers certainly think of Team Beacon that way when he witnessed them managing to kill an Elder Deathworm in Chapter 75.
• Would Hurt a Child: Jude did this a few times.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In Chapter 51, Argentius mentions this to Ruby who was struggling with her massive guilt over killing in self-defense, therefore helping her to move on.
  • Yang and Sun both said this to Blake to help her get over her inner hurt about Adam's fall to darkness and the White Fang.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Mentioned by a random Mook to Ante when he and Saul Jude were talking about how Ashe has become quite a thorn in their plans.
• You Are Not Alone: Quite a few examples.
  • Ruby to Weiss
  • Sun and Yang to Blake
  • Jaune, Nora and Ren to Pyrrha
  • Sharp Strike to Ruby
  • The whole of Team Beacon to Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha.
  • Team Beacon to Amethyst and Heliosia.
• You Are Worth Hell: Jaune tells Pyrrha he'd suffer through everything all over again just to be with her, which counts as an incredibly heartwarming moment.
• You Have Failed Me: Salem has several of these moments, but not all of them are fatal for those who hear it...for now.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Done to quite a few people who were working for Salem (or Cinder) in this fic.
  • Cedric, who was the inside agent working for Salem within Shade Academy, met his fate this way by being killed by Tyrian when his cover was finally blown.