Preliminary Author Notes:

The apology of 'I'm sorry.'

There's no good reason this was delayed as long as it was. There are reasons- 'busy' and 'forgot' and other stuff- but not good reasons. Those things and stuff aren't about to go away, either, so here's me getting out the last of this while I can.

Here's the last planning notes for the story that should have died awhile ago. If anyone wants to adopt it/try to write it for themselves... feel free to go ahead.

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Other Characters

Some shorter reviews of characters and their roles.

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Penny

Penny is the first Ghost in the Shell. She's not actually an artificial intelligence, but a ghost who was saved from undeath and given a new body that could generate aura. Penny doesn't remember her after-life as a ghost due to how depleted she was as a wisp when she was saved, but she was the dead daughter of her creator. Penny represents a new potential future for Remnant- to be given new life and new, immortal machine-bodies after death. That makes her highly controversial with people who view her as an act of someone playing god, while the Exorcists are concerned with the prospect of malevolent ghosts inhabiting such bodies.

Penny is- ironically- scared of ghosts and the supernatural. She knows they exist, even if she doesn't know she is a ghost, as she was haunted by jealous ghosts early after her transition. They- and their possession-driven destruction of electronics around her- left her not only with a general fear of bad ghosts, but a specific fear that, were she possessed, she could die if the ghost-possession fried her circuits. Her eagerness for friendship with Ruby is balanced by her fear of Jaune, who possesses (and fries) an Atlas droid as a distraction for Penny and Ruby to get away from Penny's guards.

Penny is afraid of Jaune. It's ultimately needless, since Penny has a soul and her aura would protect her from hostile possession, but Jaune pulls off a dramatic rescue and delicate possession when he is able to save Penny by possessing her and moving her to safety during a White Fang ghost attack during the Season 2 White Fang investigation arc. As a result of the trust and brushing of ghost-souls in her body, Penny carves out an exception for Jaune in her fear of ghosts.

As a result of Jaune possessing Penny, Penny has an out-of-body experience and becomes a ghost like Yang when Jaune possesses her berserk form. Penny as a ghost is rarely used, but it does allow her, Jaune, and Yang to escape early bodies and other imprisonments. At one point, far far in the future, Penny would be allowed to 'die,' ala canon... but migrate to a new Penny body.

Penny is not a founding member of the Coven, but becomes an honorary member after having getting involved in the Season 2's White Fang Investigation arc. Penny 'kills' Jaune when she annihilates the Paladin he was possessing, ruining his best robot body yet. Between that and Jaune helping defend her from a swarm of enraged ghosts, Penny joins the Sisterhood as an Honorary Sister Who Murdered Jaune.

In Season 2, Penny gets involved in the White Fang investigation arc, where she both is saved from a swarm of ghosts and destroys the Paladin that Jaune possesses during the Roman fight. In Season 3, Penny is exposed and shown to the world as a ghost and a machine. She becomes extremely controversial, as some people see her as an attempt to play god and the Exorcists are opposed to the prospect of bad ghosts getting Penny bodies. When Salem enters the scene, Penny is treated with polite indifference since she's the only one of the Coven not in a spirit marriage or conceiving a weapon spirit with Jaune. When the Lantern is revealed in Season 3 climax, Penny is almost captured when her soul is almost ripped out of her body by the Lantern's power. It takes both Jaune and Yang as ghosts to grab her and pull her back in, saving her. At the end of Season 3's crisis, the entire Penny project is shut down, leaving Penny the last of her kind (besides Summer, who is kidnapped). For her own protection from the Bureaucrats of Atlas and the pending social upheaval, Ironwood entrusts Penny to Ozpin, who entrusts her to Teams JNPR and RWBY.

In Season 4, Penny accompanies Ruby, Nora, and Pyrrha as part of Team Rest In Pieces- named because there are plural 'P's, and because they have a tendency to cut and smash apart their enemies. Penny is mostly a support character, but also a target of the Brenda Badwitch coven's machinations. Brenda Badwitch would like to exorcise Penny's soul from her body, to make space for Brenda's own spirit-spouse. Following Season 4, Penny would eventually depart back to Atlas and Ironwood, being a reoccurring character. Penny is ultimately tied to the golem plot, as her technology is based off of the ancient golems. Unlike the golem-slaves, which trapped souls and ghosts, Penny has free will. While Penny is at risk of being enslaved, ultimately she'd be key to stopping any Golem armies, most likely by giving them all free will as well. This would be a late-game/end-game development promising future upheaval and chaos, another part of the new age of the living and the dead.

Penny is the only member of the Coven who doesn't have a spirit-marriage with Jaune. Being a ghost, Penny doesn't dream, and especially once they understand her true nature Jaune doesn't borrow aura from her. What does happen is that, once Penny's ghost nature is discovered, Jaune and Yang teach Penny to use her latent ghost powers. Once she stops being afraid of herself, Penny will often escape her grounding/being cooped up by Atlas soldiers by escaping her body and going to her friends at Beacon. Penny is happy to assist Jaune in getting a body like her own. Like Ruby, Penny's interest/relationship with Jaune is innocent, but is more along the lines of ghost-bonding rather than spirit-marriage. As Penny accustoms herself to her ghost powers, interest may or may not have built, in a 'robot's first crush' sort of way.

Penny's coven name is Sister Machine.

Penny's relic is a pair of human skin gloves, made from Jaune's skin. While wearing these gloves, Penny can 'feel' human sensations… and touch ghosts, feeling Jaune. Even without spirit-marriage, Penny's feeling-sessions play the necro-ero comedy angle.

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Summer

Ruby's mother, still around but just barely.

Summer's presence was hinted as early as Initiation, when Ruby is guided by 'someone' to Jaune's body before performing the aura ritual. Jaune wasn't awake or aware before the ritual, so who beckoned Ruby over? Summer. Summer occasionally whispers to Ruby, guiding her to important things.

Summer's relevance starts as far back as the backstory. Summer, Raven, and Taiyang (and possibly Qrow) were all tied together in a team polyamory centered around Taiyang but led by Summer. Summer was actually a Seer like Ren, a secret she only shared with Raven during the polyamory days.

After Yang was born a soulless homunculi when 'Yang' (Yin) was stolen and Raven chased after, Summer stepped in and nurtured, protecting her from possession by any other spirits. At first Summer did so to keep a body for 'Yang' and Raven to return to, but when Yang's own homunculus soul began to form Summer accepted her and raised her as her own daughter. Summer passed away before Raven and 'Yang' could return, and so died before she could explain her decision. Summer the ghost knew Yin was hanging around, but Yin blamed her for letting Yang's soul grow and would flee rather than talk to her.

Since being banished by Ruby during Ruby's difficult childhood, Summer has survived at the margins of existence and Ruby's rebuke. She looked after Ruby and Yang as best she could, with small acts, but has since lost most of her power to affect things. Summer is a wisp at this point, barely surviving, and lacking the aura to even stay in existence all the time. Summer's source of residual aura is Ruby's cloak, but Ruby's rebuke keeps her from getting too close. Summer is like someone dying of thirst but surviving on tiny sips of water.

Summer gets new life thanks to Jaune. Jaune spends enough time in Ruby's cloak that some of the residual aura rubs off of him, and when Jaune is outside the rebuke radius Summer can get the aura off him. Summer gradually gets the aura to make her presence more permanent, slowly appearing as a ghost to Jaune and Ren before getting stronger over time. Summer's presence is hinted at in Season one, Jaune sees a 'mysterious woman' more and more often in Season 2, and Summer is identified in Season 3.

Summer is a very weak ghost, but gradually gets enough power in Season 3 to be able to communicate with Jaune. Salem provides a catalyst to give Summer more presence, and explain the nature of the Ruby's Rebuke and Summer's limitations. Jaune's discovery of Summer is great news, and introducing Ghost Yang to Ghost Summer is a significant moment that also solidifies Yang's romantic interest in Jaune. Yang, Summer, and Salem are all able to work out Ruby's Rebuke, and what needs to be done to reverse it, allowing Ruby to hear Summer at long last as well. Ruby hearing Summer after so long, and Summer doing a cloak hug like Jaune often does, is another very tender moment.

Even with her presence restored, Summer doesn't have much time left, but she is able to help Salem 'deliver' Ruby's weapon-spirit spirit-baby and put it in Crescent Rose. Before then Summer is also re-united with Taiyang. Summer being reunited with her family and able to spend time with them will allow her to move on in peace, but that is put on hold while Ruby, Yang, and Taiyang have her back.

During the Season 3 finale, Summer is too weak to the fight, but tries to help anyway by watching after Ruby and shouting warnings and doing effective assists to help Ruby. When the Exorcists reveal the Lantern, Summer- almost ready to pass on to the other side already- is caught in its thrall. Jaune risks being trapped himself to catch and hold Summer from being drawn in, and Pyrrha breaks the Lantern before Jaune and Summer can both be trapped and devoured.

In the aftermath, Summer is so drained of residual aura that she prepares to pass on anyway, even though it means Ruby, Yang, and Taiyang losing her again. Instead, Jaune gives her the Penny-bot body that was being prepared for him, even though Atlas has shut down the production line and won't be building another for him. The possession works, and Summer wakes up surrounded by her family while Jaune watches. There's some comedy in that Summer is in a male body, but the machine parts can be changed later. Summer is weak, but producing aura, and should make a full recovery with time.

Before that, though, Summer is kidnapped by Raven who cuts a portal into the room and drags Summer through. Raven's reasons are a mystery- it could be bad, or it could be to protect Summer- but Taiyang and Yang are immediately resolved to chase after them to find Raven and recover Summer. Raven

Summer's recovery plot is what leads to the introduction of Yin, the original 'Yang.' Raven didn't intend to kidnap Summer, but to steal the Jaune-bod artificial homunculus shell for 'Yang' to use. Summer inhabiting it before Raven could strike- and then refusing to leave it in favor of Yin- was unplanned, and unwelcomed. Raven keeps Summer in a hope that Summer will abandon the shell in favor of Yin, and Summer's refusal (because she needs the shell, because it will force a reunion of the family) is a cause of friction. Summer doesn't have much agency in the plot- especially when Yin steals Yang's body- but she's key to the pacification of Raven after Yang takes her body back. Summer leads herself, Raven, and Taiyang (and possibly Qrow) away so that they can reconcile after so many years… and resume the old polyamory they themselves had before Yin was stolen from them all. Summer herself was the linchpin that kept Taiyang and Raven together, and it was Summer's death as much as Taiyang's collapse and Yang's development that kept Raven away.

Summer's personality is family-centric. She's not quite a purity sue, but as a wisp her identity and focus has simplified as she lost her sense of self and the last thing she clung to was her family. When Jaune is finally able to communicate with her, Summer is warm and appreciates his friendship with her daughters (which she considers Yang as well as Ruby). Summer knows of his relationship with Yang, and approves. Summer always knows of Yin, but can never find a good time to bring it up until it's too late.

Summer is still committed to her old Polyamory, and the relationship looks prime to resume. Taiyang reuniting, embracing, and kissing Summer takes a turn for the comedic when attention is drawn to Summer being in a Jaune-bod, thus making the story qualify for the much-coveted gay robosexual necrophilia trigger warning.

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Taiyang and Qrow

Ruby's Dad, Yang's Embarrassment, but only one of them is a closet gay robosexual necrophiliac. The other's just gay.

Taiyang and Qrow comes into the story between Season 2 and 3, having heard from Qrow some scandalous rumors that his precious daughters have gotten married. Taiyang and Qrow break down doors, break open the Coven, and are generally embarrassing father-figures looking the murder a guy who's already dead. It's especially embarrassing for Yang because they interrupt her private-time Ghost-session with Jaune.

What follows is mostly a comedy session as Taiyang and Qrow attempt to interrogate Jaune in laughable ways. Taiyang interrogates Jaune over an Ouija board. Qrow gets his supernatural monsters mixed up, trying to banish Jaune with holy water he bought from a charlatan exorcist, before moving on to silver bullets and a stake. Both embarrass the girls with questions about the Jaune Dreams, though Yang is a lot more embarrassed while Ruby is embarrassing with her (exaggerated) innocence.

Ultimately Taiyang and Qrow are appeased when Team JNPR comes back in and Ren can explain that spirit marriage isn't romantic. Foreshadowing/brick joke comes in with Taiyang and Ren snarkily pinging each other as gay with their gaydars, but Taiyang and Qrow accept it and leave… though Qrow keeps a closer eye on Jaune and comes back during the Vytal festival.

Qrow has a trait in that while he isn't quite a Seer, technically- having a vague sixth sense that gave him a hard childhood and allowed him to empathize with Ruby- when he's really drunk he can just barely make out the outlines of Jaune's ghost. This means that Qrow gets hammered often and badly, and embarrasses Ruby and Yang with his drunken rants and accusations and general drunken foolery. When Qrow returns in the Vytal Festival and meets Winter, he makes comments about the Angel Winter has looking out for her… before also making a comment about breast size. Qrow is the embarrassing uncle for Yang, even as Ruby insists he can be really cool when he's not drunk… which is almost ever never.

Taiyang returns after Summer is found right before the Season 3 crisis. Taiyang gets caught up in the crisis, and arrives after Ruby's 'delivery. Taiyang dreams of Summer that night- affirming/creating their own ghost-marriage (Salem provides a catalyst drawn from Ruby- don't ask), and when Summer is put into the Jaune-bod Taiyang is right there by her when she wakes up. Taiyang kisses her in full view of everyone- even though she's in a Jaune-bod- creating a yaoi fangirl moment with the rest that Yang and Ruby will never be allowed to live down.

When Raven arrives that night and kidnaps Summer, Taiyang leads the effort to find the both of them. Yang accompanies, but Ruby doesn't, focusing on Cinder instead. Qrow works for Ozpin, acting as a messenger who appears (albeit less frequently than Jaune) to both groups.

During Season 5, when Taiyang consoles Yang about living with a polyamory, it's revealed that Qrow was also part of the poly. The Cool Uncle is also the gay (or at least bisexual) uncle. Taiyang was basically the heart of the poly, and Qrow was the last one standing who 'won' a bitter victory, and things mostly stopped after Raven and Summer's departure. Qrow's a bit of a tragic figure in that, as Qrow was the one one the outside looking in and only 'brought in' by Summer. In the poly's original 'plans for the future,' Taiyang was to father Yang while Qrow was to father Ruby as the poly tried to build a 'normal' family while staying close, but Yin's kidnapping and Raven's disappearance threw everything into shambles.

After finding Raven, and Summer, Taiyang leads his reformed team for their own off-screen adventures. Qrow drinks a lot because the polyamory is back on… even as he's dragged into it as well by Summer, who now happens to look a lot more like Taiyang and thus just his type. Parents set bad, or good, examples for Yang and Ruby, and the groups cross paths when there's an excuse to.

Overall, Taiyang is the over-protective dad. Qrow is the embarrassing gay uncle who also often watches the Coven from afar on behalf of Ozpin/Raven, and the parents as a whole provide an example of an (eventually) positive poly-relationship for the Coven to build off of.

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Raven

Yang's mother by blood, but not in spirit.

Raven's significance in the backstory can't be understated, even if it's a late reveal. Raven is not a Seer, but she knew of/believed in ghosts even so due to Qrow's partial attunement, and she truly believed thanks to Summer. Raven was a key part of the parental polyamory that Raven, Summer, Taiyang, and Qrow were all caught up in. It was a poly that centered around Taiyang, but was led by Summer, who had her own particular relationship with Raven as well. It was Raven and Summer who came up with what had been the intended end-goal of the poly for the long-term as a dual-marriage swinger couples. Raven was to mother Yang, and Summer to conceive Ruby with Qrow, and from there provide a more normal family structure for the children while keeping the poly alive in secret.

Then things went wrong when Yang's original soul was stolen. Raven quested to recover Yin, but by the time she returned Summer had concevied Ruby, allowed Yang's homonculus soul to grow, and then died. Summer's death- and Qrow and Taiyang's reactions and acceptance of Yang- broke the bonds, leaving Raven to feel betrayed by the poly and prompting her to leave again to try and find a way to restore Yin some other way.

Raven is a minor presence in the story early on, getting an obligatory sharing of Yang's past as part of hers and Jaune's character development, but really only features in a minor cameo when she almost kidnaps Yang's soul-less body. It's a vague near-miss that Yang and Jaune don't realize, but it serves as some of the only foreshadowing of Yin's existence. Otherwise, Raven enters the story suddenly and without warning, abruptly kidnapping Summer and creating a impetus for the further break-up of the coven as Yang leaves to chase Raven down. Raven is an antagonist of Yang's arc, built up as a cruel mother who abandoned Yang and is now stealing her other mother away. In the lead-up brief encounters, Raven is further vilified by rejecting Yang as her daughter- what seems to be a heartless maternal rejection actually building up to the reveal of Yin.

Raven is a hard woman, but at the end of the day she is a committed mother... Yang's just not the soul of the daughter she gave birth to. Yin is, and Raven has spent all of Yang's life trying to save her daughter's soul from death. When Yin- the 'original' Yang- had her soul stolen as a child, Raven left immediately after on a quest to save her. By the time she did, and came to return, Ruby had already been born, Yang was growing a homunculus soul, and Summer wouldn't allow Yang's soul to be destroyed to make room for Yin. Feeling betrayed, Raven left again to find other means to sustain Yin, and has spent the time since then doing whatever it takes- hunting ghosts as a free-lance exorcist to take their residual aura for Yin, and entering into a spirit marriage with her own daughter to provide aura for survival. Raven is a dedicated mother... just not to Yang.

Raven's role is mostly tied into Yin's, and the season 5 crisis where Yin possesses Yang's body for her own. Raven is the antagonist, keeping Summer as a hostage and trying to get her to give up the Jaune-bod, but ultimately stopped by Taiyang to allow Jaune and Yang to reach a resolution with Yin. Once Yin and Yang make peace, and agree to share the body, so too does Raven make an easy peace with Taiyang and Summer, who take her away. Despite the years, there are still strong feelings, and Summer takes the lead in taking Raven away to try and rebuild the poly.

From then on, Raven is an occasional character as part of Team STRQ, the parents team, who occasionally cross paths with the Coven as they all do Important Quests off-screen. Raven is close to Yin, and has to come to terms with Yang, and while they might never be 'close' they come to terms and accept eachother. Raven would ultimately, in a late moment of how serious the Coven is, have a heart-to-heart of sorts with Yang to give her her own advice on the polyamorous relationship, and basically encourage her to go for it.

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Cinder

A power-seeking, ghost-hungry woman who feasts on men's souls and drinks the tears of children. Well, one of those is false- Cinder is an equal-opportunity consumer of souls.

With Salem being out of the villain business from the start, Cinder never gets involved in the Maiden plot. Cinder has the ghost-sense of taste, which allows her to consume spirits and gain power from them, and she has concocted her plan in an attempt to gain more ghosts for more power.

Cinder's backstory, which would come in Season 4 from the Exorcists, basically amounts to that once upon a time Cinder was so weak that she was forced to resort to cannibalism to survive in snowy mountains. A friend/mentor/lover sacrificed themselves so that Cinder could eat them- twice- and so survive and become stronger. Ever since Cinder has been power-hungry so that she'll never be so desperate again. Once upon a time Cinder may have hoped to find some way to recover her other's soul, but those days are long past. At the time, Cinder was taken in and trained by Exorcists, where she learned most of her ghost lore. Cinder was capable and clever, but only in it for herself and her own power. Cinder was eventually caught consuming the ghosts she was supposed to be banishing, and cast out of the order.

Cinder's plan revolves around the Exorcist relics known as the Lanterns- magical ghost prisons that have been used to imprison ghost souls for centuries but are carefully hidden and entrusted to the greatest Exorcists. If Cinder can get her hands on them, she could consume all the ghosts inside at once for a massive power boost. Cinder leads the White Fang to cause enough havoc with ghosts so that the Exorcists will bring out a Lantern.

Cinder's plan mostly succeeds- unfortunately for her. Cinder consumes so many ghosts that she goes beyond ghost powers and starts to turn into a shape-shifting Grimm. Cinder flies off as a dragon, and can take human form, but her transformation is incomplete because Pyrrha broke the Lantern before Cinder could consume all the ghosts. Cinder is looking for another Lantern, but hobbled by her Grimm new nature.

Cinder was more or less the Big Bad of the story, though possibly a case of The Dragon to the Devils manipulating things from behind the scenes. Cinder would turn on them, and anyone, even other Evil Cryptlords, to gain more power. She didn't have much character planned- an admitted weakness on my part- but most of the story was more about the ghost adventures as the Coven tried to find her, rather than she herself. Cinder was so unimportant to the wider array of things that I never even came up with roles for Emerald and Mercury- they might have been sacrificial pawns in Season 3, eaten to show she was a Grimm, or just never existed.

Cinder would ultimately be defeated. Part of her role in the story was to bring back elements of the Primeval Civilization of ghosts and ghost-tech. Cinder would bring back ancient doomsday weapons, golems, and most of all the Curse of Grimm.

Grimm was an actual dude, a Ghost Eater from the Primeval Empire. The Primeval Ghost-tyrants were so power-mad that they made Grimm, one of their Seer arch-priests, consume countless souls of slaves and golems. The ghosts consumed cursed the Devils so much that they wished an even greater evil who would wipe them out. That greater evil was the Monsters of Grimm, who devoured the empire. Grimm is still alive though- trapped as a breeding-post for countless grimm. Finding Grimm, freeing him, and enabling it's soul to move on (or be destroyed once and for all) would be a part of the end-game.

Cinder's final fate... pretty much undecided, because there wasn't much thought for her ultimate character. It's unlikely to be redemption in any sort, but what the Coven does to her soul- damn it to eternal suffering or allow her to move on despite everything- would be symbollic with the new age of the living and the dead. (I lean more towards Cinder killed, but her soul purified and allowed to move on myself.)

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Roman and Neo

Two thieves, working with Cinder, with their own ties to Exorcists. Relatively minor characters.

Roman is a normal person, not a Seer. He's a thief, a good one, and he knows about ghosts even if he can't see them. Roman was hired by Cinder to help steal a Lantern away from the Exorcists, and he's involved in getting the White Fang to use their ghosts in such a way as to draw out the secretive Exorcists.

Roman's cane, Melodic Cudgel, is a spirit-weapon. He's not the parent, but thanks to Neo he was able to spark a relationship with the weapon-spirit within, giving it his aura in exchange for its assistance. Melodic Cudgel can possess itself, do tricks, and help Roman fight Jaune even without seeing him. Roman's not a coward, but he's ultimately working with Cinder to find a way to avoid death. Roman wants to survive, which means to outlive even his own death.

Neo is not a normal person. She a homunculus possessed by a Legion of spirits- Spirits so closely bound that they can't separate from eachother. They give Neo great power, but less psychological stability. Neo is loyal to Roman because he saved her from… something. I never decided what, but Roman 'stole' Neo's homunculus shell from somewhere else- possibly the Schnees and the Angels- and Neo has been by his side ever since.

Roman and Neo weren't too thought out, being mostly minor characters. Roman would have been a candidate to 'die' and become a bad ghost to serve as a reoccurring enemy to the Coven. Neo might have had ties to the White Fang Coven, linking Roman to the White Fang plot.

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Adam / The White Fang Coven

Adam is the one leading the White Fang into darker tactics, turning faunus ghosts into weapons through dark acts of desecration, at the instigation of the White Fang Coven.

Going a bit off the deep end after Blake's defection, Adam was taught how to harness the power of ghosts by Cinder and the White Fang Coven. These ghosts serve as a super-weapon for the White Fang that evens the odds in their struggle against SDC, whose ability to counter ghosts is limited. It's a victory at any cost sort of thing.

Adam is ultimately a pawn for Cinder and the Coven helping him. The White Fang resorting to necromancy gets the Exorcists involved against them- which distracts the Exorcists from hunting Cinder herself. Adam thinks he's in control, but it's a case of hubris and meddling with powers beyond his understanding. Adam's targets are hurting the faunus the White Fang are supposed to avenge, let alone protect, and risks escalating in turn.

The big unanswered question at the end of Season 3 isn't how Adam is desecrating spirits, but how Adam is getting ghosts to use in the first place. In order to find out and stop it, Blake fake-defects back to the White Fang at Adam's invitation. Adam believes Blake will go along with things now that he has an effective way to beat the Schnees, and is fooled by Blake's acceptance. Adam shares the truth, which is the White Fang Coven- a truly evil coven (compared to Brenda Badwitch's less-malign but still bad group) who consorts with the Devils and is responsible for escalating the SDC-White Fang conflict. The White Fang Coven has Adam under their own magical influence, twisting him to their ends.

Adam is an evil man, but also a pitiful one. Adam is a bit off the deep end, and being affected by the White Fang Coven. He sincerely believes Blake has seen the light and come back to him, and is possessive once they 'resume' their relationship. Adam is insecure that Blake may have found anyone to like in her time away at Beacon.

When Blake is pregnant in Season 4, Adam is sure the child is his. Except, when it's found it's not and has blonde hair…

The White Fang Coven is a group of (faunus) witches helping the White Fang for their own end. They serve as the collective substitute antagonist for Salem- as the Power behind Cinder/Adam- and they link the White Fang to the ghost plot. There ultimate goal/motivation is to recreate the primeveal empire of old, with themselves as the god-king/queen tyrants lording over all. The White Fang is just a means to tearing down the old order.

They have ties to Adam (obviously), Cinder, and to the Devils themselves, though despite professing allegiance to all they truly only serve themselves. The White Fang coven would secretly not be all-faunus after all- having a number of secret human sisters (and brothers) elsewhere- and be the candidates for 'being responsible for making the White Fang evil.'

Ultimately they'd be a significant and necessary enemy for a witch-hunt by the Exorcists. Ren's ability to restrain the Exorcists from excessive punishment of the innocent would be key to his rise in the Exorcists and the gradual partnership of Exorcists and Good Ghosts against Bad Covens.

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Salem

Witch, would-be villain, and Jaune's mom. Salem was converted to the good side, or at least the non-world-destroying side, by Jaune's father- who, in Salem's not necessarily biased opinion, is the best lover in Remnant, living or dead. Salem loves her family, and not much else, but is only token-evil for now. Suffice to say Salem doesn't want to destroy the world her family is on, and so is on the side of Jaune.

Salem comes around in Season 3, after the Vytal Festival Tournament reveals Jaune's life (and afterlife) to the world. Salem comes ready to raze Beacon to the ground, but settles for putting Ozpin on the hot-seat for Jaune's sake. A Salem arc would focus on Salem intending to take Jaune away from Beacon and back home, and being convinced to let him stay with his coven.

Salem loves that Jaune has a coven. She loves that Jaune has so many spirit-marriages, and thus so many spirit-brides. She's not even going to judge that one of those brides is Ren. And she loves, loves, loves that greatest gift of all: Grandchildren! (Even if they are weapon-spirits.)

Salem is an embarrassingly affectionate mother, gushing over how manly her dead son is, and basically treating all the friends like daughter-in-laws. She's embarassing, but also supportive, and becomes an immediate source of ghost lore on the topic of spirit marriages and such. Salem is the one who identifies Ruby as pregnant with a weapon-spirit, and teaches the girls how to summon Jaune to them, and otherwise teaches them ghost mechanics and abilities they'd only been grasping at before.

Why does she know ghost abilities? Don't ask- just like you shouldn't ask why she has red and black eyes, a bone white face, black veins, has all five ghost-senses, can beat Grimm-turned Cinder at her own level, and can deal with Jaune just find. It was a long time ago, she's married now, and that's that.

Salem is affectionate to Jaune and her daughters-in-laws, but frightening otherwise. Think a sort of maternal-yandere, or at least very over protective. Jaune has to step in to protect Pyrrha from Salem's vengeance, claiming Pyrrha is his fiance, and while Jaune laughs off his mother's over-the-top promises of vengeance, we the audience know she's quite capable of it. Salem also hates Ozpin with a passion- and not just for Jaune dying- and there's clearly bad blood there.

With Jaune body-less, Salem wants to take him home and give him a new one. Not make him one, like the Penny body, but make one as in keep trying with Papa Arc and see if they got it right in nine months. Salem raises the existence of homunculi- soul-less artificial humans- as a solution for Jaune, since Jaune could then possess and claim a living body for his own. Salem's method will take nine months to see if she got it right, and another 17 years of growing up is too long, making it a bit too long even if Papa Arc will make it fun. Jaune declines to leave his coven. Salem stays for the tournament, and to keep an eye on the Exorcists. During the crisis of the finale, Salem midwife's Ruby's spirit-child. Salem and Summer work together to put the ghost-baby in Crescent Rose. Salem also bitch-slaps Dragon-Grimm-Cinder away from where Ruby is convalescing, demonstrating her power over the still-incomplete Cinder.

After the crisis, with the teams splitting, Salem sees Jaune off as he vows to look after his coven as best he can. Salem sees Jaune off with a promise, and a warning born of love- that should anything happen to him and he die for good, she will raise the greatest army of Revenants the world has ever seen and raze the kingdoms of whoever is responsible.

So, no pressure Jaune. At least you know she cares.

Salem is an occasionally reoccurring character, something of a Grand-Matron to the Sisterhood, and supporting the Coven when it benefits Jaune or the prospect of Grandchildren. In particular, Salem gives ends up being a surrogate mother for Blake's aborted child, allowing it's soul to possess a homunculus shell intended for Jaune. This child- born from a Grimm-tainted body and creepy to the max- would be the Antichrist figure of Remnant, were it not spoiled sweet by Salem.

Towards the end-game, Salem's past would be exposed. Yes, she did used to be very evil, and yes, she was a Ghost Eater who consumed so many souls she became a Grimm like Cinder. It was long ago, and there might even be a tragic/unwilling villain aspect to it, as Salem may have been tricked/forced into consuming the souls for power needed to stop some great catastrophe. Salem blamed Ozpin, prepared to be pure evil, met Jaune's father, and became redeemed through love and family.

Salem is a changed woman- if still a bit evil beneath the love- and so dealing with her would be a task for the Coven that adores her. Salem could survive- a plot of redemption of souls over past wrong-doings, and that Salem can make it up to the souls she devoured by living a good life for them- or she could die, in a heroic sacrifice/tragic loss that none the less proves she had become a 'good' spirit herself. Salem's life/death would be the thematic precedent for the ultimate handling of Cinder's soul after Cinder's death.

/

Ozpin

Mysterious asshole, and possibly quasi-immortal.

Ozpin knows about ghosts, but not that much about ghost lore, or so he claims. Either way, he prefers to let the Coven figure it out for themselves, providing guidance and a little bit of help from time to time. Ozpin never confirms or denies where he can sense Ghosts at all… though he plays damn ambiguous about it from time to time.

Ozpin's goal for Jaune is to use Jaune as an exemplar of what Ghosts once were and could be again for people- a natural state of life, co-existing with the living, and just as capable of bravery and heroism as the living. Ozpin and Ironwood hope to use Jaune to re-introduce ghosts to the world via the Vytal Festival, and use their performance to normalize them for the populace.

Ozpin is opposed by the Exorcists, who work to keep ghosts so rare as to be forgotten. Ozpin and the Exorcists aren't enemies, as they both want what's good for the living, but they don't see eye-to-eye when it comes to the dead. Ozpin is hated by some Exorcists, but has a very respectful relationship (and disagreement) with the others. By an ancient agreement between the Exorcists and a Headmaster of Beacon, Exorcists are banned from setting foot in Beacon.

(It's later revealed to Ren that Beacon used to host a Lantern that was completely filled with spirits, and that the Headmaster of Beacon is solely entrusted by past Exorcists with protecting it from even the Exorcists.)

Ozpin has a past with Salem, but it's never clear what. Whatever their history, Ozpin has comedic terror… until we learn that it is Salem, and his fear doesn't seem so comedic anymore.

Which makes it funny.

After the Crisis, Ozpin and Ironwood are in political hot water. Ozpin survives in Beacon but he's bogged down in politics and helping teach Hunters to manage the return of ghosts. Eventually- much later into the search for Cinder- Ozpin recalls the Coven that is technically still students at Beacon. Team RWBY and Team JNPR are re-formed and split for the first time in a long time for a dedicated arc to doing something to get school credit.

Ozpin and the Beacon staff more or less serve as handlers for the Coven after the initial hunt for Cinder, giving leads and framing a lot of their missions as school work. Ozpin has a handle on managing the global instability caused by ghosts, and generally does it for the better, with Jaune and the Coven being an unorthodox but ultimately good figurehead force for restoring order and a new age of coexistence.

Ozpin ultimately gets tied again in the endgame, particularly where Salem is re-involved and made into a target. Ozpin is tied to Salem's becoming a Grimm-born Witch, the root of their animosity, but he's also the Respected Authority figure who would speak in Salem's defense as a reformed spirit.

Ozpin had a good chance of dying towards the end- along with Salem- as the 'fall of the Big Good' that creates late-stage tension about the severity of the threat of Cinder. Ozpin/Salem's death would have been the moment that forces the Coven to stand on its own without a powerful patron, but also a symbol of clearing the way for a new generation to make a new world, where living and dead will make their own ways rather than be dictated by the past.

/

Glynda Goodwitch

A Good Witch. Was once a spirit-wife of another coven, and has a sister named Brenda who is a… Badwitch.

Glynda is Ozpin's left-hand when it comes to dealing with ghost matters. She would be the right hand, except she knows what Ozpin does with that hand. Glynda was once part of a coven herself, though her former spirit-spouse has passed on. It's an old tale, and she isn't sharing.

Glynda is the initial antagonist, and wants to expel Jaune to send him back home to his family. She has to do so by applying the school rules, which become challenges to push Jaune's growth. Glynda isn't evil, she just believes Jaune would be better living the rest of his after-life back home so that he can move on. Glynda's view, while hard, is born of her own Coven experience.

This would come out in Season 4, but Glynda and her sister were members of a Coven. Instead of helping their spirit-spouse move on, they tried to prolong the ghost's existence, but eventually the ghost ran out of residual aura anyway. Glynda and Brenda fought over what to do, and came to blows when Brenda began trying to steal the residual aura from other ghosts. The sisters separated, their ghost-spouse disappeared, and Glynda's moved on as best she could. Glynda's view is that ghosts should move on as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Brenda would come up in Season 4 as the leader of a Bad Coven of Bad Witches and Bad Ghosts that Pyrrha/Ruby/Nora/Penny party encounter on their quest for Cinder. Brenda has turned to dark arts and stealing residual aura to sustain what's left her ghost-spouse, who is still around but trapped against its will. Brenda would reveal the backstory, and serve to force Nora to accept that Exorcists have a role in stopping Bad Ghosts and Bad Witches.

Glynda is not a Seer, but her semblance can affect and push back ghosts.

Glynda would survive even if/when Ozpin failed, and become the next Headmistress at Beacon.

/

Team CFVY

Supporting characters who aren't key to the overall plot, but would be a supporting cast group to represent Beacon and the Hunters during the Questing period.

Team CFVY works mostly as a proxy for the student body at large, giving names and faces to how people react to Jaune during the early/mid game. When Jaune is just starting to be known and believed by the student body, they're curious. When Jaune is pranking and helps with Cardin, they're light-hearted and happy. When Cardin frames Jaune for a lot of things, they suspect the worse. And when Jaune's name is cleared and he redeems himself by being more serious, they accept him. Team CFVY is friendly with the Coven, even though they're never a part of it.

Instead, Team CFVY is part of the running joke of 'every single team at Beacon becomes a polyamory eventually.' It's a slow development that actually parallels the tightening of the coven, with Team CFVY serving as foils to temper the Coven's growth and force them to address uncomfortable but necessary questions. Coco in particular brings up the points such as a leader's responsibility to be fair, and balance the needs of the group against the desires of the individuals, and the difficulties/dangers to the group's effectiveness as a team. Can a team retain trust if there's romance within the group? Can a leader be relied upon to be fair and balanced if they're in a relationship with one of the group?

They're real questions, and that's the friction in the Team CFVY plot as a result. There is tension, and attraction, as what starts as Velvet crushing on Yatsuhashi becomes a not-quite two-timing dating with Fox as well even as Coco herself is trying to be happy for Velvet despite her own attraction and Velvet's resists, and warns against Velvet's double-dating, because she doesn't want to unbalance the team... but she can't bring herself to forbid it either, and so worries over and tries to protect the team even so. Ultimately Team CFVY joins the dark side as the balance Coco seeks to preserve comes from accepting all of them, not rejecting all of them, and taking a leap of trust. It works out, because that seems to be a theme of the story, but Team CFVY's team relationship issues is a pacing device/foil for the development of the Coven's.

Aside from yet another team-based poly- and raising the idea of a group relationship having a 'heart' (the cornerstone of the group) and a leader (the one who looks out for them all as a whole), Team CFVY has its own quests and roles. Team CFVY ultimately is a fellow Beacon team sent by Ozpin to help with the world in chaos after the return of ghosts. It's a school assignment to them, but it provides Ozpin and the Beacon faculty a way to check up on/assist the Coven at various times. Team CFVY would appear for a sub-arc, help along and remind the story that the Coven technically still has some school responsibilities, and then depart to let the Coven continue to its next adventure.

For the character quirks/foci of the story-

Velvet: The closest friend with Team RWBY and JNPR. Velvet has a special tie because her camera- aura-special as it is- can take ghostly screen-captures of Jaune. It's an early tie-in that helps 'prove' that Jaune is in the classroom at various times. Velvet is the 'heart' of the Team CFVY poly, as she likes all of them and all of them like her, and she provides the emotional bonds for all of them. The team poly starts with Velvet crushing on Yatsuhashi, not rejecting Fox after he makes a confession, and then a final spark of attraction between her and Coco, who is attracted but trying to distance herself.

Yatsuhashi: The emotional rock of the team. Reserved but able to express himself, Yats is the mature one who everyone in the team can turn to, even when talking about the poly. Yatsuhashi is Velvet's first crush, and Yatsuhashi's acceptance and acknowledgement of his friend's feelings rather than rejection of her even if he holds the whole team equally close the example for Velvet's own acceptance of Fox's interest. Yatsuhashi serves as team councilor, encouraging Fox to confess his interest and listening to Coco's concerns.

Fox: The quiet one who doesn't express himself, and so has to be coaxed/led to admitting what he wants... which is his torn interest in both Velvet and Coco. Despite Yatsuhashi being in a friendly dating context with Velvet already, Yatsuhashi encourages Fox to confess rather than be jealous, and Velvet accepts Fox's interest in the same way Yatsuhashi accepted hers. It's an unusually serene double-dating as friends-but-more?, even as Fox encourages Velvet to draw Coco in to the arrangement.

Coco: Team Leader and the 'leader' of the poly as it slowly forms. Coco is the key point of resistance, with the most concern about the stability/health of the group as a whole. Despite her public confidence and her private attraction to Coco and 'her boys,' Coco fears the group falling apart and hurting everyone, which is why she tries to resist the relationship every step of the way. Ultimately the group is more stable when she's not left out, and Coco finds happiness with 'her boys' and 'her girl' afterwards, especially after Team CFVY meets the re-united Team Parents and gets some advice from Summer.

Ultimately Team CFVY and the Coven are good friends and close allies, never coming into serious conflict.

/

The Exorcist OC

A re-occuring Exorcist who serves as the reasonable Exorcist figure who recruits Ren to the Exorcists. A generally respectable figure committed to protecting everyone alive. If he didn't believe Jaune a threat and wasn't trying to banish him he'd be a good guy protagonist.

The Exorcists are a group with a variety of views, but The Exorcist specifically is a generally reasonable, pragmatic person who's conservative and favors the old ways but recognizes the need to adapt to the changing times. He opposes Ozpin's attempt to publicize ghosts to the world, but once ghosts are released and a fait accompli he's more interested in minimizing the damage than in putting the genie back in the bottle. If that means working with good ghosts and tolerating neutral ones in order to stop the bad ghosts sooner, fine. He does hold a view that ghosts are intrensically dangerous, but this is because many spirits do start to lash out and become violent as they approach aura perma-death, either out of despair or last-ditch desperation. The Exorcist favors making ghosts move on before then, but won't risk the living for the dead.

The Exorcist is a reasonable figure, but also a clever one. He plays on Ren's desire for knowledge and ghost lore to gradually turn Ren away from Nora. This isn't necessarily evil- he believes it's for a good cause and never compels Ren to do anything bad- but there's an element of manipulation that accompanies the seeming reasonableness. The Exorcist is pragmatic, not morally pure, and there's always an element of playing with fire, or that he could turn against the Coven.

As Ren earns trust, the Exorcists continues to be an exposition figure for the Exorcists knowledge and lore. The Exorcist informs about the Lanterns, banishment, and even Cinder's past. Ren's Seer abilities allow the Exorcist to rise in the ranks, and rising in the ranks allows the Exorcist to give more lore to Ren. The Exorcist opens up more lore the more useful Ren becomes, and it's not clear who's benefiting more from who. It's cooperation, though, and not coercion, and as the more they do together they better things become, as the Exorcists slowly reform from 'antagonists' to 'allies of convenience' to 'fellow protectors.'

The Exorcist wouldn't survive the story- he'd be a prime candidate for being killed as the end-game approaches to show Cinder's growing threat- but despite the quasi-antagonism and suspicion he isn't a Bad Guy. He just disagrees, more reasonably than not, and while he resists change he's gradually turned to be more tolerant of ghosts and to consider re-assessing the role of the Exorcists. While he's no friend of ghosts, by the end of the story his influence- and support for Ren rising in the ranks- allows the Exorcists to change from 'all ghosts are dangerous to the living' to 'we protect people from bad ghosts.'

When the Exorcist dies, which would be near The End, his death would be the changing of the guard. He'd pass on the mantle of responsibility- for both the Exorcists and protecting people from ghosts- to Ren, who he comes to trust even if they don't always agree. Irony would have it that the Exorcist turn into a ghost, and become what he spent his life opposing, but seeing Ren taking up the mantle would allow him to find peace and move on.

The Exorcists are a major force who only gets stronger after Season 3, when the return of ghosts to the world forces them to start openly recruiting. They get tied into many of the plots of the story, sometimes as allies but sometimes as enemies of circumstance. They allow Ren to play a reoccuringly important role as mediator, agent, and question of loyalties.

/

The Winchesters (and Team CRDL)

Cardin's family, which is a notable group of exorcists.

Cardin was always intended to come back to the story eventually, though not specific plot or timing was ever decided. Obviously it would involve Ren, the Exorcists, and Cardin/CRDL serving as quasi-antagonists and getting a chance for eventual redemption.

The Winchesters are an old family of exorcists, and also Seers. They were Seers who cooperated with the Exorcists during the Witch Hunts long ago. They have a long and respected tradition as hardliner exorcists... and a secret that could ruin it all. The Winchesters have always given shelter to ghosts in some form, allowing their mansion- a not-acknowledged haunted mansion- to serve as a refuge for ghosts working to pass on peacefully. This original deception is not so different from Ren's own actions, using his Sight to overlook harmless ghosts.

Cardin doesn't know of that past, but he has his own, separate secret: a familiar. This was the possible cause/means of framing Jaune before, but Cardin's familiar is the ghost of a loyal pet from his childhood. Because Cardin believes he would have been made to exorcise/destroy it if it was found, Cardin has kept it a secret all this time from his family lest he disappoint his father and mother.

(Who, it turns out, have all done the same thing. The entire Winchester line has loyal companion ghosts, even if the Winchesters are stuck with the worst ghost sense.)

Cardin and the Winchesters represent the less palatable exorcists, but Cardin gradually is allowed redemption and an apology and uneasy peace with Jaune. Cardin and CRDL are never friends, but they stop being enemies and represent the exorcist focus on bad ghosts.

Team CRDL would also return as accessories of Cardin. Despite how they were used for a fake rape scare during Yang's out-of-body crisis, that's not what they were actually intending to do (just juvenile pranks) and that's not what they'd be stuck at. After the return of ghosts to the world, and Beacon's efforts of sending teams out to deal with them, Team RDL leaves Beacon to rejoin Cardin and join the Exorcists. Individually they aren't significant, but collectively they serve as Cardin's support and 'faction.' While antagonistic to Jaune at first, Team CRDL as a whole rejects the ultimate hardliners of the Exorcists, the ones who would go after all ghosts no matter what. Despite initially aligning with them, Team CRDL stands by Cardin when his secret familiar comes out.

Team CRDL plays a seperate role as the implicit 'proof' that all Teams in the story become polyamorous harems. It's never gone into or directly addressed, merely implied that Team CRDL too is one big (and three normal) BL sausage fest. Team CRDL is the comedic counterpoint for when the poly-angles are raised for self-referential comedy, like someone- anyone- going 'Isn't there any team at Beacon that didn't just fall into a harem of its own?' 'Well, there is Team CRDL,' then flash to Team CRDL sneezing and someone else complaining about being sore.

/

The Faunus Ghost OC

A minor OC for Season 2, 3, and tragically dying in the Season 3 finale.

The FGOC is one of the ghosts the White Fang has brought to Vale to turn into a weapon. FGOC escaped whatever the White Fang were using to contain ghosts, and is found wandering the city during the White Fang investigation. Ren, Ruby, and Jaune notice, giving a clue for the White Fang. FCOG is in the trickster-spirit phase of death, having just died, and so has to be caught.

FCOG interests Blake, even if they can't directly interact, and FCOG sticks around. However, while at Beacon FCOG starts to be corrupted and turned into a bad mad ghost, just as Jaune was. FCOG is the evidence that the White Fang are defiling spirits to turn them into weapons. FCOG lucks out, though, as Team RWBY and JNPR- especially Blake and Nora- go the extra mile to subdue and save FCOG, re-granting sanity.

FCOG doesn't know where his/her body is, or have any other residual aura source, which means their time is limited. Without their body, they can't have a catalyst for a spirit-marriage option either. The group resolves to be there for FCOG in his/her final days, and to help him/her move on. They do some things to give FCOG a chance at life- like a mock-first date (Ren if female, Nora if male), shenanigans, and so on- with the promise/goal being a front-row seat for the Vytal Festival tournament. FCOG is sure that if (s)he saw Hunters in person, (s)he could move on.

FCOG isn't a constant companion- (s)he wanders the city and kills time on his/her own away from the group- but is a ghost cameo reflecting a growing number of ghosts in the city. The increase of ghosts is a foreshadowing of Cinder's plan to bring out the Exorcists. FCOG gets caught up in the crisis, though, and is one of the ghosts caught in the Lantern, trapped and crying about how (s)he can't move on after all.

Once the Lantern is destroyed, FCOG is released and free to Move On, giving a final thank you that even the non-Seers Blake and Nora can hear.

/

Random Jokes and Ideas

A final, miscellaneous jokes and gags that would have gone on along the way.

/

Vacuum Cleaners

A reoccurring joke would be of Jaune getting sucked up and stuck in vacuum cleaners. Why? How? No one knows, but they become a reoccurring bane for Jaune as it takes time, though not energy, for him to work his way out of it (unless someone opens it up). This puts Jaune on bad terms with Weiss at more than one point, though always played for comedy and Weiss being embarrassed about it afterwards.

This comes from the Luigi's Mansion video games, where ghosts are sucked up with vacuum cleaners.

/

/

The Robot Bodies

A re-occuring gimmick is that Jaune tries to use robot bodies as a stop-gap until he can get his own body, and that his robot-bodies meet terrible and brutal ends just like his own body. Knocked off bullheads, thrown in metal crushers, blown up, etc. etc. Dead body humor continues to exist with the leaks, breaks, and rampant destruction of Jaune's body.

This even includes Paladins. During the White Fang investigation arc, Breach, and Season 3 crisis, Jaune Jaune has reached a level where he can possess and assume control of even piloted mechs. Yet, no matter what Jaune possesses, it ALWAYS meets a gruesome end- even the Paladins, which are swarmed by Grimm and ripped piece by piece.

It's a common enough joke that some wonder if Jaune would even be able to stay alive if he got a new body.

/

The Halloween Special

A special chapter which would have been a case of 'Teams JNPR and RWBY set up a haunted house.' A stand-alone special for Halloween, it would have hit all the usual seasonal jokes, opportunities, and costumes. A friendship thing in general.

The nominal plot would have been that Teams RWBY and JNPR get assigned to do a Haunted House event as a volunteer/class participation in the school's festival. Doing so will help with their grades, especially Jaune's, but it's also a project to prove their ability to plan, organize, and present an experience. The chapter really begins as it starts, and there's not much plot besides having fun... and a possible second ghost causing things to go amuck. Teams RWBY and JNPR have to work together to stop the bad ghost from disrupting Halloween.

(That ghost, it turns out, is none other than Glenda Goodwitch- using her own semblance to prank students as part of her own bit of fun.)

Aside from some stereotype jokes- about how predictable/cliche the expected roles are for Jaune the Ghost- the main thoughts were on costumes.

Ruby starts as a precocious pumpkin costume where she falls down and can't get up. After rolling around, Ruby dresses as a boyish vampire, complete with fake teeth. Ruby carries Crocea Mors with her, since by this time Crocea Mors is talking, which ultimately does lead to a quasi-hemaphrodite joke of 'Is that a sword in your pants or are you happy to see me?' 'Yes.'

Weiss, lead planner, dresses as the scariest thing she can think of- an auditer. Weiss eventually goes for the 'pale white ghost' look herself. Weiss screams a lot in fright.

Blake is a were-cat, and resents the racial stereotype of being a were-animal. She also gets offended on Jaune's behalf of ghost stereotypes, and later joins Ruby as a Vampire. Blake's eating mystery bloody meat throughout the story.

Yang goes the 'sexy costume' route, and changes regularly to get sexy costume cred. Varrying between sexy biker chick, sexy nurse, sexy policewoman, and... sexy teacher, when she steals some of Glynda's clothes. This was going to be some time after the spirit marriage, when she and Jaune are unofficial, and so after one costume malfunction (a sexy mummy wrap), Jaune was going to save Yang's modesty by holding up some slipping wraps against her.

Jaune goes as a... ghost, duh. With a sheet with holes. He also possesses Grimm mannequins for the haunted house. One joke was going to be a point where he and Pyrrha play a prank where Pyrrha uses magnatism to fake a ghost-sheet, so that Jaune can spoof thing for a jump-scare.

Nora goes as a Valkerie. She plays a really hammy barbarian, including 'abducting' Ren by knocking him out and dragging him away at one point. Nora confuses 'crazy' with 'creepy,' mostly for comedic effect, though she makes some off-the-wall intimidating ideas like breaking knees.

Pyrrha is... not sure, but something painfully un-fun. Like, a historic figure with a monstrous history, rather than a monster. The joke was mostly that Pyrrha isn't used to Halloween, and has to get taught how to have fun. She helps with the haunted house jump-scares, and joins Jaune in a few pranks that show their partnership.

Ren is forced to dress in drag. As a member of the coven, Sister Mister is forced to cross dress as a princess. Ren bears it with dignity... and eventually gets dragged away by the barbarian Nora.

/

'Creating the Perfect Man'

During Season 3, Ironwood approaches the Coven about the truth of Penny and the Penny-body program. In exchange for Jaune's assistance/good conduct during the tournament, Ironwood offers Jaune a Penny-body of his own. This would 'bring Jaune to life', albeit in a robotic shell, but allow him to live and generate his aura once again. Because robot bodies are custom-made, Ironwood lets Jaune decide/design his own body with the Coven's help.

And by 'help,' I mean 'the Coven takes over.'

In an embarrassing moment, the coven and Jaune struggle to remember what he actually looked like. Blue eyes, blonde hair, and… that's about it. They're pretty sure he wasn't black? Having forgotten and lacking any good photos of what he looked like before, it's up to the Coven to design Jaune's new body.

Ren accidentally starts it off in that it'd be nice of them if they gave Jaune not just the body he had, but maybe something a bit better, and then everyone gets wrapped up in what they consider 'better'… which is to say, what they want out of a man.

Pyrrha likes dem hips and a stable core. Blake likes long legs (and not just because they have the most tender… loin). Yang likes pecs that aren't too big, and aren't too small, but are just right. Weiss likes taller guys with big hands. Ruby goes crazy in her love for guns- and starts designing all sorts of 'implants' for Jaune to have cool weapons like Penny. Nora has her own fun too.

As the design decisions escalate, all the girls more romantically entwined with Jaune- Weiss, Blake, and Yang- start quibbling over the 'specifications' for what they want Jaune to look like when he returns, and what they think would make a better, ahem, spirit husband. It becomes a crazy mix match of shifting dials, twisting nobs, stepping out of turn to make the adjustments they want even as everyone's inputs insures no one gets exactly what they want, creating a chaotic cacophony that has to be put to order.

If everyone puts in what they want, then no one will get the output they want. Everyone looks to what they created- the jumbled mix and mess of everyone picking attributes they thought most desirable and throwing them altogether- and see…

Jaune's body.

Having accidentally designed Jaune's body from the output of the grab-bag of preferences, the Coven is surprised, and amused, and decides to accept it. Yang, Blake, and Weiss are left to consider what this means, even if they grudgingly accept that they have to restore one body part in particular to more reasonable proportions. With regret, they twist the nob to reduce it.

Jaune, floating by and using a possessed teddy bear microphone to speak, idly notes that his love gun is smaller than it used to be. Oh well- he can live without it if he has to.

Yang, Blake, and Weiss trade looks, and scramble over eachother to twist the knob back to 'max.'

/

(And then- later- Tiayang makes out with Jaune's body when it has Summer's soul. Romantic, or totally gay? Girls blush regardless. Summer's Jaune-bod becoming the center point of yet another harem of the parents is a separate reoccuring joke.)

/

A Wedding and A Funeral: The Final Chapter

While the finale would have been beating Cinder once and for all, the final chapter might have had not just the wedding promised, for a happy end, but an epilogue as well. While the story was intended to set up a point where the Coven could quest indefinitely, something to tie it all together in a bitter-sweet happy would would have been appropriate as an epilogue. A sort of 'the rest of life until the end' sort of thing.

The chapter would have started with the wedding of Jaune to Ruby and Yang (and Yin), with everyone else around and happy. A moment of happiness, and cheer, and life... but in this story, life and death go hand-in-hand.

The epilogue would have been long, but hit a lot of the highlights of the life of the coven in the future. Momentsof adventure, and happiness, and growth and childbirth as the families form... but also age, and experience, and death. Youth doesn't last forever.

Eventually the cast would begin to pass on. Team Parents first- with Raven and Taiyang meeting their end heroically, but breaking the survivors. Raven and Taiyang leave no ghosts, either moving on immediately or lost to the Grimm. Qrow falls into alcoholism in grief, and Summer stays with him until he dies. When he does- with her own team gone- Summer makes peace with having lived long enough and chooses to follow them. Summer's suicide- if it can be called that- is deliberate, and pre-arranged, so that she can have final words with her daughters, who have their own lives and can live without her. Summer promises to wait for Ruby on the other side, leaves her Jaune-bod, and moves on for good.

Soon after, friends die as well. None of the Coven at first, but friends none the less. Team CRDL dies heroically. Team CFVY dies tragically. Velvet dies first, her ghost unable to be seen or heard by her team, and the poly begins to spin apart as Fox and Coco fixate on avenging her. They die in a reckless assault, leaving Yatsu the sole survivor and alone. Yatsu nearly commits suicide to join them, but the knife is stopped by a ghostly force. Yatsu retires to a monastary, where their ghosts follow him in a one-man/three-ghost spirit-marriage, where he eventually dies peacefully of old age.

Mortality comes to the Coven eventually as well, as the previous generations lead the way. Some die dramatically- Pyrrha, fighting a crypt-lord as Champion of the Exorcists- some die heroically- Nora, protecting ghosts against Grimm- and some die anticlimatically. Yang dies in a car crash. Weiss has a heart attack. No one knows how Blake died after she disappears for a mysterious ritual she promises will keep them together forever, only knowing that she did when her ghost appears.

As the Coven goes, they also stay around. None of the friends move on, but become a satellite constellation of ghosts among the survivors, protecting them as best they can to old age. Eventually Ren and Ruby are the last, keeping them all together by sight and sound, and then only Ruby.

Ruby dies of old age, peacefully. Old enough to see her kids, and grandkids, and the grandkids of all her friends as well. She's old enough to begin hearing voices that aren't her friends or Jaune, and even gradually loses her ghost sense as senility sets in. Ruby considers suicide when she finally can't hear Jaune anymore, but doesn't, as she trusts their promise to wait for her and believes in them even if she can't tell they're there anymore. Ruby lives a little long, wise and respect as one of the witches who brought the dead back to Remnant, before taking to her death bed and being surrounded by not just her family, but the family of all the coven. Ruby dies with final words, reflecting on the good life she lived with those she loved.

Ruby dies, and with the funeral rites given she rises as a ghost. When she does, she finally sees her friends and lovers- waiting for her, just as they promised. They- she- all look as young as they were in Beacon, just as she remembers them. For the first time since Initiation she sees Jaune outside of a dream, as he helps her up and embraces her with a kiss on the cheek, which everyone else does soon after.

Ruby is reunited with her friends, family, and love, and the question of 'what next?' comes. They could stick around, as ghosts, and live off the Arc aura reserves... but their time has come. They waited for her, but now that she's joined them it's time to move on.

The sky gets bright, as the sun seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and Ruby knows approaching it means to move on. Despite the fear- that this is truly The End- her hands are grabbed by Jaune and Yang. Looking down, and around, Ruby realizes they're all holding on to eachother- some tighter, some lighter, but all refusing to let go.

Ruby gives a brave smile, and resolves to move forward. Moving on will be their next adventure, but no matter what happens they'll do it... together.

The Coven rises towards the light, and as the light blurs out everything else Ruby's last image is of everyone else. Their last words are shouts of 'I love you all', and the white consumes everything.

The story's final scene begins with a 's cry, a dazed Ruby being lifted by a giant, and a worn but alive Summer in a maternity gown.

Ruby is having an out-of-body experience of her own body, and struggles to listen to the nurse. The nurse assures two adults who look like Summer and Qrow- but are dressed in different clothes that suggest this may not be Remnant- that Ruby is healthy despite the sudden delivery. Raven and Taiyang are supposedly just next door, with Raven who just delivered Yang. Two babies by sisters-in-law on the same day- what are the chances?

Nothing compared to the chances of eight sudden deliveries in one day at a single hospital, all delivering at almost the exact same time, the nurse remarks. There's something special about that, for sure.

Spirit-Ruby's eyes widen, and there's a flashback to Blake's last living words about trying to keep everyone together forever, and Ruby nearly races out of the room until she's stopped by her name. It's Summer, who's holding her- the baby her- who's terribly quiet. Summer is speaking to the baby, but possibly looking at her, and Ruby realizes the baby isn't crying.

Ruby looks at the baby, who seems soulless, even as Qrow and the Nurse start to express concern. Ruby looks at the door again- certain her friends are beyond- but remembers their promise to wait for her. With a promise of her own to see them soon, Ruby slides into her own body.

Baby Ruby comes to life, eyes focusing and coughing to the relief of those there. She's not crying, but as the nurse bustles to take Ruby to a care unit she tells Summer and Qrow not to worry. The other newborn children have had similar issues, and they're all pulling through. Besides, just look at Ruby.

She's smiling.

/

Fin

/

Author Notes:

And that's all to finally have it all down and done with. As you can see, lots of ideas and lots of places it could have gone, and most of them not where I'd normally go.

Gross, grotesque humor of bodily maiming? Check.

Harem? I prefer polyamory when trying to address it seriously, but check.

Worldbuilding and character twists and things, or my? Check.

A tendency to meander between comedy and bitter-sweet hardship and happiness despite so many dead people? Check, check, check.

This took too long to polish up and send out the door, and for that I apologize. It wasn't deliberate, and I hope people enjoyed what they see.

Some have asked, so I'll say it here-

If you want to take your own hand at writing this story based on the ideas within, feel free. Go ahead.

Otherwise, hopefully everyone can imagine their own morbid comedy in their head, and enjoy it.

Cheers,

C.F.